Now with week three in the books and region play looming next week, things are looking up for the Royals, and, well, not quite as hopeful for the Falcons.

In a matchup between a pair of first-year head coaches in Clearfield’s Carl Harry and Roy’s Chris Solomona, the Royals won their second consecutive outing with a 53-12 decision over the Falcons.

The loss was Clearfield’s ninth in a row overall and eleventh straight to Roy. The Falcons haven’t defeated the Royals since the aughts when they turned in a 27-7 decision back in 2009.

The contests between the neighboring schools haven’t been particularly close either during Roy’s recent winning streak with a 23-point average spread. Only one game over the span was decided by less than a touchdown, an 18-16 Royal win in 2010 that snapped Roy’s 20-game winless skid.

Friday night turned out to be more of the same as the Royals continued to batter the struggling Falcons. Roy hit Clearfield with a barrage early on and never looked back.

Aidan Hart drilled a 38-yard field goal to start things off with 4:28 in the first quarter as Roy scored 18 points in a 28-second span, keyed by a pair of Falcon fumbles.

Trevon Moreland smothered the first loose ball and a play later DaeQuan Snider broke numerous tackle attempts en route to a 17-yard touchdown.

Brandon Brechbill recovered another fumble moments later and again, on the first play from scrimmage, Roy found the end zone. This time Dru Gardner threw it back to Robert Young, who then found Cove Rodriguez across the middle for a 41-yard score.

Clearfield narrowed the gap to 18-7 on its next possession as penalty after penalty by the Royals (six in all) moved the ball down the field. The Falcons took advantage as Lincoln Church found CJ Brakey in the back corner of the end zone to put Clearfield on the scoreboard.

It was all Roy after that as the Falcons continued to self-destruct.

The only remaining drama was a brief stoppage in play as security searched for a fan that tossed what appeared to be a single Crocs shoe into the west end zone in apparent disgust over a call.

At the 7:18 mark of the second period, Jaydan Hurt kept the ball for a 6-yard score to make it 25-7.

The Royals then hit Clearfield with another scoring spurt to end the half.

Kempton Christensen’s blocked punt led to a 3-yard touchdown on a jet sweep. Then 21 seconds later, following a Rodriguez interception, Corben Shuffenhauer hauled in a tipped pass from Gardner for a 41-yard touchdown to make it 39-7 at the half.

Clearfield’s Canyon Dugger sacked Roy backup quarterback Colby Frokjer in the end zone for a safety while Trace Hansen kicked a 30-yard field goal to account for the Falcons’ points in the second half.

Frokjer tossed a pair of touchdowns in the waning minutes for Roy, first to Isaiah Morris and then to Davon Harvey.