High school football: Darts grind out victory over Knights

KAYSVILLE — For a half of their Region 1 showdown against Northridge, the Davis Darts made an honest effort to be balanced on offense

That's not what the Darts do best.

Davis is at the top of its game when it is pounding the ball on offense, chewing up clock, and letting its fierce defense get long breathers. The Darts remembered that at halftime, and went to work in the second half of their 17-14 win over the Knights on Friday night.

Davis stayed unbeaten, improving to 6-0, while Northridge fell to 5-1.

"Our coaches came into the locker room at halftime and said, 'Let's do what we do great — run the ball — and we'll be able to take of business in the second half," said Davis quarterback Gavin Fowler. "We came out and we did that."

They did it with the subtlety of a sledgehammer crashing into a defense. The Darts opened the second half with 10 straight running plays. Their drive ended with Fowler scoring on a 4-yard run on a pass-run option rollout, and it took more than seven minutes off the clock

Davis' scoring drive went 13 plays for 78 yards. Twelve of the plays were runs, and Fowler's score stretched the Darts' lead to 17-6.

"On offense, we were kind of slow to start," Fowler said. "Once we were able to run the ball, I think that's when it kind of opened things up and we were able to get more done. That was a big key for us — being able to run the football."

Tyrel Day was a workhorse for the Darts, rushing 29 times for 132 yards. Davis had a total of 161 yards on the ground.

"It was all the line though," Day said of his performance against Northridge. "They just get a push off the ball and I follow them. They brought it. Northridge's line was getting tired."

A consistent running game will do that to a defense. In the first half, the Darts ran 19 running plays and 17 passes. In the second half, they ran the ball on 24 plays and passed it four times.

Northridge's run game was shut down for the first time this season. The Knights entered Friday's game averaging 236.4 running yards per contest but were held to 121 rushing yards against the Darts.

"I thought the kids played hard," said Davis defensive coordinator Tyler Gladwell. "We talked all week about how we needed to play physical. We needed to match their physical play. The kids played hard and did a lot of good things."