Help with germination

your technique sounds solid, brother
the numbers are kind of in line with what i would expect
/ pro seeds will usually give a good 4 out of five strike rate or higher, freebies ( maybe older stock ): a bit lower; 100%, you must be getting some pretty good bag seed

i have some of those same 9 count cell trays
i use those mainly for cuttings but they have holes in the bottom and offer good drainage

what i like to do is flip the RR cubes upside down, so their top is now the bottom
then i poke a hole in the other side with a pen or something and fit the pre'soaked seed in
sometimes the seed has already throw that white leg, so i just tear a larger hole into the cubes soft material
then just like you, i will tear off little pieces to fill in any gaps
the wider cross section of the inverted cube gives a more stable base, plus i can create a hole in the other side the size i want
/or create a flap to nestle the sprouted seed in

i used to do paper towel method like crusader rabbit describes as well
but sometimes the root gets caught up in the fibers of the paper towel and you ahve to kind of wrestle your seedling out
/ in those cases i would just put the whole thing, paper towel and all into the growing medium
but like rabit' said, the less stress the better

I have a black ceramic bowl that i put a folded wed paper towel in and place the seeds on and fold it over them...i never soak them in water anymore as I only had about 50% them pop ...and i now that i do the paper towel 17 of 20 popped and all survived into lil seedlings.

*i also cover the bowl with a ceramic plate TO keep the moisture in. They are in the bowl for 2-3 days and then go into my coco in solo cups. Pretty happy with the results.