Davis and Bingham were each filled with momentum coming into their quarterfinal matchup on Saturday.
Winners of their last seven games, the third-seeded Darts hadn’t lost in a month, while the sixth-seeded Miners boasted an even longer, 10-game win streak.
Only one thing was certain as the teams shared the field at Davis High: one of the team’s win streaks — and seasons, for that matter — were going to come to an abrupt end.
After 48 minutes of gameplay, it was the Darts who found themselves on the winning side of a 13-10 scoreline, securing their spot in one of the 6A semifinal matchups and extending their winning streak to eight games.
The 3-goal lead at the final whistle was tied for the largest lead of the game, as the two teams traded goals and momentum for the majority of the game. No team led by more than two goals after three quarters of play.
The closer the game drew to its close, the better the Darts started to perform, as Davis outscored the Miners 5-2 over the final 14 minutes of play to help seal the final margin.
“The key was just effort in the end,” Davis senior Emmett Rice said. “We wanted it more. Our offense with the ball, our defense shutting them down, it was just a total team effort.”
Effort was certainly required for the Darts, who seemed to be on their way to victory after leading 11-8 with just under nine minutes to play. But after a two minute non-releasable penalty was called against Davis, Bingham saw an opportunity to capitalize with a man-up.
Curtis Carlson scored for the Miners just seven seconds after the penalty was called, and another goal from Nick Anderson a minute later saw the Davis lead shrink to just one goal in the blink of an eye.
With nearly a minute of penalty time still to play, the Darts dug their heels in following the second Bingham goal, making sure they didn’t concede any more ground.
“It took a lot of grit and integrity,” Davis coach Dillon Yocom said of his team’s effort to maintain the lead.
“They came out pulling (shots) quick. Our faceoff guy Jacob Faerber got the next win, we called a timeout and got our runners on the field to try and run them down.”
One of those runners was Ben Roylance, who, after the timeout, got the ball and began to sprint around the entire perimeter of Davis’ attacking half, burning the majority of the remaining penalty time down.
“We came together and said we were just going to have our fastest guy get the ball and run around and get as much time off as we can,” Rice said smiling. “He got the ball and booked it for what seemed like forever ... After that we just relied on our defense to close the game out.”
Ten seconds after the penalty ended, Davis’ Ashton Wood scored a goal that put the Darts up 12-10 and back onto steady ground.
Two minutes later, Wood assisted Rice for Davis’ thirteenth goal — a goal that ended up being the punch that knocked the Miners out.
Rice (five goals and three assists) and Wood (two goals and five assists) finished the game as the top point-getters for Davis.
With assists coming on most of their goals, the Darts moved the ball effectively in attack, allowing them to put 13 goals up on a Bingham team that had conceded an average of four goals per game during its 10-game winning streak.
“That ‘entire team game’ has been a huge focus for us this year,” Yocum said.
“We are a high-scoring team, but we’ve got six guys that are contributing. Six of our guys get two or three points a game, it’s not just one person. We play a great team offense, everyone gets involved, and it’s a whole team effort for us.”
On the defensive side, the Darts did a great job of causing turnovers and riding the ball, especially late in the game when it mattered. The Darts forced a turnover with 3:45 remaining, which led to the Rice goal that gave them the three goal advantage they needed to see the game out.
All in all, it was a complete game for Davis, who will be appearing in the 6A semifinals for a consecutive season.
Rice, who played his last home game for Davis, said the team wants to finish strong and build off of last year’s results.
“This win means a lot,” Rice said.
“We want to make it to the state championship game this year because we came up a little short last year. We can’t slow down, we’ve got to keep up the grind and we’ve got to keep pushing.”