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ROY — For the last four years, Roy football's great regular seasons have ended with a home playoff loss.
The bad memories include West's walkoff kick return touchdown in 2020, Westlake's game-winning field goal in 2021 (a 30-28 finish), Weber's blowout win in 2022 and Alta's goal-line stand in 2023.
Friday night's quarterfinal against Viewmont was a rosy affair. The Royals led by 21 points in the first quarter and as much as 29 overall in a 43-29 win over the No. 8 Vikings to send the No. 1 Royals to next week's 5A state semifinal against Timpview.
The Royals (11-1) keep stacking accolades to their 2024 season: back-to-back Region 5 champions, first semifinal appearance since 2018 and first double-digit playoff win season since 2014.
"I'm really excited, you know, the past three years I've been here, we haven't been able to get there," Roy quarterback Dru Gardner said. "Past two years we've lost at home in a playoff game, so finally getting over that hump and getting to Rice-Eccles is really huge for our confidence."
Roy coach Chris Solomona added: "And with this group right here, we knew that, hey, we'll find a way to get there. We'd have to earn it for sure, but it was written in a sense. We just felt like, hey, this is our time and we've got to leave it all out there."
In the teams' regular-season meeting, Viewmont (8-4) led 14-0 after the first quarter before Roy eventually won 42-28. Starting fast was a big talking point all week for the Royals, and that's exactly what happened Friday night.
Roy built a 21-0 first-quarter lead off the back of efficient offense and a defense that stopped three Viewmont fourth downs. Gardner found Zay Morris for a 53-yard touchdown before short TD runs from Logan Cella and Robert Young to make it 21-0.
Viewmont's Titan Longson ran for a 10-yard TD, then Roy's Colby Frokjer made a 27-yard field goal for a 24-7 lead. The Royals could've led by more at halftime but fumbled just before the break while deep in Viewmont territory.
Another Frokjer field goal in the third quarter made it 27-7, then Longson hit Cache Tuia for a 30-yard touchdown pass untouched up the middle. Roy responded with a quick drive, ending with Gardner's 24-yard TD pass to Young in the back corner of the end zone on third down.
Sam Smith forced a Longson intentional grounding call in the end zone, resulting in a safety and a 36-14 lead at the start of the fourth quarter. Gardner found Morris on a slant route for a 43-14 lead at the 5:10 mark to put the game away.
"We were just reacting to what they were giving us. We know who our playmakers are and if they give us that space, we're gonna take it," Gardner said.
The Vikings got consolation touchdown catches by Drez Jensen and Ryan Tillman in the final minutes against Roy's backups.
Viewmont got to the quarterfinals by becoming the first team north of Salt Lake City to beat East since 2014 when they upset the Leopards 10-7 last week in the second round of the playoffs.
Another upset wasn't in the cards, so the Vikings' wait for a first state semifinal appearance since 1980 goes on.
Roy now turns its attention to the vaunted Timpview Thunderbirds, who they face next Friday at 11 a.m. MST at Rice-Eccles Stadium.
