High school football: Clutch Davis defense comes up with timely stops in 6A second round win over Weber

As bad as Davis’ offense was in the first half on Friday — and it was very bad, as in first-goose-egg-of-the-season bad — the Darts were extremely fortunate to only be trailing by one touchdown at the half.

Had Weber capitalized on Davis’ three turnovers and several shanked punts, the deficit could’ve been much more significant, and perhaps insurmountable.

The Darts’ lights-out defense made sure things didn’t unfold that way, and it ultimately sealed the win late with a fourth-down stop as Davis edged region foe Weber 17-13 for the 6A second-round victory.

“First half we kind of shot ourselves in the foot and defense stepped up tremendously for us,” said Davis coach Scott Peery.

“Second half, it was just fun to see our guys. We challenged them, made some adjustments and they came out and put a little heat on Weber and then it turned into a full-on playoff game and I feel fortunate to get away with one.”

With the victory, the sixth-seeded Darts advance to next Friday’s 6A quarterfinals at No. 3 Lehi. It’s a rematch of a Week 1 game that Lehi won 28-14.

“Can’t wait for an opportunity in a revenge game with Lehi. We thought we had a really good game and game plan against them right in the beginning, but they got away with a couple big plays,” said Peery.

On Friday, neither offense could get into a rhythm with the type of delay of game and other pre-snap penalties you’d expect from Week 1, not the playoffs. There were 24 total penalties for 187 yards, not to mention eight total turnovers.

Trailing 7-0 at the half after a Weber 5-yard TD pass from Crew Cacciacarne to Dyson Parker, it was Davis’ defense that flipped things around quickly in the second half.

On Weber’s first offensive play coming out of halftime, it tried a deep pass up the sideline, but Damon Brown made an athletic interception to snag the ball and give his team a decent starting field position.

Davis responded with a nine-play, 61-yard drive that Owen Talbot capped with a 10-yard run to tie the game 7-7.

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On Weber’s ensuing drive, it coughed the ball up again two plays in, with Davis taking advantage quickly as Kash Gates hauled in an 8-yard touchdown pass from Tradon Bessinger for the 14-7 lead with 5:11 left in the third quarter.

“Coach (Cameron) Gribble does a tremendous job week in, week out. I just admire what he’s been doing with those guys, and then we got the skill set to back it up,” said Peery.

As big as forcing those two third-quarter turnovers were, Davis’ defense forced an even bigger one early in the second quarter after a fake punt set Weber up inside the red zone already leading 7-0.

Instead, Jordan Taula secured a fumble recovery to keep it a one-score game at the half.

In the first meeting between these teams back on Sept. 15, Davis’ offense rolled in the 45-26 victory, but Weber’s defense made significant adjustments in the rematch.

“They came out in some different coverages and mixed some things up and then by the second half we kind of started dialing in and had a little more success,” said Peery.

After falling behind 14-7, Weber quickly drove down into the red zone and threatened to tie things up, but again coughed the ball up instead at the 10-yard line.

It would get another crack at it a few minutes later following a quick Davis three-and-out, and this time Weber made the most of it as Salesi Moa snagged a 23-yard TD pass from Cacciacarne.

The Darts blocked the extra point to maintain the 14-13 advantage.

Davis’ Finn Garff tacked on a 25-yard field goal with 8:42 remaining in the game to extend the lead to 17-13.

After the teams traded punts, Weber had one more opportunity to try to put together a game-winning drive, but despite moving the ball 41 yards on 11 plays, it stalled on a fourth and 12 at Davis’ 20 as the Darts defense came up with one final big stop.