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Roy's Corben Schuffenhauer, left, runs past Northridge's Azavier McDaniel on Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023, in Roy.

Photo supplied, Gordon Doxey

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Roy's Cole West, top left, is lifted in the air by Cade Draper after West's touchdown against Northridge on Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023, in Roy.

Photo supplied, Gordon Doxey

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Northridge players Austin Murphy, bottom, Quinn Bideaux (35) and Azavier McDaniel (20) make a stop on Roy's Robert Young, left, on Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023, in Roy.

Photo supplied, Gordon Doxey

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ROY — The Northridge Knights picked up a contingent of new supporters stretching along the Wasatch Front from Brigham City to Woods Cross ahead of Thursday night’s regular-season finale.

A Northridge victory over Roy would jumble the league standings and cause a three-way tie for first in Region 5 between the Royals, Box Elder and the victor of the Bountiful/Woods Cross contest.

Roy decided it wanted the title all to itself.

By earning a resounding 49-14 victory over the Knights, the Royals set the potential mayhem to the wayside — disappointing more than a few rival fan bases in the process — and secured their first outright region championship since 2014.

“Real good night,” Roy’s Corben Schuffenhauer said. “Fun senior night, last little memory. But now we’ve got playoffs, so bigger things to play for now.

“We just prepared like it was any other week. We knew (Northridge) has some good players over there, so we just came in knowing that we don’t want to share (the region crown).”

Along with fellow senior Cole West, Schuffenhauer caught a pair of touchdowns and had an interception as the game got out of hand early.

In fact, the only major mishap of the evening for the Royals (8-2, 6-1 Region 5) came when they coughed up the opening kickoff. The defense forced the Knights to hand the ball back over on downs and the offense took control from there, scoring touchdowns on all four of its first-half possessions.

“We don’t get too high, we don’t get too low, we just continue to keep going,” Roy head coach Chris Solomona said. “It just shows the resiliency of a team that’s continued to grow together, that’s continued to trust each other.

“We’re just peaking at the right time,” Solomona continued. “These guys, they’re understanding their roles, they’re understanding what being tight, what being together, what being a brotherhood is and what it really stands for.”

The Royals got contributions across the board with quarterbacks Joseph Cariaga III and Dru Gardner having big nights, along with teammates DaeQwan Snider and Robert Young.

Cariaga threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to Schuffenhauer for the game’s first points with 5:19 to play in the first quarter. Jake Viers then made it a two-touchdown game when he jumped a Northridge flare pass and turned the interception into a 70-yard pick-six.

Schuffenhauer followed with another touchdown reception, this one from Gardner for a 24-yard score on the first play of the second quarter.

Northridge (4-6, 2-5) found the end zone midway through the second period after the Royals botched a punt return, fumbling the ball away inside their own territory. It took nine plays starting at the Roy 44, but quarterback Michael Marriott eventually found sophomore Andrew Ortiz in the end zone on a rollout 1-yard flip pass on fourth-and-goal.

The Roy assault continued, however, with West dominating the last 1:32 of the second period. First, he made a nice route adjustment and caught a Cariaga offering for a 24-yard score.

A few players later, he intercepted Marriott with 36 seconds left in the half. Then, with 11 seconds left, he caught a 6-yard slant from Gardner to push the lead to 35-7 at the half to all but cement the game.

“I just credit this coaching staff and the players for staying bought in and committed since last November,” Solomona said. “We’ve faced a lot of adversity, but this one for sure — if they did everything right — we knew we’d be celebrating the way we are now.”

The Knights swapped quarterbacks to open the second half but didn’t have any more success with Jake Benzley behind center. He was intercepted by Schuffenhauer on Northridge’s first possession. Cariaga then danced his way down the field and into the end zone for a 30-yard keeper.

Robert Young hauled in another interception shortly thereafter and was rewarded by having his number called for a 1-yard touchdown run to make it 49-7.

Ortiz scored on a 15-yard run in the closing minutes for Northridge to account for the final score.

“We’re pretty healthy right now and I think our confidence is at a high so (the playoffs) will be fun,” Schuffenhauer said.

Cariaga threw 5 of 8 for 67 yards and two scores, adding 58 rushing yards for Roy. Gardner was 5 of 5 through the air for 49 yards. Snider rushed for 60 yards on 11 carries, adding a 15-yard reception, and Young rushed for 43 yards. Schuffenhauer totaled 49 receiving yards and West 35.

For Northridge, Marriott was 20 of 33 passing for 182 yards, with Jaxon Fresques hauling in nine balls for 109 yards. Benzley rushed three times for 56 yards.

BOUNTIFUL 24, WOODS CROSS 17

WOODS CROSS — On third down, with 4:42 left in the game and the score tied, Emerson Geilman lofted a deep pass and Brandon Wilkinson hauled in an over-the-shoulder catch behind the defense and turned the pass into a game-winning, 66-yard touchdown as Bountiful grabbed a road win at Woods Cross.

Siaki Fekitoa opened the scoring on a 6-yard run for Bountiful (6-4, 5-2 Region 5) in the first quarter. Geilman found Jacob Brooks for a 6-yard score to put the Redhawks up 14-10 with 8:49 left in the third quarter.

Landon Zayas converted a 23-yard field goal to give Bountiful a 17-10 lead with 8:54 left in the game.

Geilman completed 12 of 14 passes for 234 yards and two touchdowns.

Ben Smith-Mecham kicked a 24-yard field goal to get Woods Cross (6-4, 4-3 Region 5) on the board with 11:57 left in the first half. Isaac Johnson scored on an 11-yard run at the 5:54 mark in the second quarter, and the Wildcats led 10-7 at the half.

Charlie Coates ripped a 3-yard touchdown run up the middle to tie the game 17-17 with 5:45 left in the game, setting up the late-minutes drama.

SCORES, NO STATS REPORTED

Altamont 59, St. Joseph 32

Justin B. Johnson contributed to score reports.