The Davis Darts were guaranteed at least a share of the Region 1 title with one game left to play, but freshman Bode Sparrow said his team wasn’t in a sharing mood.
“This week, we were just like, ‘Fellas, we’re not sharing this’,” Sparrow said. “There’s nothing worse than a tie.”
On Thursday night, Sparrow was one of many reasons why Davis finished off the 2023 regular season at the top of the region summit with no unwanted company.
Thanks to a shutdown defensive performance, Davis set off a celebration with its home crowd after beating Syracuse, 22-10, as the Darts came away with an outright region title for the first time since 2015.
“Can’t believe it,” Davis coach Scott Peery said. “I mean, I knew they could do it, but just to live this moment for a minute, man, it’s great.”
In a game that featured pretty similar output between the two teams — 335 total yards for Davis compared to Syracuse’s 309 — Davis’ defense made the biggest difference, nabbing two interceptions in the first half and turning both subsequent drives into points. Peery credited his defensive coordinator Cameron Pribble with strategizing the Darts’ approach to stymying one of the best offenses in 6A.
“I tell you what, Coach Pribble did an excellent job,” Peery said. “He changed things up quite a bit and I feel like it stymied them a little bit … He’s a damn good defensive coordinator, and our guys bought into what he did this week.”
Senior two-way starter Kash Gates was instrumental in many of the big plays the Darts made. Defensively, he had three tackles, the pick and a pass breakup, while on offense, he recorded 12 catches for 101 yards and a touchdown from a 5-yard pass in the second quarter to give the Darts a two-score lead at halftime, 16-7.
Syracuse’s first play from scrimmage resulted in Gates coming away with an interception, the first one thrown by Syracuse senior quarterback Jake Hopkins in the last five weeks.
On Davis’s third drive of the game, Sparrow beat his defender on a skinny post route up the middle and reeled in a 48-yard completion from sophomore quarterback Tradon Bessinger. He finished the game with a team-high 125 receiving yards on seven catches, including two receptions of over 30 yards.
On the delivery end of the Davis offense was Bessinger. In a contest between two quarterbacks with almost exactly the same stats — 27 passing TDs against eight picks each nearly identical passing yardage — Bessinger outperformed his senior counterpart significantly. He was ridiculously efficient, completing 29 of 35 passes for 287 yards and a TD with no interceptions or turnovers. Peery wasn’t shy about his excitement at having the QB position settled until 2026.
“We knew a long time ago, this kid’s special,” Peery said. “The biggest quality about him is his leadership. The kid’s young, and he commands a team with respect.”
On the Titans side of things, Hopkins went 22-37 for 226 yards, a touchdown and an interception. His touchdown pass came in the second quarter on easily the most competent drive put together by the Titans, culminating in a 17-yard strike to senior DJ Mayes. Mayes had 10 catches for 108 yards.
Syracuse outgained Davis, 83-48, in net rushing yards, but Davis senior running back Owen Talbot punched in two short-range TDs to finish off drives and finished with 14 carries for 36 yards.
While RPI is the ultimate determination of where Davis ends up in the state championship tournament, Sparrow said “region is everything” to the team during the regular season, and Peery added that the region title, particularly right at the end of the season, is all about “momentum.”
“We’ve got a winning mindset and a winning culture and a winning program,” Peery said. “We like to stack the ‘dubs,’ and we did that tonight.”
Correction: This story has been updated to correct some factual errors in the original version that misidentified two players in the story. The players are now properly attributed in this version.