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Prep football: Roy too much for Bonneville, reaches 6-0 with 55-35 rivalry win

By BOB JUDSON - Special to the Standard-Examiner | Sep 20, 2024
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WASHINGTON TERRACE — Roy High senior all-around athlete Robert Young has had so many big games and done so many interviews this season, that the same old questions stop him in his tracks — something no opposing team has been able to do.

Young scored four touchdowns against Bonneville on Friday night: two on pass receptions, one on a 3-yard run, and on a 99-yard kickoff return.

The two teams combined for 13 touchdowns, with the Royals again piling up the points for a 55-35 victory over the Lakers in a Region 5 shootout.

“On the kick return, I was not expecting to get a chance, but whenever they kick it to me, I try my best to take it to the crib. In past games, after Fremont, a lot of teams stopped kicking it to me,” Young said. “I do actually run out of things to say anymore because I have no idea; my mind goes blank. It was a pretty good game.”

With a Northridge loss, Roy (6-0, 3-0 Region 5) stands alone at the top of the heap, leading the Knights, Bountiful and Woods Cross, who are all 2-1.

Senior quarterback Dru Gardner had his hand and feet in five touchdowns for Roy, throwing three TD passes and running for two more.

“I wouldn’t play this well if we didn’t game plan this well. My line blocked really well. My skills made a lot of plays for me. They made me look good today,” Gardner said. “We knew the way they run their defense; if we get the ball out in space, our playmakers will make plays.”

Roy had a 28-14 lead at the half and it only took 16 seconds before Young upped the ante to 34-14 with his kickoff return opening the third quarter.

Senior running back Logan Cella scored on a 3-yard run after a Bonneville punt and the Royals’ lead mounted to 41-14 with 9:14 still remaining.

Bonneville senior quarterback Cole Lueders then passed for his third touchdown of the game when he found receiver Reese Cantwell alone in the Roy secondary, resulting in a 69-yard pitch and run, which cut the lead to 41-21 with 7:26 on the scoreboard.

Lueders threw four touchdowns passes to four different receivers in a losing effort for the Lakers.

“We lost our main receiver earlier this week to injury so we had to rely on some younger kids to make some big plays, and they did great. Our O-line stepped up,” Lueders said. “We just spread the ball around and trusted our guys.”

There were still a lot of touchdowns to go, and Gardner scored his second rushing TD on a 5-yard run the next time Roy had the ball as the lead swelled to 48-21.

“My line did an amazing job, making a huge alley for me; blocking the linebackers,” Gardner said. “Those two rushing touchdowns wouldn’t have happened without those big boys up front.”

Bonneville actually outscored Roy in the fourth quarter as Laker receiver Spackman Ashton caught two touchdown passes in the period — a 21-yarder and another for 13 yards — giving Lueder his fourth and one also to backup quarterback Paden Toula.

The two Bonneville touchdowns sandwiched Gardner’s third touchdown pass, and second to Young, a 16-yard swing where Young turned what could have been a loss into the 55th Roy points.

“The passes, I just look to keep the play alive, get as many yards as I can,” Young said.

The game lasted deep into the night as Bonneville (1-5, 1-2) did not run the ball once the after the first quarter and the clock stopped after each incompletion.

“We’re a passing team; we have been this whole year. We haven’t run the ball much,” Lueders said. “We’ve been pretty successful passing, obviously. That wasn’t the game plan, but that’s how it worked out.”

Both teams totaled six touchdowns in the first half, with the Royals on the plus side to lead 28-14 at the break.

Gardner was responsible for two touchdowns in the first quarter, scoring a 13-yard keeper on the first drive and a 49-yard TD toss to Zay Morris late in the period. The Royals led 14-0 after one.

The Royals and Lakers split four touchdowns evenly in the second stanza.

Bonneville cashed in on a Roy fumbled punt when Lueders connected with leaping wideout Isaac Mansaray in the right corner of the end zone, closing the gap to 14-7 with 10:54 left in the second quarter.

The Royals answered with a six-play, 85-yard drive and Young scored from 3 yards out midway through the quarter for a 21-7 Roy lead.

Lueders then threw his second TD pass of the game, this one a scrambling 30-yarder to Jet Hirschi down the left sideline, as Bonneville again got within shouting distance at 21-14, still with 6:19 left in the half.

Gardner tossed his second touchdown pass of the half, a 2-yard flare to Young at the 2:58 mark, capping the scoring and the final points of the first half.