Davis coach Bret Jepson was having his reoccurring nightmare on Tuesday during the quarterfinals of the 5A state soccer tournament when his team suddenly woke up.
In the '95 state tournament his Darts lost 1-0 to Bingham. In '97's state tournament his Darts lost 1-0 to Bingham. And only moments into the second half of the '98 version of the rivalry, Josh Wardle booted a ball across the goal and into the net, and Davis trailed Bingham 1-0.The bad dream ended however for Jepson when his second-ranked Darts kept history from repeating itself and advanced to the state semifinals Tuesday with a 3-1 win at Alta High School.
"They get up, and it is hard to score," said Jepson who has coached for Bingham and has close personal ties to the school. "They score one goal, and they win games. We were happy to do that (score three times) against such a good defensive team."
Senior J.J. Shaw drew first blood for the Darts when he won a showdown with the Bingham keeper. In a race for the ball, Shaw managed to just nudge it past the goalie who sent him sprawling while the ball dribbled into the net. Shaw - who watched his shot from worm's-eye view even stayed on the ground for an extra minute with an injury while his team celebrated the tie.
The initial goal - along with a yellow card given to senior Wade Robinson - seemed to wake up the Davis troops as they rallied around the emotional moments.
"He (Robinson) is an emotional leader. He just seems to get them going," Jepson said.
Only a few minutes later, under intense Dart pressure, Mike Esquivel made the most of a hard bouncing missile that squirted out of the Bingham keeper's hands and and into a wall of Davis players. Esquivel corralled the ball and softly put it away.
"It was just bouncing around so I tapped it in," he said.
Esquivel struck again a few minutes later on a hard bouncing cross-shot. He stooped to get his head on the ball, pushing a hard bouncer just wide of the goalie and into the net, seemingly in slow motion.
"I just saw it floating in the air," he said.
"It was a tough win against a tough team," Jepson said. "We played as a team, and we stayed together. We are a senior team; we have 14 seniors. In the first half we were half asleep but give them credit. For awhile they were getting to the ball first and working harder."
Bingham ends the season 9-5, while Davis stands at 11-2 with at least one more to play. The Darts, ranked second much of the season, will face the top-ranked Bengals Thursday at 6 p.m. at Jordan High School.
In other quarterfinal action:
ALTA 5, COTTONWOOD 2: In what some considered the match of the day, the Hawks scored early and often against a highly regarded Cottonwood squad. Matt Affleck outscored the Colts with his hat trick while Scott Richins and Scott Jones chipped in a score each. The Hawks scored a goal in the opening minutes of the game and scored again in the opening minutes of the half. The quick strikes seemed to make much of the difference in the hard-fought contest. Jones tallied three assists to go with his goal. The Hawks face Layton Thursday at 4:15 p.m. at Jordan.
LAYTON 2, GRANGER 0: Layton defeated Granger 2-0, scoring late in the game to secure a tough win. Devin Burrup scored first for the Lancers, but it wasn't until the 70th minute that Mike Hicks added the insurance goal on a penalty kick. Layton faces Alta at 4:15 p.m. on Thursday at Jordan High.
BRIGHTON 3, MOUNTAIN VIEW 0: The old regional rivals squared off again with a familiar result. The Bruins played the young Bengals tough, but after several scoring chances for each team it was Brighton that made the breakthrough goal when Devin Matsumori assisted Adam Swenson who beat his defender by a step and rocketed a shot into the net. Andy Simmons and Joey Forester also scored fro the Bengals. Brighton faces Davis in what promises to be a classic Thursday at 6 p.m. at Jordan High.