Before Cyprus could even get comfortable with the fact it was actually in the 4A quarterfinals, Davis Coach Jim Dickson was calling the play that would be the beginning of the end of the Pirates' season.
On the first play from scrimmage, the Darts called a double reverse with the quarterback eventually throwing the ball. So after a pitch to the fullback, and a handoff to the split end, Dart QB Todd Heath had both the ball back and a receiver well behind the Cyprus secondary. All fullback Travis Hill had to do was wait for Heath to throw the thing so he could catch it and run into the end zone.He got the TD, only to have the Darts miss the extra point. But that was about the only thing the Darts did wrong Friday night at Rice Stadium as they overwhelmed Cyprus 37-0 to advance to the 4A semifinals next week against Brighton.
At halftime, the domination was apparent as Davis led 24-0 and had 271 yards of total offense. The Pirates had 41. For the game, Davis finished with 442 yards. Cyprus mustered 11 yards of offense in the second half.
Following Hill's touchdown, Cyprus fumbled on its own 26 which eventually led to a Brian Kynaston 33-yard field goal making it 9-0. By this time, Cyprus' major upset of then No. 1-ranked Mountain View a week ago was nothing but a vague memory.
Kynaston, easily one of the best running backs in the state, racked up another big rushing night but was kept out of the end zone. He finished with 99 yards - all gained in the first half. The Darts' big play guy was Hill. Besides his 64-yard TD reception to begin the game, he added a 55-yard scoring run in the third quarter from Davis' double-wing offense that seemed to confuse Cyprus the entire night. Hill finished with 106 yards on 10 carries.
As good as the Davis offense was, the Darts' defense hunkered down to shut out the Pirates. They finally got past the 50-yard-line late in the fourth quarter, but until then their deepest penetration was to their own 46. Cyprus never had a serious scoring threat.
Davis improved its lead to 16-0 with 10:17 left in the second quarter after a 70-yard, 13-play drive resulted in a Heath 13-yard keeper for another TD. The drive appeared stalled at Davis' 24, but a facemask penalty hurt Cyprus in one of the rare times it stopped Davis' attack.
Facing a third-and-19 situation from its own 21, Kynaston was stacked up for a short gain. But during the tackle, his facemask was grabbed giving the Darts the first down.
Burke Rigby finished the first-half scoring with a 1-yard plunge making it 24-0.
Besides Hill's second touchdown, the only other score in the second half was a 3-yard run by backup quarterback Brad Bodily. Again the extra point failed.
OK, so Davis did two things wrong.