Royal had a tremendous season.

The Falcons bounced back from a losing season and winning one district game to finish second in district and earn their first playoff appearance since 2017.

That made for a hugely successful year for a program that is trying to build itself into something bigger and better, but, at least for this season, things came to an end in the first round of the playoffs, as the Falcons fell to Hamshire-Fannett in bi-district, 40-10, to end their season.

Royal fell behind but stayed in it in the first half, trailing 6-0 after the first quarter and givng up another six points but scoring three in the second quarter.

But a strong second half by Hamshire-Fannett was too much to overcome. Fannett scored 21 points in the third and seven points in the fourth, while Royal was only able to put up seven points in the second half.

Royal had a balanced day offensively, Ashton Robinson completed 12 of 22 passes for 128 yards, while also throwing an interception, while Avery Robinson Jr. led the way receiving, catching three passes for 54 yards and Antonio Page caught four passes for 22 yards.

Zakai Anderson had a strong day running the ball, carrying it 19 times for 116 yards and a touchdown and averaging 6.1 yards per carry.

The Royal defense did a good job against the Hamshire-Fannett pass game, limiting the teams pass attack to just 78 yards and forcing an interception, but Fannett had two players go over 150 yards rushing, with Tyler Spencer rushing for 164 yards and three touchowns and D’onte Zeno getting 154 yards and two touchdowns, with Fannett ending the day with 353 rushing yards.
But it was still a tremendous year for a building program, and Royal will be returning plenty of talent as they work forwards 2023, including both Robinson and Anderson.