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Show OCTOBER 28, 1986 Darts sport solid second naif to beat Leopards 127 Yes, a combination of good athletes, superlative coaching and a special mix of tradition has enabled this school to win 21 of their last 22 Region Four football games. And the in league play '86 club finished overall. and Not bad. But supposedly not good By KEITH DUNCAN Talk around this KAYSVILLE community says the Davis High football team has a gear missing. Whether it does or not, the truth is that some Dart fans have a good 'ole fashioned case of being spoiled.' 1 6-- 3 SAM GARDINER FINDS himself in heavy traffic, going nowhere but down. The Leopards were tough on defense in the first half, but the Darts own worst enevy was enough for some. But for those that are happy with the saying, All you can do is all you can do, get set this weekend for n another trip into the playoffs where the Darts will be hosting the Alta Hawks. The game time and even the day were in question at press time, but the game will be played at Davis 4-- themselves. inter-regio- High. The Darts gained the advantage of hosting the first round game by beating East 12-- 7 last Friday night. The win was precious because of what it earned the Darts, but it wasn't real pretty. Davis CURTIS STODDARD FALLS ahead for additional yardage, a few of his game total 44 yards. State 4-- A selF destructed in the first half, according to Jim Dickson, but came out the second half to hold East to just two first downs. A couple of Rob Warden touchdowns in the second half helped propel the Darts into the victory column and the defense enjoyed one of its finest halves of football this year. The '86 football team enters the playoffs having weathered an up and down year. They put Weber and Ben Lomond in the wreckage pile early, but then hit rock bottom offensively against Clearfield in a 10-- 9 loss. But Dickson had his troops back at it again as they whipped both Woods Cross and Bountiful to go 0 in league play. There was a slight scare from Viewmont, but none the less a victory the next week. Roy found some weaknesses and gained a 20-- 9 victory and so did Highland in a 40-- 8 romp over the Darts. But the Darts played one of their finest segments of the year in the second half of the Esat game to come out a winner there. Mike Gardner, who has assisted in the program for a number of years, spoke for his fellow coaches and the team in saying, Here we are again, back in the playoffs. Gardner, whos been through the ups and downs of '86, commented, Weve got a good nucleus of kids here, but its been a group that has been hard to light a fire under. JUNIOR QB REED Secrist gets pass off against closing East defenders. Secrist was 1 for 41 yards. 3-- . 1 Once that fire is lit however, its not a bad football team." Gardner said the intensity hasnt, always been the highest and has been low ebb many times. Offensively, weve sputtered in recent weeks, but Im confident we've still got it in us to turn the lights on again, said Gardner. Davis is healthy again too. On this weekend against Alta, most of the injured players whove been nursing nagging stuff are back. Jim Dickson backed up Gardners Bountiful at Orem, Sat. 2:30 Play-Of- fs thoughts on the offense by saying, Weve been our own worst enemy in terms of killing big drives .with penalties and turnovers. On the positive side however, Dickson hasnt forgot how his kids played in the second half against East. Hopefully that will be something to turn things around for us, said Dickson. We doubled East in first downs, total yards and shut them down 12-I saw some people get after it, being aggressive. Hopefully the kids will forget about making mistakes and just go out and be aggressive.. Cautious play has hurt us perhaps, continued Dickson. , The final stats against East found with 16 total first downs com-- , pared to Easts mere 7. Both teams in passing. went 3 for ,, 1 1 Davis mounted up 216 yards in total rushing compared to Easts 131. Travis Jackson led all Davis rushers with 86 yards, Warden had 53 and Curtis Stoddard ended with 44 yards.' Alta at Davis, TBA Wood puts blame on himself Lamcer frustrations reach high By KEITH DUNCAN - 4-- A we all face 'em in our own way. Frustrations LAYTON They come in all shapes and sizes, things like new cars turned lemon, car problems in general, bills to be disputed, too much from the boss, mothers who worry snow in January, a bum-ratoo much and anything else in that class. prep playoffs They also come in the form of missing the when you had your whole heart and soul set on being there. Just ask a member of the Layton High Lancers whose frustration and hurt goes real deep w hen you mention anything about the playoffs. When Coach Joe Wood wandered into the Layton locker loss at Bonneville, his message that room after his teams it was all over sent a cold chill bouncing from one blue wall to the other. There was emotion there, some of it in the form of tears and fears, other in the form of cries heard from one corner of the gym to the other. This was perhaps one of the finest football teams in Layton's history and certainly the best to come along since the late 70's when Layton really earned a place on Utahs football map. But a 3 overall record wassnt good enough to get them into the coveted playoffs, which start this week without the Big Blue. Layton was the talk of the state after four games, being undefeated and possessing the ability to literally walk over teams. In those first four games they had outscored their oppoand at one point were picked by Tom Wharton of nents the Salt Lake Tribune to win the state title over Alta in November. in But Layton got shocked the next week by their his can even Wood, finger really put Clearfield. Why? Nobody, on it. But the loss of Richard Lovelace in the game against Weber didnt help anything. But Layton bounced back and looked terrific in beating Box in Region One. Elder 29-- the next week, going Defensively, the Lancers began to look suspect at times, especially against Jordan where they had to to Roy in overtime and fell behind to win. They then lost 35-before Bonneville losing against p 4-- A 44-2- 7 6-- 151-5- 4 arch-riva- i' 2-- 0 1 comc-from-bchi- 27-2- 1 0 With Box Elder and Roy both winning their games last Friday, they will respectively enter the playoffs as the No. 2 and No. 3 teams. Only three teams from Region One go to the playoffs this season. It's a shame that in other regions, teams with just one win all season long had a chance to go this week after preliminary playoffs. The game in Ogden last Friday night is a hard one to explain, only that Bonneville kicked Layton around for 10 minutes and scored 35 unanswered points. But for the rest of the game, with varsity going against varsity, Layton piled up far more yardage than did the Lakers and outscored them 27-Theres isnt a player or coach who wouldnt like to have those 10 minutes back. Wood, his second season now complete, was quite depressed after the loss and the depression continued throughout the weekend. I failed the kids, he said. As a staff we just didn't work hard enough for the kids and I take the blame for not taking care of that. The kids, on the other hand, did everything they could do. Oh, there were some letdowns along the way, including plenty against Bonneville, but they worked hard from start to finish. "As far as the staff is concerned, there will be some definite changes during the Along with the problems from within, Wood also jumped on the officiating. The 12 penalties for 155 yards against Bonneville had him visibly upset and will now cause him to voice his concerns in the next few weeks and into the next season. Win, lose or draw, we will play every game next year under protest, said Wood. It was ridiculous the way those guys (officials) handled things against Bonneville. "They allow them (Bonneville) to start the game late but then turn around and throw an unsportsmanlike penalty on us coming out late in the second half. How bout a delay of game penalty? "Their work was so inconsistent through the year, even when we won. The guys we had just didn't have a good feel for the game. 44-2- ls 9. off-seaso- n. five-yar- d Their (the officials) rebuttal is that they just dont have enough time to prepare and ready themselves for games. Well, if thats the case, then its better to just call nothing at all. Let the kids play the game. And Im not the only one who feels the officials on the northern half of the state have their priorities in the wrong place. I had a gentleman call my home on Saturday, a guy who said hes been coming to Layton football games for many years, say hed left that game with a very sour feeling in his stomach. This guy, who a lot of people respect around here, has seen hundreds of high school games, dozens of college games and little league games. He said to me that our game with Bonneville was the worst officiated game hed ever seen. It left him very sour afterwards. What is really sad, is that if people are leaving football games with sour stomachs becuase of officiating, then the officials are destroying the game of football. I feel strongly about this, especially after going back and looking at the film a few times. They (the officials) are ruining the game not only for fans, but for the kids. After Dee Burton (head of Utahs northern officials) and I get together, 1 will protest every game next year, win or lose. I wont even talk to those guys before a game. Theyll have to talk with my athletic director or another assistant coach to find out who our captains are and whether we are equipped right. I refuse to talk to them. I just want it to be said, that I distain the officiating in the northern sector to the utmost. They helped us lose the Bonneville game as much as anything else did, said Wood. There is no question that one of the best football teams in the state is staying home, despite the fact they lost their three games in crucial league play. Wood feels for the seniors who missed their shot at playing on the football turf at the University of Utah, but is excited about the possibilities of what is coming back next season. Weve got a particularly good group of juniors coming up, said Wood, Especially if a few kids stay in Layton that could otherwise move out due to circumstances not under our ? vs. v v. v ; r--- i T X |