For nine straight years, the Taylor Trophy has been out of the Auburn High display case only long enough to be carted to the annual football game between the Trojans and Kent-Meridian.

Then it’s re-presented to Auburn after the final whistle – and put right back into the display case.

Even before the first quarter ended in last Friday’s annual renewal of the state’s second-oldest gridiron rivalry, one thing was very clear:

That nine-year streak would stretch to 10.

During that opening 12 minutes, the Trojans methodically racked up 209 yards and four touchdowns. By the end of the game, it was nearly 500 yards and seven TDs on the way to a 49-0 rout of the Royals at French Field.

“When we moved down to 3A (for the 2006 and 2007 seasons), people didn’t care who we were playing. They just cared about when we played for the Taylor Trophy,” said Auburn two-way senior lineman Zac Tate, who helped his team improve to 3-0 in league and overall play. “So when we moved back up (to 4A this year), it made it a lot better.”

At either level, Tate and his senior classmates hung onto the venerable wooden trophy all four years.

“This means a lot – it’s a big tradition around here,” he said.

The Royals (0-3, 0-3) knew they were facing a tall order against an Auburn team that has made a habit of punishing its first three opponents with a fierce, effective ground attack. On Friday, that attack accounted for 356 of Auburn’s 490 total yards. The Trojans had 242 rushing yards and 376 total at halftime.

“They didn’t do anything different (than what we expected),” K-M coach Trevor Roberts said. “They’re fundamental, they’re physical, they did everything right. And in practice, you can’t simulate what they do. If you can simulate what they can do, then you can defend it. But no way.”

What Auburn did during that decisive first quarter last Friday was a model of efficiency. The Trojans had the ball for exactly four of the 12 minutes. That’s all – four minutes.

During that time, they ran 13 plays, all but one of those a first-down play and racked up 212 yards, 143 of which came on the ground.

But Trojans quarterback Carlo Lavoie also threw the ball twice – both of them touchdown tosses to Austen Embody – that accounted for 69 more yards.

“We have to keep them honest. We have to do that and make sure they have to defend the whole field,” Auburn coach Gordon Elliott said. “Carlo did a great job of reading the secondary and finding open receivers.”

Not that Kent-Meridian was without its chances. Matter of fact, the Royals put together a methodical march too, starting at their own 30 and moving all the way down to the Auburn 7. But a pass from sophomore quarterback David Jones to Deangelo Larkin was picked off by Lavoie in the end zone.

By halftime, it was 42-0 as Auburn senior fullback Jeff Gouveia had run in for three touchdowns (53, 14 and 5) to go along with Embody’s two scoring catches and the Trojans’ first TD of the night, a 6-yard run by Isaiah Johnson. The last of Gouveia’s touchdown runs capped a drive of 98-plus yards. He finished with 104 yards and those three scores on just six carries.

A 9-yard run by Alphonse Wade near the end of the third quarter finished a 94-yard drive that ate nearly four minutes. That made it 49-0 and completed the scoring.

K-M had one more serious shot at the end zone, coming in the early stages of the second quarter. But this time, on a Royals second-and-1 from the Trojan 19, Auburn’s Chris Young intercepted a pass at the 3 that had been intended for Marlowe Brim.

For Auburn senior lineman Zach Wilcox, the night was every bit as much about putting a win into the standings as it was about putting the Taylor Trophy back into gym’s display case.

“We care about every game on the calendar. Each week is a new challenge,” he said. “What happens, happens. If we do our job right, we’ll get it done.”

Elliott’s approach was similar.

“With a young team, you want to make sure the players get better every week,” he said. “If you play a couple big games (Auburn opened with victories against defending North Division champion Federal Way and against perennial power Kentwood), guys might let down and start to coast. That was our emphasis this week: We can’t let it drop off.”