DRAPER — Layton's appearance in the 5A soccer championship game may have been a few years overdue, but it took Kyle Christensen a measly three seconds to make up for lost time.

After a scintillating first half in which Layton led Viewmont by one, Christensen sucked the life right out of the Vikings by launching a 60-yard goal from the midfield stripe just three seconds into the second half.

Exactly one minute later, Scott Whitesides stunned the

Vikings again to cap Layton's impressive 4-1 romp on the way to the 5A championship.

"That's a bad way to start the second half," said Viewmont coach Casey Layton.

It's even tougher for the Vikings to swallow the most memorable goal of the state tournament, because they were expecting it.

When Layton opens a half with the kickoff, Christensen always boots a shot on goal. It's not so much that Layton is trying to score — because prior to Friday Christensen had never made one in practice or in a game — it's just a tactic of putting an opponent on its heels.

"The player who passed it to me played it a little different, and it just set up perfectly for me," said Christensen, who finished the season with 27 goals in 18 games.

Viewmont's goalie was ready for Christensen's shot, but it was placed perfectly in the upper right-hand corner of the goal. He tried to punch it over the crossbar, but it just banged off the bottom of the bar and into the net.

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The goal sent Layton's sideline into hysterics, because the players knew they weren't about to squander a two-goal lead — especially with the coveted state title on the line.

Each of the past three seasons, Layton has bowed out of the quarterfinals against a team it should've beaten. Christensen was a part of all three of those teams.

It was those annual hardships that Layton coach Rick Talamantez believes prepared his team for the ultimate stage Friday.

"This is a veteran team," said Talamantez. "Two years ago they were just as strong as this year, but they just weren't mature enough."

Friday's 4-1 triumph capped a state tournament in which Layton outscored its opponents 21-2 in four games.

The nearly packed house at Juan Diego couldn't have asked for a more entertaining first half. Jeremy Harris opened the scoring in the 12th minute by heading a perfectly struck corner from Ben Steggell. Three minutes later, Viewmont's Zacc Call headed in the equalizer on a corner kick by Zach Wigham.

The game appeared to be evolving into another thrilling Region 1 showdown between the Northern Utah schools. Layton won the first meeting 2-1, but two weeks before the playoffs, Viewmont beat Layton 1-0 to spoil their bid at an undefeated season.

Three minutes after Viewmont's corner kick tally, the Lancers converted on another corner kick, this one courtesy of Shane Stratford.

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"Viewmont is a great team; they played us well," said Talamantez. "The boys wanted a little revenge for the loss (earlier this year)."

As disappointing as it was for the Vikings to fall short, they had an incredible season.

"All that aside, they played their guts out," said Viewmont coach Layton. "Until we got to the tournament, no one knew how good we were."


E-mail: jedward@desnews.com

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