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Show 1' section The Pigskin Gets Shelved As Sports Moves Indoors ;n list faiiM rt hrtnriii JtM l!e muvr lr luiiiujla'l I'ioc'Jvujj i4Lr(tu!l 11 ntravaovr Vn!n'!4) fur Ituni irumi. i ZHI ' J OSS r. If M1H DCCAri jcw'en leert SAIT l AKI, CITY ift Ijt tktifs lu ttfj Sk (it lfn t4 4 pl qwi fiteiiH id - Ai tbfe, fa4 H Ike At!i IhiSratMiC 1 to it tp ike Dati H wvl ku to ike IVI A Su! . f !?t i f I a f tmrmY tij Mt--l w 4 T ' Safci M ,f v ' tl i . V llf ,7 " Vw fil T' N. J S. J V , ,t te im: tftj, Ike 1 (et le e4t4i 17 IkemtchetM ike AVD IV i j J. aj ihjf. pnkdekdkfrJ S4le4lkre tii!e fte f4me mrir!0nJ. ikrj'J Me to ptt i m!el Ike leeks? rhi ftJi hen Ne4 Aim mm tdUvkeJ k tm ike mtm tt K.l 7 ,V 1 v ?- ''., V 'cj- , i I , i rkm, erkteJ THE DlfTERENCE of course, wat a tiros $ armed Hawk defense with people tu.ked in front averaging 6-- and 230 pound, the tame story of the past two years these two clubs have me! to the prep playoffs. And accorJmg to Saw ley the Alia linemen were nol only big again, but good loo. "Every time we ined logct something moving, they'd bring every one al us and make it miserable," said Saw Icy. He continued. "Someday I'd like to pby them on an equal basis, with the same kind of sized people. With the kind of personnel they had, they simply just out horsed us." . ' 4 Vi V ' ' k w ' ; 1 THE BOTTOMIJVE uf Sa!e tony 4ifiulf to riTvx. IM tf to'jtor? ki wkciker a r kx. to a!k ay frwn ike title fame with their cwiHiesce clear with eer)ihis? they Mi. of kh Ami ftlthoueh Alta cheereJ ami Dawc rft to the cnJ. Saw ley hetJ hie emotionally draincJ Knly Mralfhl anJ caij. "The kiJc ti.J at much at they coul J to ami prepare J for Alta at hard at they could prepare. - i ih!Kai cmideM ef Affv3a, a 4 J i ' . I C V 7 S, r V' & I I Jr N 5-- -- r ' ! ' S a 4 f 'W . , 7 - - r fj If 4 Iv I il 'V f 4 ,V r r . .? . 4rS , ; 4 . ( A4;:. f "j -- t v l7 s4 f .. 3 4 f4 . 4 V f A s - 4 j 4 1 . ft , ' . r1 ! ' r s t J ' 0; K BUT MY COMPLIMENTS go out to Alta. They deserve to be the state champions. They prepared for us, no question about it," the Davis coach continued to say. And just as the coach respected the Alta club, so did the players. Ryan Smith, held to less than 30 yards rushing, commented, "They had everyone coming at us on defense, it was tough. If you could pop through, you could get some yardage, but as we found out, it wasn't easy getting through. TO START the game, Davis sent a line-u- p in minus their brilliant lineman, Jeff Sampson. Alter suffering a blow to his thigh in the second quarter of the Hillcrest game, Sampson suffered through a week of pain and the agony of knowing he probably wouldnt play in the state championship finale against Alta. Without him, Davis actually lost a starter on defense and offense and more importantly, probably lost the main cog to a unit who continually feasted off his enthusiasm and leadership. Said Jim Dickson, an assistant coach, "Jeff makes a difference out there. Whether he would have made the difference against Alta, nobody knows, but Id like to think he would have." m The loss of Jeff Sampson 7f 7-- 6, , ? V. :'; 0 H ff' J v - '; w i ' . I 'VK .v . I 1 .- - ;'jf ".J, If 4-- S "i A - 'v;. 4 A i; Jfi:' H y 1 r. ?7 KEITH DUNCAN Journal Sports ' 1 I?. The Greatest Pain Was Not Playing By - ?. I . i ' rNV- -- . V wh ( commentary "X 4 f;V &?' ; i f tl: vA vl 65-ya- rd 6-- j f J . ciippr ituaik tUfiii the interior line left a big hole to fill which Gregg McNabb and company tried to plug. fm AND WITHOUT Sampson, the Darts set sail. On offense they probably could have used him the most, because outside their touchdown drive in the second quarter, the Davis offense had little to offer. In the second half, it only got worse. But on defense, the Darts gave Alta a lot to think about, especially behind the efforts of linebacker Chris Stevenson who sacked Altas Mike Jensen three times and pressured him on several other blitzing calls. It wasnt until late in the first quarter, that Alta gained their initial first down. ' BUT WHEN the first downs came, they never quit. The Hawks used key passes from Jensen to Chad Ogden and Jon Roderick to get to the Davis three yard line, just before the first quarter was to end. On the firt play of the second, Pete Morley blasted in for the games first score and gave Alta a 0 lead. - Later in the second quarter, and after a fake Alta field goal had failed, the Darts took over from their own 35 and began one of thos folpatented offensive drives so many of their lowers have become accustomed to. The nifty running of Jeff Hammer, Mark Miller and Smith had much to do with the drive. Two key passes from Steve Sargent to Miller and Smith also kept Ihe drive alive. Finally it was Sargent scoring from 2 yards out that gave Davis their only touchdown. Kyle Morgans PAT kick was with 1:23 good and Davis held the lead, left. ALL WE HAD to do, said Sawley, was to score one more time like that and hold them. But it wasnt meant to be as Alta came right back. The Hawks ran three consecutive plays from their own 37, enough to get them down to Davis 28 yard line with 33 seconds left. Two long Jensen passes were what really hurt, In ?" " 4 SALT LAKE CITY -- - A consequential mean blow to Jeff Sampsons thigh during the second quarter of Davis memorable 8 victory over Hillcrest, did more eventually than cause a lot of pain. The mental anguish it caused was far more brutal. THE HIT from Hillcrests Shane Beeny while Sampson fought on defense, was enough to keep the Davis senior from battling with his teammates last Friday afternoon for the big state championship. casino, the During the final minute of play against Hillcrest in the Jeff commented to me that his leg hurt so bad, he probably wouldnt be able to walk the next day. And he was right, the pain from the deep thigh bruise had got as deep as the bone. After the swelling started to take place, Jeff, his coaches and everyone who knew about his situation, knew it would take a miracle-workto make him ready for Friday. THE Davis lineman, who will probably be named to a dozen and teams in the next few weeks, missed school all week because as he put it, I couldnt even sit down. On Wednesday, while the rest of his teammates were out practicing for Alta, Sampson could be found in the coaches office with his leg propped up watching every game film he could get his hands on. During the week, Sampson had his mind focused on the pain a little bit, but mental anguish is probably what was killing the most. The chance of a lifetime, the chance to play for all the marbles, was slowly but surely slipping out of his grasp and he could do nothing about it. 21-1- 4-- A semi-final- " W i Jeff Hammer rambles for stingy yards on a day when real estate was at a premium. s, er MULTI-TALENTE- te according to Smith. "We shouldnt have let them down there in the first place, but the breaks werent going our way, he said. FROM THE 28, Jensen flared back and d nailed Troy Long on a pass. The Alta receiver then danced along the sidelines score. and ran untouched for the That score really hurt us, Sawley stated, If we could have gone into halftime ahead, I think our gameplan could have been a lot more conservative in the second half. I THINK too, that after being emotionally high just a few moments earlier, the score did a lot to take the wind out of our sails. On the first play of the second half, Sampson finally saw some action. But it was shortlived, (only one play) as his effectiveness was ousted with his inability to be mobile. Nothing was working for the Darts. Later in the third quar fleet-foote- ter, the Darts would also lose Stevenson to injury. WTTH 6:01 remaining, Davis had one of their final chances on offense remaining. There probably wasnt a fan from Davis who had forgotten the Darts miraculous finish against Hillcrest, so why not do it again? To begin with, Sargents pass missed its mark. Then a costly motion penalty made it 2nd and 15. A Sargent to Hammer pass went for 10 yards, five yards short of the first down. The double-revers- e call went next but Smith found the running slim and got only a couple. With 4:16 left, Sawley elected to punt, hoping to get it back once more. AND DAMS did get it back again, but only after Altas Long had scored again to put the game out of reach, 19-7. FROM THE FIRST day Jeff put on a football uniform as a freshman and went out to play, he and his teammates had kindled thoughts of someday playing for a state football champion ship. As sophomores, those thoughts were turning into positive dreams and as juniors, the dreams had transformed into realistic values. As seniors, it was to take each game one at a time and somehow everything else would take care of itself. After defending another region championship, Sampson and his Dart teammates could feel it coming on as each week counted down. AFTER WHIPPING Brighton 27-- 7 and squeaking by Roy, 14-Sampson told me,5 This is ours if we want it bad enough. Weve : come four long years to this point, so why not go out and give it all weve got. The desire in this guy, in every 205th pound of him, was inmeasurable. To get by Hillcrest and then play for the state title, was an obsession. More important, he deserved everything . : : hed worked for. AS HIS COACH, Ward Sawley, talked to his e team in the moments, Jeff could be n found lying on a pile of rain jackets, litterally dieing inside and whispering, Why now? Why me? He had dressed for the game, still hoping for a miracle. Sampson never played a down in the first half. He could be found pacing the sidelines like a caged animal and flexing his score leg every time it came off the ground. AT ONE POINT he said to me, Do you want to know what real depression is?. I didnt need to answer, his eyes told the meaning of the word all too well. But despite it, Sampson continued to pace and was the best daggummed cheerleader the team has ever had. He never stopped yelling and urging the 22 out on the field to block harder and run faster. Said Sawley after the game, I felt real bad for Jeff, he wanted to go out in style and 7, pre-gam- face-dow- couldnt. continued on next pg. . |