It’s a gamble the Royals kind of have to take given their talent, experience and potential.

Those seniors help make the Royals a likely contender for the Region 5 title and perhaps a deep playoff run.

Those seniors inflicted damage early and often to put away an inexperienced Farmington High team 38-14 to open the season Friday night.

Jaxton Schoffield blocked a punt on Farmington’s first possession, setting up a Logan Cella touchdown run (7-0, 9:45 first quarter). Then Kili Eleneke took Farmington quarterback Will Peterson’s pass for a pick-six (14-0, 8:53 first quarter) on the next drive. Mone Keiaho recovered a fumble to end Farmington’s next possession.

Farmington sacked Roy QB Dru Gardner and recovered the ensuing fumble, appearing to prevent the Royals (1-0) from going up 21-0 in the first quarter.

They went up 21-0 in the first quarter anyway.

“It was just exciting, it was good to get back out there. We wanted a good comeback after that loss to Alta last year, so it felt good to win the way we did tonight, and especially to play the way I did. So that felt good,” Eleneke said.

In perhaps the only moment Roy showed signs of loosening its vice grip, its defense gave up a freak 31-yard catch by Phoenix player Travis Hoopes down the left sideline — but pulled off a goal-line stand a few plays later.

Three plays after the stop, Roy’s Robert Young beat double coverage down the left side and went for a 90-yard touchdown on an almost-perfectly placed pass from Gardner.

Eleneke, on a third-and-15 in the second quarter, ran for a 63-yard TD to give Roy a 28-0 halftime lead.

The Royals gave up a Hoopes punt return TD early in the third quarter that cut the lead to 28-7.

If there was anything in the first half to nitpick, Roy had some trouble sustaining drives. And really, the Royals were so explosive (or the defense secured short fields) that they didn’t necessarily need sustained drives.

The Royals got their sustained drive in the third quarter, even if it was “just” 46 yards.

Young returned a kickoff to the Farmington 46-yard line. Ten plays and a fourth-down conversion later, Colby Frokjer caught Gardner’s back-corner fade for a 35-7 lead.

Eleneke grabbed his second interception on an overthrown ball in the third quarter — he credited the defensive line for the INT — and Roy blocked a fourth-quarter field goal.

Frokjer also went 5 for 5 on extra points and made a 20-yard field goal for a 38-7 lead. Farmington scored late against the second-team defense.

Roy head coach Chris Solomona was happy with the win and saw plenty for the Royals to improve, especially with two upcoming heated rivalry games: home to Fremont and home to Weber.

“Defensively we did a really good … collectively overall, I’m proud of the effort but, in terms of execution, we know we gotta make sure that we make some corrections in film tomorrow,” Solomona said.