5A high school soccer championship: Darts beat Fremont to win state title

SANDY — Their passes weren't connecting like they normally do.

The free-flowing soccer they had played on so many occasions this spring was AWOL.

And their opponent was giving them everything they could possibly handle — and then some.

Indeed, things didn't go the way Davis' soccer players imagined they would throughout their showdown with Region 1 rival Fremont in the 5A championship game at Rio Tinto Stadium.

But the thing that saved the day — the thing that no one could've possibly predicted would be so incredibly solid before the 2010 season began — was Davis' defense.

Billed as a huge question mark back in the preseason, Davis' defense proved to be one of the state's best of all time by the end of it.

It certainly came through against Fremont. With Davis' attack ground to a halt, the Darts' defensive players made block after block and play after play to give their school a state championship.

Defender Steven McGrath scored with a thunderbolt in only the sixth minute, and the third-ranked Darts survived an incredible performance by No. 5 Fremont the rest of the way to win 1-0 and hoist the 5A championship trophy in front of their frenzied fans inside Rio Tinto Stadium on Thursday night.

"It's the ultimate goal, and we got it," said 'keeper Brackin Flitton, whose contributions to Davis' defense were immense throughout the season and in the championship game. "Senior year, last chance — just to be here is incredible, and to win it is even better. It's nuts."

That Davis' defense turned out to be as good as it ultimately was this spring is nuts. Complete unknowns besides McGrath before the season began, Davis' defenders proved to be incredibly solid this season and were incredible in the championship game.

With a shutout Thursday, Davis finishes the season with four goals allowed, which sets a new state record. (Brighton allowed five in 2006.)

"They're just a wall back there," said Davis coach Souli Phongsavath. "They said, 'You gotta go through us to score,' and (Fremont) couldn't do that. That's what I love about this season, looking back on it now, (is that) the big question mark for us was defense. We knew we could score; we didn't know if we could keep other teams from scoring.

"We won the state championship, I believe, purely on defense. The defender scores the goal for us, and they keep the balls out. And I think that's truly fitting for this team."

With the state's leading goalscorer, Casey Black, leading the way for a host of talented attackers to follow behind, the odds on McGrath being the guy to score the game-winner in the state championship game for Davis were not high.

Yet there he was in the sixth minute, confidently striding into the ball from the edge of the 18-yard box.