Photo supplied, Gordon Doxey

ROY — Two weeks ago against Northridge, Roy scored on a series of dink-and-dunk long drives and overall struggled to move the ball.

Friday, the Royals were back to their big-play selves in a 5A second-round high school football playoff game against Granger.

No. 1 Roy had several big-chunk plays on offense and advanced to the quarterfinals with a dominant, 45-28 blowout of the No. 17 Lancers.

Senior running back Logan Cella scored three touchdowns and set the tone with a pair in the first quarter as the Royals jumped to an early lead.

“Our OC thought we could run the ball against them and my O-line did the job. They played their butts off and gave me holes to go score. We really didn’t know what to expect coming in; just kind of go through the game and see what was working,” Cella said. “Luckily almost everything was working for us. I was able to run the ball and open up more of our playmakers like Rob (Young) and Zay (Morris).”

Photo supplied, Gordon Doxey

Young had a 52-yard touchdown catch in the second quarter and Morris added a 47-yarder in the third period.

Both touchdowns came off the talented arm of senior quarterback Dru Gardner, who finished with three scoring strikes overall.

“It was pretty good; I’m proud of it,” Gardner said. “I couldn’t have done it without my linemen. They did very well today and the receivers were making me look good.”

Roy (10-1) led 31-7 at the break and scored on its initial possession of the third quarter after the Royals’ defense pounced on the third Granger fumble of the game.

“We were trying to keep our foot on the gas pedal the whole time. We knew if we let up this team is good enough to come back,” Gardner said.

Photo supplied, Gordon Doxey

On the fourth snap after the turnover, Cella raced 50 yards up the middle of the field for his third touchdown, and Roy expanded its lead to 38-7 with 7:17 left in the period.

“A simple inside zone. My left guard sealed it. I was patient and my center took out the backer, then I had to outrun everybody,” Cella said.

Granger (6-6) countered with a 1-yard TD run by Sunia Fifita, but Gardner then threw his third touchdown pass of the game, the 47-yarder to an uncovered Morris, and Roy led 45-14.

“As soon as I see them wide open, I just try to get it to them; don’t try to underthrow it or overthrow it,” Gardner said. Put it right on them and let them go to work.”

The Lancers added two fourth-quarter touchdowns to close the gap against Roy’s backup players. Fifita rushed for three touchdowns for Granger on the night.

Photo supplied, Gordon Doxey

Roy’s halftime lead came by totaling two touchdowns in each quarter. The two TDs in the first period were of the ground-and-pound variety, while the Royals aired it out in the second stanza for a pair of longer scores.

Cella set up the first Roy touchdown with a 49-yard screen pass from Gardner, then finished it on a 7-yard run just 43 seconds and four plays into the game for an early 7-0 lead.

“The first play of the game was explosive and we felt we could beat them through scoring. It was a screen to the left and they bit on the stretch to the right,” Cella said.

Late in the first quarter, Granger fumbled a punt and Roy recovered at the Lancer 30. Four straight runs by Cella found the end zone when he bulled over from 14 yards out, making it 13-0 for touchdown number two.

Gardner found a wide-open Young for his 52-yard touchdown toss, on the tail end of a double reverse, as Roy’s lead mounted to 21-0 midway through the second quarter.

Photo supplied, Gordon Doxey

“The coaches drew up a good play; it was like a trick play with a double pass in it,” Gardner said. “It was a great call by my coach. He’s always setting us up in the right positions.”

After yet another Granger fumble, Roy went up 28-0 just more than one minute later on Gardner’s second TD, a 17-yard pass to Hunter Webb.

Granger got on the board with a wildcat 1-yard run by Fifita and Colby Frokjer split the uprights from 35-yards out for a Roy field goal as time expired at the half.

Roy will host No. 8 Viewmont on Friday, Nov. 8, in a quarterfinal rematch of its Region 5 victory over the Vikings in the regular season.

The Royals had two weeks to heal after their win against Northridge but will have to recover quickly after another injury-filled game against Granger.

Frokjer is kicking with a broken shoulder blade and Young, Webb, Beau Brown and Skyler Staheli all left the game in the third quarter after extended periods of being treated on the artificial turf Friday.

“We’re pretty sure they’ll be ready (next week); if not, we have that next-man-up mentality and we’ll be OK either way,” Gardner said.