Freeman up against royal challenge
Wherever Freeman football goes, there lies Royal.
For the third consecutive year, Freeman’s State 1A football playoff fortunes will be tied with those of the Knights of Royal High School.
The past two meetings ended the Scotties’ season – including last year’s 29-7 loss in the Tacoma Dome in the state championship game.
In 2003, with both teams entering the state quarterfinals undefeated at 11-0, Royal scored a 25-6 victory at Pasco.
You could call it a Royal pain.
“It sure seems to be that way,” first-year Freeman coach Jim Wood laughed. “You could say we’ve been around their program a little bit.”
For the first two meetings, Wood was the Scotties’ defensive coordinator. Before that, he coached defenses for nine seasons at Okanogan, where he faced Royal three times in the playoffs – winning twice.
“They (Royal) have a consistent program all the way up,” Wood said. “They get a lot of kids out, but I don’t know exactly what they do to be able to do that.
“Once you get a program like that in place, it sort of feeds on itself. Football is just a big thing in Royal City, and it’s that way every year.
“We’re trying to do that here. We’re working on it.”
There have been no substantive changes with the Freeman program under a first-year head coach, Wood said. The routine has remained the same even as players have evolved.
“Things have stayed pretty much the same,” he explained. “I still coordinate the defense.
“We have a different coach calling the offensive plays from last year, but we still try to do the same things. The only real difference is that I have more administrative duties off the field.
“On the field, things are pretty much the same.
“And to be honest, it’s not that much different for me, either. I’ve been around the game long enough that it’s all routine.”
For this meeting, the Scotties (8-2) are ranked No. 5 in the state, while the defending state champion Knights are top-ranked and undefeated (11-0).
Freeman, however, has a home-field advantage working for it this time around. The game will kick off at 1 p.m. today at Central Valley.
“It’s almost like playing a home game for us,” Wood said. “We’re just 15 minutes down the road.
“I’m hoping we’ll have a good home crowd out this week. Last week we had the volleyball team playing in the state tournament, and I think a lot of family and fans were there.
“Our students do a great job of supporting all of our athletic programs.
“You can be sure that Royal will bring lots of fans to support them.”
The fact is, Freeman and the Knights from Royal City, located 27 miles from both Moses Lake and Quincy, have a similar approach.
Each is a successful program, with the Scotties in the postseason for the sixth consecutive year. Each plays an aggressive brand of defense that rallies all 11 players to the football.
“It’s attitude,” Wood said. “It’s about going out on the field and knowing that no one is going to beat you.
“No one is going to run the ball on you. That’s part of the battle.
“When you believe that, that’s big.”
The Scotties actually enter the game with a slight size advantage on the offensive line. Junior Chad Davis has emerged as a dominating runner, while senior Michael Wittwer is a solid scoring threat on the ground. Junior Andrew Dresback is a two-year starter at quarterback, while senior wide receiver Andrew Wilkerson is a game-breaker.
Royal returns much of last year’s state championship team, including quarterback Ray Valle, who set State 1A championship game records by passing for 332 yards and amassing 326 total offensive yards against Freeman last year
That aside, however, Wood said the game boils down to which team makes the fewest mistakes and which team is best able to capitalize best on the other’s miscues.
“The biggest thing when you play them, they do not make mistakes,” he said. “They make very few mistakes, and they take advantage of every mistake you make.
“Last year the game was close until we made a few mistakes.
“If we can keep from making mistakes and hopefully force them into making mistakes, we can beat them.”