BOUNTIFUL — If Roy’s attention was sidetracked by another southern Davis County school, it only showed for about 12 minutes Friday evening.

The undefeated and No. 1 RPI-ranked Royals are set to confront once-beaten Bountiful next Thursday in what will likely decide Region 5.

But first, Roy had the not-so-small matter of dealing with 5-2 Viewmont. And for a quarter, the Vikings made their upset intentions abundantly clear.

Ultimately, when the dust — or rubberized pellets, as it were — settled, the Royals had overcome an early 14-0 deficit and emerged with their eighth victory of the season by the final tally of 42-28.

“We definitely overlooked them a little bit,” Roy senior Logan Cella said. “We were just surprised. We weren’t prepared for their first quarter.

“They came ready to go and we came out a little flat. They shocked us a little bit, but after those first few drives we came back and were ready to go.”

Featuring the first (Roy) and third (Viewmont) top-scoring teams in Class 5A, the contest was destined to be a high-flying affair.

The surprise out of the gate: it was the Vikings who struck first, second and nearly a third time.

The normally pass-happy Vikings — who have well over three times more passing than rushing yards this season — effectively went to the ground behind junior Benji Tolman. They took the opening kickoff 80 yards in 14 plays to go up 7-0 when Tolman snuck in from the 1.

Seconds later, the Viewmont offense was trotting back onto the field after Zach Anderegg intercepted a tipped pass.

Tolman again capped the drive with an up-the-gut, spinning 14-yard run and the Vikings were up 14-0 with 1:25 to play in the opening period.

Things continued to go poorly for the Royals and a three-and-out was punctuated by another disastrous sequence when Ryder Taukiuvea snuck through and blocked the Roy punt.

While a 21-0 deficit wouldn’t have been a knockout blow for the explosive Roy offense, it certainly would have made things more challenging.

With the ball at the Roy 16, Kahekili Eleneke intercepted a Titan Longson ball at the goal line and outsprinted everyone en route to 100-yard pick-six to half the Viewmont lead.

“I’d say there was a little panic after the blocked punt,” Cella said “We were a little like, ‘OK, we gotta go.’ But after Kili’s pick, we really knew we had the momentum and got going.

“We were in zone and we just dropped and he basically just threw it right to him. With Kili’s playmaking abilities, we knew he could take it back.”

The momentum-shifting play changed the entire tenor of the game.

Dru Gardner lofted a 33-yard touchdown pass to a streaking Robert Young to knot the score a short time later, which is where it remained at the half.

The Royals took the lead for good on their opening drive of the second half when Young scored from the 6 to go up 21-14.

The Vikings threatened to equalize with an unheard of 20-play drive but were turned away by the Roy defense on an incomplete pass on fourth-and-goal from the Roy 6 one minute into the fourth quarter.

A holding penalty called back a Young 76-yard touchdown reception on Roy’s next turn. But Cella made up for it on the subsequent play with an 86-yard run to paydirt, galloping farther than the official tally as he started up the right side and crossed the field to the left sideline.

“I was exhausted,” Cella said about the long run. “I came all the way to the sideline and then I cut back. I was just waiting for all of my blockers because I was like, ‘I can’t outrun anybody; I’m just so exhausted.'”

The Vikings kept it interesting when Tolman scored his third TD of the night to make it 28-21 with 6:35 to play, but Roy’s offense — which scored touchdowns on all four of its meaningful second half opportunities — wasn’t going to allow Viewmont to get any closer.

Young answered with a 68-yard touchdown run and then extended the lead to 42-21 with 3:35 left when he took a direct snap from the Viewmont 7 after Gardner left the game with an injury.

Longson threw a 40-yard Viewmont scoring pass to Ryan Tillman with less than two minutes left to account for the final score.

Unofficially, Cella carried 13 times for 190 yards, while Young added five rushing attempts for 94 yards, caught three passes for 65 yards and scored four touchdowns.