Gulf Shores coach Mark Hudspeth believes senior Ronnie Royal is primed for a great senior year.

The N.C. State commit showed it Thursday night.

Royal scored two touchdowns, had two more called back and also intercepted a pass as the Class 5A No. 9 Dolphins built a big lead and cruised past Philip Rivers and St. Michael Catholic 41-20 in the opener for both teams.

“That guy has a motor that just won’t stop,” Hudspeth said. “He’s amazing. I’m so proud of him.”

Royal even got a postgame fist bump from Rivers, a former N.C. State quarterback.

“I just told him, ‘Go Pack,’” Rivers said. “He’s really good. They’re really good. They do a heck of a job. Their combination of size and especially speed really hurt us tonight.”

Royal scored on a 13-yard TD run in the first quarter and a 20-yard TD reception from Alex Rippy over a pair of St. Michael defenders in the final seconds of the first half. He finished with four carries for 34 yards and three receptions for 47 along with playing cornerback on defense.

He got a lot of help on this night from Kolin Wilson. The transfer from Mobile Christian broke off runs of 79 and 99 yards – the second of which was the longest in Gulf Shores history. He finished with 244 yards and 3 TDs on just eight carries.

“He adds another weapon for us,” Hudspeth said of Wilson. “It allows us to play Ronnie more at the inside slot and Braden (Jackson) at the ‘X’ and have Kolin at running back some, and that makes coverage difficult for defenses.”

In an effort to replace last year’s senior quarterback, Brendon Byrd, Gulf Shores alternated between Judson Harris and Rippy at the position.

“We would sort of like to decide on one, but both have done well enough to earn some type of playing time,” he said. “I don’t know if we will go all in with one or not because they both have some ability. They both can do some good things.”

Thursday’s game was the official debut of St. Michael freshman QB Gunner Rivers – the oldest son of Philip Rivers. He was under heavy pressure most of the night but seemed to find his rhythm in the second half as the Dolphins started to play their reserves.

He finished 28-of-55 for 356 yards and three touchdowns. He threw for 292 yards in the second half on 16-of-30 attempts.

“No doubt, they subbed,” Rivers said. “However, we’ve got a ninth-grade quarterback, a 10th-grade receiver in Brody Jones, a 10th-grade receiver in Tucker Tomlinson. We are young. We’ve got to play. And, frankly, the guys he subbed in are about what we see week in and week out. We don’t see Braden Jackson and Ronnie Royal every week.”

This post will be updated