ROY — Thanks to Layton, soccer teams in Class 5A still own bragging rights over their 4A counterparts — barely.
Defending 5A champion Layton scored on a Kellan Christensen penalty kick in the 79th minute to edge defending 4A champion Roy 2-1 Wednesday afternoon.
"I'm not a believer in penalty kicks in the last two minutes, but everyone I talked to on the sidelines thought it was a good call," said Layton coach Rick Talamantez. "I'm not complaining, I'll take it. It's always good to start out the season with a win."
Surprisingly, despite the questionable call, Roy coach David Sanders wasn't complaining either.
Sure, he would've rather seen the teams settle things in overtime, but in many ways he thinks his team got what it deserved. From the start of the second half until Layton's tying goal in the 72nd minute, Roy looked sluggish.
"There was just a lack of intensity," said Sanders. "I haven't sorted out what it was yet."
It could've been a lack of fitness, poor substitution patterns or an increasing level of overconfidence.
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Roy took a 1-0 lead in the eighth minute on a goal from Jess Patterson, and essentially dominated the remainder of the first half.
After going 16-0-1 last year, the Royals looked like they were picking up right where they left off despite graduating 10 seniors. Layton, meanwhile, appeared to be struggling a bit with key returning players in different positions.
Talamantez wasn't worried though, even as that 1-0 deficit spilled into the 70th minute.
"I didn't think we'd lose," he said. "I figured our attack was good enough that we'd get one goal, but I didn't know about a second."
Three minutes before Ryan Coombs' equalizing goal in the 72nd minute, Talamantez got a phone call from his brother. He was curious about the score, and Talamantez informed him they were losing 1-0. His brother said not to worry, they'd score within three minutes.
To the astonishment of every player and coach on Layton's bench, almost exactly three minutes later, Coombs tied the game at 1-1. Talamantez joked that the soccer gods were watching over his team Wednesday.
He hopes that trend continues throughout the year as the Lancers try meshing the six contributors from last year's team with a talented group of young players.
In other soccer games:
GRANITE 2, GRANGER 0:Christian Salgado sealed the game with his second-half goal and Juan Hernandez blanked the Lancers.
BOX ELDER 3, ROWLAND HALL 0:Tyler Hardy notched three assists for the Bees in a shutout victory over Rowland Hall. Bryce Metcalf earned the shutout as goalkeeper.
GRANTSVILLE 3, SOUTH SUMMIT 0:Tim Williamson made eight saves and recorded a shutout for the Cowboys in their season opener.
LONE PEAK 3, PROVO 0:Marcus Wilkes notched two goals, while Mike Wilson chipped in with another to lead the Knights to the season-opening win.
OREM 3, AMERICAN FORK 0:Joe Evans fired in two goals for the Tigers as it wins easily against American Fork. Brandon Mann hosted the shutout in goal.
PAYSON 2, NORTH SANPETE 1:Pelmo Torres and Shawn Cornwall each scored a goal for Payson as it wins the first game of the season.
ST. JOSEPH 2, CHRISTIAN HERITAGE 1:Colter Guiliand and JoeyPuskedra combined for St. Joesph's goal scoring in an impressive pre-season win.
TIMPVIEW 3, HIGHLAND 2:John Kemp fired in the go-ahead goal for Timpview in the second half to give Timpview the win over Highland.
PARK CITY 3, JUAN DIEGO 2: Park City came out on top of a five goal first half to beat Juan Diego and earn its second win of the season. Eric Maw, Jesse Palmer and Ryan Williams all scored for the Miners.
E-mail: jedward@desnews.com