Royals fall short to Eagles in home opener

The Royals football team, who recently switched sections for the regular season, travelled to Apple Valley for their season opener against the Eagles.

The Eagles came out strong and were able to jump on top early scoring on their first two possessions, they finished the game winning 27-7.

The Royals sent out James Klecker, junior, as their starting quarterback. Throughout the game they substituted in Connor Fitzgerald, senior. Neither quarterback was able to get into a grove because they wouldn’t play more than two possessions before being subbed out.

A big reason why the quarterbacks were switching drive to drive is because Klecker is playing both sides of the field as well as kicker. On defense, Klecker is back at safety and on special teams, he is kicking extra points, field goals and the kickoffs.

Both quarterbacks struggled, each throwing two interceptions with Klecker also fumbling the ball deep in enemy territory on a hand-off.

The Royals look to have a solid back in Jadon Washington, junior, who they continued to feed late in the game. Washington is a speedy back and showed a lot in his first game of the season.

The one touchdown the Royals scored was a pass from Klecker to a wide-open X’zarion Hill, senior.

The Royals defense, after giving up two straight touchdowns on the opening drive, stepped up their game big time and managed to get an interception and fumble recovery late in the game.
The interception led to a touchdown while the fumble was with a minute left and time ran out before the Royals could punch it in.

The Royals are back in action next Friday, September 8th, for their home opener against Waconia.