Gary Czenkus 
Gary Czenkus 
Gary Czenkus 
We put in the work in the offseason. After we lost to East (in a first-round playoff game) last Nov. 1, the next Monday after that game in the weight room we started getting ready for this season and I think it's paid off. – Roy quarterback Tyler Skidmore
ROY — At the beginning of the 2014 high school football season, Roy coach Fred Fernandes said, "This is gonna be that once-in-every-20-years year for Roy."
Well, turns out this is gonna be that once-in-every-33-years year for the Royals instead.
On a day when they honored former head coach Ernie Jacklin, who guided Roy to the only state football championship in school history back in 1981, the undefeated Royals (11-0) punched their long-awaited ticket to next week's 4A state semifinals at Rice-Eccles Stadium with a 28-12 victory over a big, strong Salem Hills squad Friday afternoon.
Senior quarterback Tyler Skidmore threw three touchdown passes — two to Nate Jones and one to Cody Hobbs — while Hobbs led a fierce defensive effort that shut down the Skyhawks and their own dynamic senior QB, Porter Gustin. And sophomore Tyler Eteuati came up with a pair of huge defensive plays to help the Royals roar into the state semis for the first time since that championship season 33 years ago.
"It's awesome," said Skidmore, who completed 12 of 18 passes for 247 yards. "I've been waiting for this since I was playing rec football, me and my buddies, and now it's finally here. It doesn't seem very real right now but we'll enjoy this for 24 hours and then we'll come ready to play next week.
"We put in the work in the offseason. After we lost to East (in a first-round playoff game) last Nov. 1, the next Monday after that game in the weight room we started getting ready for this season and I think it's paid off.
"We got bigger up front — in the three previous years I've been here, we've kinda been outmanned up front on both sides of the ball," Skidmore said. "But we've got studs up there now with great technique and great strength and they're really well-coached, and they've done a really great job for us."
On Roy's second offensive possession, Skidmore flipped a quick inside screen pass to Jones, who broke loose over the middle and steamed 49 yards for the game's first touchdown. Ben Aikuli added the first of four PATs to give Roy a 7-6 lead it never relinquished.
"It was a good job by my line," Jones said modestly. "If I wouldn't have had such a good line, then I would've have been able to catch those passes.
"I didn't even get touched. I thank my linemen every time; without them, I probably would've gotten killed if they didn't block for me."
Jones wound up with five catches for 152 yards, including a key 26-yard TD catch with just 10.9 seconds remaining in the half that swung the momentum back in Roy's favor after Salem Hills had scored just 31 seconds earlier on a 4-yard run by Isaac Parrish to pull within 7-6.
"I'm excited," Jones said of the resurgent Royals' run to the state semifinals, which included another standing-room-only crowd at Ernest Durbano Field on Friday. "I've been waiting for this for a long time.
"Yeah, our crowd was great again. My friend Kell is always screaming for us."
Salem Hills took the second-half kickoff and drove to midfield before Eteuati came up with arguably the biggest play of the game.
After Gustin completed a short pass, his receiver was battling for extra yardage after the catch when Eteuati swiped the ball away and went 55 yards for a touchdown that gave the Royals a 21-6 lead over the startled Skyhawks.
"He's a special player," Fernandes said of Eteuati. "He's a sophomore and he's a playmaker — that's what he does. Whether it's a punt return or a pick late in the back of the end zone or ripping the ball out and running it 50 yards for a touchdown, it just seems like (big plays) always just follow him around."
"That kinda came out of nowhere," Roy defensive coordinator Eric Jones said of Eteuati's game-changing play. "He approached me right after halftime and he said, 'I'm going in.' I hadn't made that decision, but he said 'I'm going in.' So we talked it over and put him in there, and he made some huge plays.
"The strip that he took back for a touchdown changed the game. And his interception (in the fourth quarter) closed the deal. He's one of those kids that just has that 'it' factor; he just makes plays. Sometimes he doesn't know his responsibilities, but it's hard to keep him off the field because he's a playmaker."
After Eteuati's startling steal-and-run play, the Skyhawks tried to battle back.
Gustin soon generated another Salem Hills drive, passing and running the Skyhawks all the way to the Roy 1-yard line. He pushed his way into the end zone from there to make it 21-12, as their two-point conversion pass fell incomplete.
After a Roy drive was stopped inside the Skyhawks' 5, Nate Jones soon intercepted a fourth-and-long pass and returned it all the way to the Salem Hills 9.
On the next play, Skidmore flipped a TD toss to Hobbs, and Aikuli's leg made it 28-12.
Salem Hills refused to quit and again drove downfield, getting as far as the Roy 3-yard line on Gustin's long pass to Trevor Gasser.
But just when it looked like the Skyhawks might still be alive, that man Eteuati got up high off his feet to pick off Gustin's pass at the back of the end zone to snuff Salem Hills' last threat.
Hobbs led a superb and determined defensive effort for Roy with 13 total tackles, including a tackle for loss, a couple of quarterback hurries and two pass deflections. He also had four catches for 69 yards and the TD on offense, while Baby Tee Eteuati led the Royals' ground game with 67 tough yards on 12 carries.
But it was Roy's defense that really stole the show against a Salem Hills team which had averaged well over 30 points per game this season.
"Our kids just really fought so hard tonight, going against a team that's so much bigger than us and that stud quarterback," said Coach Jones, who put together a brilliant game plan. "I just couldn't be more proud of our guys.
"Gosh, I don't know how well we contained him; he still got quite a bit of yardage on us," he said of Gustin. "But I thought the kids did a really good job executing what we wanted to do, and that was taking away the running game, which was our first priority — not that they run it that much — but we took it away when they did want to run it. And we mixed up our zone and man coverage and were giving them different looks. And I thought our kids played really well.
"I thought the difference tonight was we were more athletic than they were at times," Coach Jones said. "They were bigger and stronger and all that stuff, but our kids fought so hard and used their athleticism and speed to their advantage to get some big sacks and make some plays that I don't think other teams have been able to make against them."
Salem Hills wound up its season at 10-2 with the loss, while Roy roars into next Friday's 4A semifinals at 11 a.m. at Rice-Eccles Stadium.
Coach Fernandes said he's not surprised by his team's stirring success.
"With these kids, I expected them to be in the semifinals and I expect them to do well in the semifinals," he said. "Let's put it that way.
"It's wonderful, and the best thing about it is the quality of these kids. They're good football players, but they're really good people, too, and that's the biggest shine on this whole thing.
"I get mad at 'em quite a bit," Fernandes said, "but I still love 'em and I think they know that."
EMAIL: rhollis@desnews.com