Cruiser sadness: Royal routs Eatonville for 1A football title behind Ellis’ five TDs

Gavin Kralik couldn’t hold back his tears.

His Eatonville team had fought their way to an undefeated season and state title appearance, but on Saturday, they couldn’t muster a point. He felt for his team, which came 48 minutes short of a championship. He felt for his seniors, specifically, as the final game in their high school careers resulted in heartbreak.

He felt for the Cruiser fans, as a packed crowd on the away side of Harry E. Lang Stadium in Lakewood looked on.

“Their support for these kids... it’s been a hard two years on a lot of people,” Kralik said. “This has been the unifying thing for our community.”

In the opening minutes, it was clear that Royal’s run game could -- and would -- bulldoze their opponents en route to the 1A championship. And when the final whistles blew, their defense had shut out the Cruisers, for good measure.

The final: Royal 41, Eatonville 0.

The top-seeded Knights (14-0), who won their fifth title in six years, earned the sixth shutout in 1A state title game history. Eatonville, now 13-1, entered the tournament as the second seed, and hadn’t failed to score in a game since 2015.

Eatonville’s quarterback, Kevin Wulff, never completed a pass.

“The one right now is what matters,” Royal coach Wiley Allred said. “For these kids, it’s great to get one more, to finish off the season and play the way we did.”

Royal ran for 303 total yards, but the Knights dominated in every facet of the game. And no player embodied that more than senior Avery Ellis.

For 48 minutes, Eatonville simply couldn’t stop him.

Whether he stifled defenses as a linebacker, or punched through defensive lines as Royal’s tailback, the Cruisers never had an answer.

“We were ranked number one, but if you looked at all the predictions, a lot of people said they were going to win,” Ellis told The News Tribune. “They said (Eatonville was) big, and I mean, they were big. We had the drive.”

By halftime, Ellis had four touchdowns. He rushed for a pair of scores, caught a touchdown in the closing minutes of the second quarter, and picked up a botched punt for a special teams scoop-and-score.

Eatonville’s hill to climb was simply too steep. The Royal Knights are the 1A state football champions.

The 41-0 rout was the first state title shutout since Lind-Ritzville-Sprague took down Morton-White Pass in the 2B final in 2013. Royal’s defense forced five fumbles on Saturday, and allowed just 47 points all season.

Their offense — averaging nearly 54 points per game this season — rolled, too.

Royal signal-caller Derek Bergeson completed 12 of 18 passes for 169 yards and a touchdown, and he gained another 136 yards on the ground. Ellis rolled for 177 more rushing yards, and added 3 catches for 37 yards through the air.

On the game’s opening drive, Royal’s title pursuit began with a touchdown. Ellis, from the 22-yard line, burst through the line and gave the Knights an early lead.

And Eatonville’s up-tempo offense, like they did all game, struggled to move the chains, let alone put points on the board. In the first half, Cruisers quarterback Kevin Wulff hadn’t completed a pass, and by the start of the second quarter, Royal began to pour it on.

“I think we were rolling just a little bit, and that helped solidify it,” Allred said. “Our momentum, the confidence, just kept growing. And then being able to run the ball with Avery... even from the get-go, was a little bit of a surprise.”

Early in the second quarter, Bergeson found his twin brother, Luke, for a 38-yard connection. That set up a first and goal for the Knights, and Ellis punched in his second touchdown from the one-yard line that put Royal up, 13-0.

Now down two scores, Eatonville needed an answer, but Wulff missed over the middle and threw an interception to Knights defensive back Gunnar Anderson. Royal took less than two minutes to score again, when Bergeson took a quarterback keeper for a 44-yard touchdown.

It was crunch time for the Cruisers. They trailed by 20, and couldn’t allow the game to slip away, if it hadn’t already.

On a slick field, that’s what happened: on another Eatonville punt, the snap sailed away, and Royal’s Ellis scooped it up and ran nine yards for his third touchdown of the game.

Just like that: Royal led, 27-0.

“We couldn’t get it going early, and then we couldn’t get out of our own way at times,” Kralik said. “So hats off to Royal. They’re a good program.”

That wouldn’t end the second-quarter scoring barrage. Both teams traded punts before Eatonville fumbled with six seconds left at their own 10-yard line. Royal had time to run a quick play, and perhaps a second, before trotting out the field goal unit.

Royal needed only one. Bergeson lofted a ball up to Ellis in the corner of the end zone, who reached over an Eatonville defender to snag another touchdown. It was his fourth of the game, and Royal led by 34.

It was nearly time for the running clock — at halftime.

“I wasn’t even thinking about touchdowns,” Ellis said, chuckling. “Once it was 34-0 at half, I wanted the running clock. That’s all I was thinking about.”

Neither team scored in the third, but Ellis would score again on the fourth quarter’s first play, and set the record for most touchdowns (5) by a non-QB in the 1A title game. He took a rush to the outside, and burst to the corner for a 14-yard touchdown.

Could he have imagined a better result?

“Maybe a little more (defensively),” Ellis said, jokingly. “It was good.”

It wasn’t Allred’s plan to feed Ellis all afternoon, though a lopsided game script surely changed his mind. He wanted to spread the ball around, and utilize the passing game as a priority.

“(Derek) threw a couple of balls he shouldn’t have thrown,” Allred said. “A couple of guys ran the wrong routes. ... It’s high school football, but they were on all week, so I knew we were gonna give it our best. We had our best game.

“You never know how the ball’s going to bounce in wet conditions, but it bounced our way.”

It wasn’t long after that the Knights hoisted their championship trophy in front of the home crowd. They had outgained Eatonville, 472-48.

“These are my brothers,” Ellis said. “They stuck with it the whole way. I yell at them sometimes. I’m kind of known for that. But they take it as encouragement and just keep pushing harder.”