YAKIMA – In its pursuit of the ultimate goal of a Class 1A state football championship, the record will show that Cashmere fell short.

But what the Bulldogs did in their first run to the title game since 2009 – twice putting Royal and its dynasty on the ropes before the Knights escaped – is not lost on the players, especially the seniors who led the Cashmere charge.

“We didn’t come out with the championship, but fought to the very end, literally the last play,” Bulldogs all-state quarterback Rylan Hatmaker said. “I don’t think anybody held their heads down after the loss. We were all very proud of the season we had and playing on the biggest stage.”

Hatmaker joins teammates, fellow all-staters, and top targets Logan Spies and Isaac Zavala at this week’s Earl Barden All-Star Classic. Practice started Tuesday, and the East will try for its second straight win after a commanding 28-6 victory last year.

Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday at Earl Barden Stadium.

The trio helped the Bulldogs average more than 54 points a game, and it all started with Hatmaker.

Well, unless Zavala’s record-setting punt return efforts nixed the need for Cashmere’s offense. The 5-foot-7, 150-pound anchor for the Bulldogs’ 4x100 relay that finished fourth at state, turned a suggestion from now-retired assistant Steve Simonson into 11 touchdown returns, a Washington record.

“That got me on the path to getting the state record,” said Zavala, who’d scout punters pregame, and moved from sideline to sideline not to be kicked away from.

Zavala’s exploits went beyond special teams. He totaled more than 500 yards of offense and 10 touchdowns from scrimmage this season, to go alone with seven returns for scores.

“The cool thing about Isaac is he’s a true Swiss Army Knife,” Cashmere coach Bryan Bremer said. “You can split him out or you can put him in the backfield. There are so many ways he can influence a ballgame.”

At 6-2, 195 pounds, Spies is a much bigger target for Hatmaker, but that didn’t diminish his big-play ability. He averaged nearly 17 yards a reception, finishing the season with 55 catches for 915 yards and 15 TDs, with a yearslong bond with Hatmaker.

“I trust that dude, he’s never going to throw me a hospital ball,” Spies said.

He also knew he’d have to do what many receivers find a dirty word – block.

“Coach always says, ‘If you want the rock, you gotta block,” Spies said.

Bremer commended Spies for his never-get-outworked approach.

“He’s a guy you look at if you want to know what work ethic is,” Bremer said. “He was always making his own practice plans, and clearing snow to do cone work. He didn’t leave any stone unturned.”

Watch Hatmaker under pressure, and you can see the athlete and baseball player in him. When a defense closed in, he could improvise with his legs or use a side-arm delivery to complete a pass.

He threw for more than 2,500 yards and 38 touchdowns, and added 283 yards and three scores on the ground.

“We knew if he went off script, he could do things nobody else could,” Bremer said. “Those are things you live with because you know he’s a gamer.”

Cashmere graduates 14 players from this year’s squad, but figures to be in contention for its fifth straight state playoff berth.

Next fall’s team will have the foundation laid by this year’s seniors, who leave the school with 41 wins in four seasons, and went toe-to-toe twice with the state’s premier small-school program.

“It was a phenomenal year,” Hatmaker said. “Something the senior class has been wanting to do since middle school.”