Seton Catholic falls to Royal 61-28 in program’s first 1A state football championship game appearance

SEATTLE — An inspired first half from the Seton Catholic Cougars put the Royal Knights in a rare position at halftime, facing a 21-21 tie.

Then the inevitability of Royal and senior quarterback Lance Allred happened.

Royal scored 27 unanswered points in the second half of Friday’s Class 1A state football championship game, including three of Allred’s state-championship record six rushing touchdowns, to lead the Knights to a 61-28 win at Husky Stadium for the program’s fifth consecutive state championship. It was also the 300^th career win for Royal coach Wiley Allred.

“Our boys worked really, really hard to get where they got to today,” Seton Catholic coach Dan Chase said. “The ball didn’t bounce our way a couple times and we missed some opportunities, but all in all they played hard. They achieved something that no other Seton Catholic team has ever achieved. Super proud of them for the season they had.”

Making its first state championship game appearance, Seton Catholic (12-1) scored three first-half touchdowns to force a halftime stalemate. Quarterback Kolten Gesser threw touchdown passes to Ryker Ruelas and Teddy Wieczorek, and Ruelas had an 84-yard kickoff return touchdown.

The Cougars recovered two Royal fumbles, the latter forced by Garrett Nebels and recovered by Owen Pitzer to set up Wieczorek’s 15-yard touchdown catch with 28 seconds left in the half. It was a stark contrast to the teams’ previous meeting in last year’s state semifinals, a 42-0 Royal win.

“They scored a couple (touchdowns) that were pretty easy scores that we shouldn’t have let up. We didn’t really give up and we kept fighting,” Seton Catholic senior Joe Callerame said.

Royal (13-0) put together a 10-play, 70-yard drive to open the third quarter, finished off by an Allred 3-yard touchdown run.

Momentum swung away from Seton Catholic on its next possession. Facing a fourth-and-1 at their own 37, a fake punt was snapped to Callerame and the senior broke multiple tackles en route to a 64-yard touchdown run.

The touchdown was taken away because officials determined Callerame’s run was aided by teammates. Seton Catholic called another fake punt on fourth-and-3 that was stopped short of the line to gain.

“We saw what we saw on film, we liked it and we wanted to make a play for it,” Chase said. “It didn’t pan out for us, but next time, we’d probably make the same call.”

That set up a short field for Royal, resulting in an Allred 14-yard touchdown run three plays later. Royal scored two more unanswered touchdowns on a Ben Jenks 37-yard interception return and an Allred 49-yard run midway through the fourth quarter to go ahead 48-21.

“That was huge because instead of a touchdown on fourth-and-1, they called it back and we’re down two scores,” Callerame said. “They get the ball back, we make a couple bad plays, now we’re down three scores and it rolled downhill from there. If that doesn’t happen, who knows, but it is what it is. We made it this far, and it’s a lot to be proud of.”

Ruelas caught a 3-yard touchdown from Callerame for the Cougars’ final score of the game.

Ruelas finished with six catches for 55 yards and two touchdowns, Jacob Williams finished with 25 carries for 110 yards, while Callerame, an Army signee, tallied 117 all-purpose yards.

The three are part of a class of 13 Seton Catholic seniors who have been at the forefront of the program’s turnaround from their freshman season when the Cougars went 3-7 and played in their first postseason game.

In the last two seasons combined, the Cougars have won 23 of 26 games, with two of those losses coming against Royal. They’ve laid the groundwork for younger players to follow.

“You can’t win every single game,” Callerame said. “Nobody can win every game. You’re always going to have a couple setbacks, and that’s just life, that’s just football. It teaches you so many different skills in life.

“I think we’re doing to great things, we’ve got a great group of guys, they keep on buying into the culture. I can’t wait to see what these guys do.”

ROYAL 61, SETON CATHOLIC 28

Seton  0             21          0             7—21

Royal  7             14          14          26—61

First quarter

R— Lance Allred 39 run (Anderson Brown kick)

Second quarter

R— Allred 19 run (Brown kick)

SC— Ryker Ruelas 18 pass from Kolten Gesser (Dalton Woods kick)

R— Larsen 34 pass from Allred (Brown kick)

SC—Ruelas 84 kickoff return (Woods kick)

SC—Teddy Wieczorek 15 pass from Gesser (Woods kick)

Third quarter

R—Allred 3 run (Brown kick)

R—Allred 14 run (Brown kick)

Fourth quarter

R—Ben Jenks 37 interception return (kick failed)

R—Allred 49 run (Brown kick)

SC—Ruelas 3 pass from Joe Callerame (Woods kick)

R—Allred 48 run (Brown kick)

R—Jacksen Larsen 69 interception return (run failed)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING  — Seton Catholic: Jacob Williams 25-105, Kolten Gesser 4-5, Joe Callerame 7-32, Xavier Crank 1-3, Ryker Ruelas 1-3, Thomas Clute 1-(-3). Royal: Lance Allred 21-203, Santana Luna 12-68, Jackson Larsen 1-(-2).

PASSING — Seton Catholic: Kolten Gesser 10-25-3-158, Joe Callerame 2-3-1-17. Royal: Lance Allred 15-21-0-200.

RECEIVING — Seton Catholic: Joe Callerame 2-68, Xavier Crank 2-34, Ryker Ruelas 6-55, Teddy Wieczorek 1-5, Graham Dumas 1-3. Royal: Ben Jenks 2-19, Jacksen Larsen 4-70, Shea Stevenson 6-89, Santan Luna 2-12, Caden Fitzhugh 1-10.