Royals revel in opening victory

EDMONDS

First-year Lynnwood head coach Dorian Manza believed.

The players, many of whom had not tasted victory in their entire high school careers, believed.

And by the end of 48 minutes, Lynnwood’s archrival Mountlake Terrace also were believers in the resurgence of the Royals’ football program.

Lynnwood cast away years of frustration and disappointment with a convincing 28-7 victory over the Hawks in both teams’ Western Conference South Division season opener Aug. 31 at Edmonds Stadium.

Coming into Friday night’s game, the Royals had lost 20 straight games with the last victory coming against non-conference opponent South Whidbey in 2004. The last time Lynnwood won a league game was in 1999.

None of that history mattered to the players nor Manza.

“We just had the game of our lives,” said senior quarterback/defensive back Andrew Beatty. “The crowd was going crazy. They could not believe what happened and, really, tears of joy came to everybody’s face when we saw that scoreboard.”

The biggest difference this year as contrasted with last year “is simply we believe in ourselves,” Manza said.

The Royals worked hard in the offseason and had a successful team camp in the summer. Success against such teams as Bothell helped bolster the players’ confidence.

“Everyone’s pumped,” said senior linebacker Chris Gordon. “We’re starting a new era at Lynnwood.”

Senior wide receiver Scott Hill remembers three years ago when Lynnwood jumped out to a halftime lead only to see Mountlake Terrace rally for a victory. Hill tucked the memories of that heartbreaking loss in his memory banks. Hill’s older brother Brian was a member of the 2004 squad.

“I’ve been wanting to beat Terrace for my brother,” Scott Hill said. “When we beat them, it’s just the best feeling.”

Lynnwood isn’t content to sit back and bask in the glow of the victory.

“We’ve got a long season ahead of us,” Manza said. “We’ve got to win some more ballgames. We can’t be complacent.”

The Royals’ next opponent is perennial playoff contender Kamiak. Lynnwood hosts the Knights at 8 p.m. tonight (Friday, Sept. 7) at Edmonds Stadium.

Kamiak will face a Lynnwood offense that was able to move the ball fairly well against Mountlake Terrace and a defense that shut the Hawks down.

The Royals, however, will need to cut down on turnovers. Lynnwood fumbled away the ball twice in the first half and caught a break when Hill pounced on a fumble in the end zone for a touchdown in the fourth quarter.

“We’ve got to work on not turning the ball over, but honestly, I think we came with a pretty balanced attack,” Manza said. “Our offense played well … other than a couple of turnovers. We were able to move the ball.”

Manza was especially pleased with Lynnwood’s defensive effort. The Royals forced two fumbles in the first half and would have had an interception returned deep into Mountlake Terrace territory nullified due to a roughing the passer penalty. In the second half, Lynnwood intercepted two passes, one of which was returned for a touchdown, and recorded a safety.

“Defensively, I don’t think we had any weak spots,” Manza said. “Our defense was amazing tonight.”

Mountlake Terrace coach Tony Umayam faulted his team for poor play on the line.

“We were physically beaten on both sides of the ball, physically beaten up, which is disappointing,” he said. “It was just a real bad start to the season. I have to give credit to Lynnwood. They came ready to play us and played a good game and beat us handily.”

The Royals took a 7-0 lead on a 1-yard touchdown run by junior running back Geoff Meinken at the 5:10 mark of the first quarter. Mountlake Terrace responded with its only scoring drive of the game to tie the score at 7. Senior quarterback Tony Ellersick scored on a 1-yard run with 11:20 remaining in the second quarter.

Lynnwood was poised to retake the lead late in the second quarter but fumbled away the ball on the 1-yard line. The Hawks weren’t able to move the ball far and were forced to punt. The Royals took over at the Hawk 42 and two plays later Beatty threw a 40-yard touchdown to Hill to give Lynnwood a 14-7 halftime lead.

Past Royal teams would have dwelled on the turnovers and continued to self-destruct. This year’s team has taken to heart Manza’s mantra of “setback, come back.”

“I told them before the game we’re going to play four quarters and anytime you have a setback, come back,” Manza said.

“That’s what we did at the end of the first half,” Beatty said. “We came back and threw a TD pass and go up 14-7. We really came into halftime strong and we were really excited.”

Neither team generated much offense in the third quarter. The fourth quarter belonged to the Lynnwood defense.

Gordon electrified the crowd by picking off a pass and returning it 50 yards for a touchdown less than a minute into the fourth quarter to give the Royals a 20-7 lead.

“I was just reading the quarterback,” Gordon said. “I saw he was going to get sacked and he tried to get rid of (the ball). I saw it was tipped, so I took it and just ran with it.”

A Gordon punt pinned Mountlake Terrace back to its own 1. Five plays later, Beatty then helped himself by picking off a pass and returning it to the Mountlake Terrace 6.

Lynnwood went ahead 26-7 when Hill recovered a Lynnwood fumble for a touchdown at the 4:12 mark. On the Hawks’ ensuing series, Ellersick was tackled in the end zone by Maksim Kuzyuberdin and David Harris for a safety with 3:03 remaining.

The Hawks, already without starting fullback Casey Finnicum, may have lost starting tailback Casey Ellersick to an ACL injury, according to Umayam. Mountlake Terrace will know for sure this week after the results of an MRI.

Ellersick rushed for 79 yards on 20 carries before leaving in the third quarter.

“We’re really going to have to do a good job rallying and guys are going to have to step up and fill those roles,” Umayam said.

Starting defensive back Billy Lechtenberg did not play due to a back injury but is expected back this week.

The Hawks travel to Lake Stevens for a 7 p.m. non-conference game.

For Manza and the players, a new chapter started even before the kickoff.

“The level of confidence was the highest I’ve ever seen here at Lynnwood since I’ve been here,” Gordon said.

“We knew we actually had a chance to win this game,” Beatty added. “Three hours before the game everybody was pumped because we knew this was going to be the game that was going to start our new season. … We know we can win. I think we’re going to have a great season.”