SEATTLE – It may have been the toughest challenge the Royal Knights have faced in their run of state championships.

Royal head coach Wiley Allred said as much after Cashmere senior Isaac Zavala’s pass landed just out of reach of senior Logan Spies on a two-point conversion attempt with 18 seconds left, giving his Knights a 21-20 win and their sixth consecutive Class 1A state championship.

“They are one of the best teams, if not the best team I’ve ever seen in the finals that we’ve actually beat, and there has been quite a few of them. They are really a heck of a team.”

The Knights expected to be challenged. They faced the same Bulldogs team in week five of the regular season, and needed overtime to escape with a 21-15 win.

Friday’s matchup proved to be even closer.

Royal took a 21-14 lead on a 21-yard touchdown run by junior Dax Jenks with 43 seconds to play in the third quarter. Cashmere drove down the field on its next drive and looked poised to tie or take the lead midway through the fourth quarter, but Zavala was stripped at the 1-yard line of Royal after catching a pass from senior quarterback Rylan Hatmaker by senior Anderson Brown.

But Cashmere wasn’t done quite yet.

The Bulldogs took possession once more at their own 8-yard line with 4:26 to play in the game, and once again drove down the field aided in part by a late hit against Royal near midfield. Cashmere finished its drive with 18 seconds to play on a 3-yard touchdown run by Hatmaker.

Cashmere looked as though it was going to play for overtime, initially appearing like they would kick the extra point. But after a timeout, Bulldogs’ head coach Bryan Bremer sent his offense back on the field for the two-point attempt that ultimately decided the game.

Bremer said the players and other members of his staff implored him to go for two and the win.

“The kids did (talk me into it) and a lot of the coaches did,” Bremer said. “We have about eight two-point plays in the line every week that we felt good about. We ran one earlier and we felt good about the next one, but it’s on me. I trusted Isaac and I trusted Logan, but we’ve never practiced a longer throw to the back pylon. I think the kids executed it well, and I’ve got to do a better job as a coach of getting them ready.”

Hatmaker did everything he could, completing 22 of 30 passes for 205 yards and a touchdown and rushing for 73 yards on 14 attempts and another score, but he couldn’t match the output of Jenks, who put his mark on the game from the opening kickoff.

Jenks finished with 143 yards and one touchdown on 12 carries and added another 101 yards on two catches, including a 71-yard touchdown catch in the second quarter.

“He’s that kind of guy,” Allred said. “We obviously have a good team, but he’s got the speed to make the big plays. We’ve got a good receiving corps, but putting him in the backfield late in the year has really been a bonus.”

Bremer talked after the game about the challenge stopping Jenks presents.

“Dude is a stud,” he said. “He can do it out of the backfield – receiving and rushing. He’s a handful. But what makes him a handful is that they have other good players.”

Jenks had the Knights’ two longest plays from scrimmage in the game with the 71-yard touchdown reception to go along with a 51-yard run.

“I’m just always trying to provide the best for my team,” Jenks said. “We have players that in different games each of us shine. We just do our job, and we each have a good game.”

The Bulldogs and Knights seemed destined to play for the championship since their week five meeting. In the two contests between the two teams, Royal outscored the Bulldogs 42-35. In the Knights 11 other games, they outscored opponents 658-81, including six shutouts.