The Wynford Royals punched their ticket to the Regional final after vanquishing the Black Knights of Van Buren High School 25-15 Friday night.

Wynford earned their spot into the next round on a 3 rushing touchdown performance by running back Keaton Teynor. The Wynford back carried the ball 32 times for 59 yards on the way to scoring 18 of the Royals 25 points.

The first quarter of the match up was an even affair with both teams going scoreless. Van Buren struck first with 11:14 to go in the second quarter scoring on a 3 yard touchdown run from Running back Ross Adolph, after the Cole Olrich PAT Van Buren led 7-0.

Wynford scored their first points of the game with 6:03 to go in the hald on a 1 yard run by Teynor, the Royals missed the PAT and trailed 7-6.

Wynford used trickery on the kickoff and recovered an onside kick to start a 7 play 42 yard drive ending with another 1 yard Teynor touchdown and a 12-7 lead. The Royals never looked back scoring the first 13 points of the second half and a 25-7 lead.

Van Buren scored with 3:49 to go in the game as the Royals defense did not see the Black Knights’ Adolph run on a 48 yard touchdown. Adolph’s brother Riley Adolph added a 2 point conversion to bring the game within 10, but the 25-15 score held until the end of the game.

Ross Adolph led the Black Knights’ offensive attack with 130 yards on 23 carries for the school’s 2 touchdowns.

“A lot of people didn’t think we’d be here right now,” Coach Gabe Helbert told his team after the game. “Week 13 for the Wynford Royals. Week 13.”

“Our goal is to win the regional championship. We took care of business tonight. Tremendous performance; we found a way to do it.”

Helbert credited the defense for saving the team in key moments during the night.

“Guys, you are one of four teams in the history of the school to make it to this point,” Helbert said. “We said we were going to write a legacy. We are one of four. We have the opportunity to be one of two. We want to win our region. Not a person around that thought the Wynford Royals would be playing in week 13 except the fellows in this huddle.”

Wynford will play the Defiance Tinora Rams next Friday evening. The game will be carried live on both WQEL and wqel.com with Jim Radke and Jeff Roberts calling the action.

In other football playoff action Friday Defiance Tinora defeated Spencerville 37-0, Kenton beat Wooster Tri Way 13-6, Wauseon beat Bellvue 34-12, Clyde beat Norwalk 35-24, Loudinville beat Magadoor 42-14, and Olentangy beat Wooster Sr. 31-6.