Here's the final tally for Davis running back Brian Kynaston: three touchdowns, including the one that tied the game; three extra points, including the game-winner; 29 carries; 223 yards; and a Rice Stadium date for his team next week in the 4A quarterfinals.
The final tally for the Davis Darts was a 21-20 victory against defending state champion Alta in the first round of the 4A state playoffs thanks to a game-winning 21-play - yes, 21 plays - drive that consumed more than 10 minutes."Our idea was to run the ball and run the clock at the same time," Davis Coach Jim Dickson said.
Your idea worked, coach.
After falling behind 20-14 with 10:52 left in the game, Davis was just hoping to score no matter how long it took. Alta's Brett Brian gave Alta its only lead on a 17-yard TD run, but the snap on the PAT was bobbled by the holder and his pass to the end zone fell incomplete leaving the door open for Davis.
"I was a little scared," Kynaston said about Alta's lead, "but we sucked it up and gave it all we had."
He was speaking of The Drive that ended with 43 seconds left in the game.
It began on Davis' 20-yard line and when it was done, only three guys handled the ball - Kynaston, fullback Travis Hill and sophomore quarterback Todd Heath.
Heath, starting only his second game, had the two key plays in the drive when he scrambled for seven yards on a fourth-and-six situation at Alta's 26 to keep the thing alive.
"That was a gutty move by a sophomore quarterback," Dickson said. "The play was going to be a pass to the tight end and Todd did a great job scrambling."
Three plays later, facing a third-and-5 at the Hawks' 14, Heath called his own number again gaining exactly five for another first down.
Kynaston finished The Drive with a 1-yard dive for the tying TD. But there was still this little matter of an extra point into a gusting wind.
So Kynaston got up from the pile in the end zone, set his kicking block and calmly knocked it through.
"I had total confidence," Kynaston said. "(The ball) was heading outside, but the wind blew it inside the goal post."
Amidst all the Kynaston hoopla, the performance by Alta's Brian was overshadowed. The senior scored all three of Alta's TDs, and rushed for 202 yards. In fact, the entire game looked more like a Kynaston-Brian grudge match.
Kynaston scored the game's first TD on a 44-yard run, with Brian coming back three minutes later with a 2-yard touchdown run. Kynaston scored next on a 30-yard gallop, but Brian, subscribing to the theory that anything Kynaston can do he could do at least as well, scored on a trap play from 33 yards making it 14-all at the intermission.
"Our front line blocked today like never before," Kynaston explained taking no credit. Dickson summed it up his star running back by saying, "He's a great player who had a great game."