OCR Text |
Show e even close to anyone. They were the best skill wise, physical-sizwise. wise and "But our kids fought them tooth and nail. We were in the game till the very end. So how can we as coaches feel bad about anything. : By KEITH DUNCAN - Journal Sports : - - win over KAYSVILLE-- - Like one fan said after Hillcrest's Davis last Friday. "This has got to be a bad dream. I hope it's not for 21-1- 6 "HILLCRESTS big defensive line simply wore our smaller offensive line people down. We've got some big kids but they play on defense. When we had to pass block in the end. we just couldn t do it. We're good at trapping with our smaller kids, but w hen we got behind and had to pass Lloyd never got the time he needed. And it s not that our kids weren't in position but they physically got wore down. "Two plays, two inches actually beat us. If you were to look at the with his bare play w hen No. 50 jumps high and intercepts our pses have gone to would it inch higher finger tips. Had the ball been one Carter Hatch and he could have walked into the end zone. real. IT MAY seem like a big bad dream, especially to the placers and coaches at Dav is High because they had every expectation they'd be s and even the finals. moving past H illcrest and into the But it wasnt meant to be as the Fluskies scored two fourth quarter passing touchdow ns to move ahead of Davis for good and knock the state crown. Darts out of contention for the coveted AND ITS not that Davis took Hillcrest for granted. Jim Dickson, his staff and his players had as much respect for the Huskies as any I team they 'd played all season. But on that day. Hillcrest proved to be the better team and their state championship hopes stay alive be- cause of it. Aftei a few days of pondering, going over films and generally ; feeling the affects of the numbness all of this has brought, the Re tlex-- : Journal Sports asked a few key figures in the Dart Program what was on their mind semi-final- 4-- "THE OTHER was when Ted Collins dropped back into the flat in the fourth quarter and jumped up to intercept a pass just missing his finger tips. Had that ball been one inch lower. Ted would have intercepted it and gone for a score. "Two inches. How can we be upset about anything. "FOR JIM Dickson to come in his first year, especially under the pressure he had. meaning taking over a team everyone in town expecting to do the things they did. the job he did was simply amazing. He handled things beautifully and molded a defense that was second to none. "If he's not Coach of the Year, then something is wrong." Jim Dickson HERE IS what they had to say: DICKSON himself is still numb and will probably be that way fora 'ew more days. He commented too. "The kids played their hearts out down there, we just came up five points short. "Losing never entered my mind until no more time was left on the clock, because I thought we'd come back. The character of these kids made me feel that way. I just didn't believe we'd lose. "THE TURNING point in the ballgame was when we got the penalty we got when Hillcrest was driv ing for their first TD. I've been told by people on both sides that the kid was already out of bounds when (Carter) Hatch hit horn. Hatch couldn't even of known where lie was and in addition, he couldn't have stopped anyway. Hillcrest however got the ball on the 35 yard line instead of the 50. "You have to give Hillcrest all the credit though. They used some big people on defense very effectively. We may be biggerthan we've .ever been, but when you stack our people up against theirs, we're just average. They'd tip the scale in their favor every time. "WHEN WE go out to dinner later on. I believe I'll tell the kids that probably remember this bunch as much as any team that I've ever had or hope to have. It's just because of the character of the kids, their willingness to work and the togetherness they've had. Even though these kids didn't win it all. I can lay money there isn't a better 'group of kids in the state to work w ith. There may be some as good. but not better. The time they put in was unreal and my only hope is put in an equal amount of time. : : "1 believe this bunch of kids got more out of this season than just twins' and losses.' They learned some valuable principles like finding out that hard work breeds success. ; Til Vaughn Casdorph Lloyd tries to bring back Darts in closing minutes of the game. with some size we kicked some other teams around pretty good. AGAINST Hillcrest we wore out in the end but generally we don't have any alibis because Hillcrest was just a better team on Friday. No one has the right to place blame because we played our hearts out and so did they. "Jim Dickson did a spectacular job. When you look at how he allowed Mike (Gardner) tocontrol the offense in hisfirst year as head coach, that kind of thing is highly irregular in high school football. There's not a head coach I've seen or know who would allow someone else to call the offense like Mike did. That shows me the intelligence of Jim Dickson. It shows me that he wanted to get more out of his assistants than if he'd taken the offense by himself. He forced us to work harder with him than trying to work for him. "I HAD MORE responsibility. Mike had more and even Val (Culli-morhad There are head coaches in this more. here, year region that don't listen to their assistants, but here Jim has listened. "What's really funny is that Jim will be the first to accept any blame but he can't. That shows his intelligence again." "AND I can't say enough about the example these kids set for the two groups behind them, the sophomores and juniors. love my assistants. We have four head coaches at the : "And school w ho never let selfishness enter into the picture." said Dickson with tears in his eyes as he talked about his kids. Bruce Bitncr BRl'CE Bitner. perhaps one of the most dedicated and effective assistant coaches in Utah high school sports, had a few things to say also. . "The season as a w hole was something I was extremely proud to be a part of. The kids executed brilliantly all season long and finally guys. Region Four was and still is as tough as any league in the state. are all from True the By DAVE WIGHAM semi-finalis- Humble pie again! ITS ONE thing to be beaten by Keith on the first week of prcdic-(ion- s but to let him get me two weeks in a row is pushing it to the limit. All I can say is that there are an aw ful lot of upsets, as we in thi print media like to call them, in tht past two weeks of state prep fool ball. A w eek ago ran up a 3 recor and this ;isi week the best coui i come up with was a 4 mark. That puts me at 7 for the state tournament. bo' seven upsets in two weeks that's a lot. ON THE other hand Keith went 1 the first week and then 3 this past week for a two week total of 12-He must be getting inside in- ball. DAVIS AND Highland could just as easily won their quarterfinal games last week as not. If the Darts and Hillcrest played ten times the Darts would have ten good chances to win those games, it just turned out that this time the Huskies won. Same could be said of Highland and Cottonwood. Those two clubs can play with anyone in the state and all the coaches know that. In any event here are my infamous predictions for this week, along w ith that other guys. Keith I think his name is. ALTA VS. Cottonwood. The defending state champions will have their hands full with the Colts in this matchup. Alta seems to come up with the big plays on defense w hile the Colts have a never say die leader in their quarterback Craig Sorenson. Keith calls the Hawks the power in post season play so he'll take the Alta bunch to get into the finals for the second straight year. I like Alta simply because they have a lot of talented players compared to one big name for Cottonwood. OLYMPUS VS. Hillcrest. Keith informs me that the Hillcrest coach 5-- 1 4-- 9-- 7-- ts two leagues. Region Two and Three both have a couple of clubs left, but that doesn't mean Region Four didn't play some good foot- 5-- 4. formation from somewhere because to he honest with you Keith jus! isnt smart enough to come up with that kind of record. He probably spends up to 20 hours a week talking to each coach about the injury situation of each club and all the other little known hidden facts about the teams playing. I must spend up to five minutes thinking about these games. Now that Davis is out of the tournament. along with Highland, the Salt Lake media people are talking down Region Four and how weak it was this past year. Give me a break 5-- Rody Meacham e) Mike Gardner First off we asked Mike Gardner. Dickson's assistant who called of Davis' offensive plays this year.'It was an offense that in the school's perhaps was one of the most explosive, point-wisnt e, history. BOY, ITS a lot easier to lose back in September than in the playoffs. At least you're able to come back from defeat and try harder the next week. But for these kids they can't come back the next week because it's all over for them. My honest opinion of the game is that our kids played their best game of the year, I honestly feel that. We didn't win, but it was our best effort of the year. RODY MEACHAM played in the Dart trenches from the beginning to the end and had this to say. "We stuck together against Hillcrest until the last seconds ticked off. My heart likes to tell people that we didn't lose and we didn't win. we simply just ran out of time. There isnt anyone to blame for this loss. It was a game that reminded me of the game when Lance Hill was playing at Davis. They lost that year to Murray who was throwing a pass pattern that Davis couldn't stop. Hillcrest must have found that same pass pattern because we couldn't stop it. As far as their running through we stuffed that down their throat. WINNING THE region this year is something I'll never forget. Winning state would have been a notch more special, but all of us will hold our region championship as something very memorable. "As far as Coach Dickson is concerned. I love the man to death. I'm biased, but he's the best coach this school has ever had. When he '7 yells at one of us, we react differently than what most kids would to a and raving coach. Coach Dickson listens too. -- 1 LOT of that had to do w ith our competition. If Hillcrest had of played our schedule they wouldn't have lost a game, there's no question in my mind. They were by far the best team we've faced, not A Keiths Pulling Ahead Of Dave In Picks Clipper Sports VAUGHN Casdorph led a defensive unit this year that will go down history. Even as one of the stingiest in Davis' long and tradition-ric- h t stand taller than doesn and 160 less than he pounds weighs though he had people like Woods Cross' Larry Eldracher saying, "Where in the heck did you get that kid. he s a terror. Casdorph also had some thoughts. "Hillcrest got after it, no question about it. Two or three of their defensive front people were good athletes while one or two of them were lazy. But the good ones never let down. WE WORKED our butts off but we did wear down in the end. "Coach Dickson is great. I've never seen anyone put their whole soul and heart into football as much as he does. He's a good man to learn from, not only football stuff, but life as well. Because of him I've been able to cope with people better and be a good sportsman. in his first 1 J 1 has been in the state event seven years, three times his clubs have made it to the semi-final- s but have never made it into the finals. For that reason Keith takes the Huskies since he figures their team will want to win one for the good old coach. As for me I'll take Olympus. For three years now the Titans have supposed to be the top club, or near it. in the state only to fold up their tent in the tournament somewhere. HILLCREST pointed to Davis all year and after beating the Darts they'll have a letdown and the Titans are anxious to get rid of the choke theory hanging over their heads. I'll take the passing of Grove. Keith predicts the Pleasant Grove Vikings because of their defense. Ben Lomond has been the PROFESSIONAL DOG surprise club of the tournament having knocked off Jordan and then Provo. Twice I picked against the Scots but my mom didn't raise no fool so I'll go with the Scots and their wishbone this week. n THERE WERE three seasons in one. We dominated and season, but I can hardly believe we're out of the playoffs, the AMERICAN Fork vs. West. Folks this will be a grudge match supreme. These two schools dont like each other. Keith likes the teams from Happy Valley to meet in the finals so he picks the Caveman but I'll take West. believe it." pre-seaso- third season. My confidence got better as the season went on. As we played against different defenses I learned a lot and was able to adapt. ITS REALLY hard to imagine this thing No Tranquilizing Now Featuring cold weathering styling Ti mb erlynns Parlor Grooming 45 E. Gentile No. Main, Bountiful 161 No. 7, Layton -54- 6-4917- -29- 5-6123- over. can hardly 1 Ben Lomond vs. Pleasant Conferences Held LAYTON - Parents of students attending Layton High School are encouraged to visit with teachers at the annual conferences to be held Nov. 14 from p.m. in the high school gymnasium. Teachers, counselors and administrators will be available to answer questions and help with parent concerns about their children. THIS IS the best opportunity offered all year to become acquainted with teachers, their programs and your child's strong points and needs. School w ill be dismissed at 12: 10 on the 14th and 5th. The conferences will be held only one day. dmg -- Parent-Teache- rs SERVICES BY PEOPLE WHO CARE - is all Olympus. GROOMING Treat your dog to the best! All breeds. Large dogs welcome. Casey Lloyd-- QUARTERBACK Casey Lloyd blossomed into a form of greatness this past season and he stated. We were up 10-- 0 at one point and no matter what we tried to do, we couldn't seem to get the momentum back. I thought if anything that was the key in Hillcrest's win. I have to thank Coach Gardner for having the confidence in me in letting me run the team. I thought we worked real well together. It was hard in the beginning with (Greg) Norton playing so well, but things worked out for everyone. TOUR FEE? DIU carat ram about means weather min... When you wear Waterprooflnsulated Irish Setters . 1 i d mentally-prepare- tsiW: '; iitnir QMS3J3CBJMIS ? Exceptionally Warm they're lined with Thinsulate" to block out the cold, and Cambrelle' to absorb sweat. Your leel slay warm and comfortable as can be on the job or in the field' Guaranteed Waterproof-R- ed Wing's new Thundar leather keeps your feet comfortably dry. It repels water, yet breathes like ordinary leather. Red Wings exclusive SuperSole insulates against harsh cold climates. Get the Irish Setter. Bartons Family Shoes t 43 No. Main, Bountiful 295-730- 1 'Sport and work boot headquarters" |