High school football: Saturday morning quarterback

Another week, another great rivalry game I had the pleasure of covering on Friday night. Sometimes I can't believe I get paid to do this job.

That makes four straight games I've seen with some intense emotion and play. Davis-Layton on Friday night was just as good as the Alta-Bingham, Logan-Sky View and Highland-East games I've covered in the last month.

There was an overflow crowd at Layton High, partly because it was the Lancers' homecoming game, partly because Davis travels well in all sports, and mostly because the game pitted two of 5Ais best teams against each other.

Check out the sportstalk section on our Web site and see what the Friday Night Rider had to say about the game. The post does a fine job of summing up the emotion and excitement of the evening.

I'll go in a different direction and write about what I learned about each team:

Davis: Oh, the Darts let one get away. It was obvious that the Lancers felt like they stole one after the game, and they did.

I love Davis' defense. The Darts rush the quarterback better than any team I've seen this season. They can get pressure with their front four, too. They threw a couple of blitzes at Layton quarterback Camren Applegate, but they mostly got to him because guys like James Cowser are almost unblockable.

The Darts have a championship-caliber defense.

Davis' offense couldn't make plays in crucial situations, but I wouldn't be too concerned if I were a Darts fan. Sophomore Gavin Fowler showed some real potential in the loss. The Darts have too good of a coaching staff to continue to commit the costly penalties that cost them field position and killed drives on Friday night.

Davis has a good running game. As a whole, I believe the offense will make great strides as the season progresses.

Layton: The Lancers' defense bent, but almost never broke against the Darts. Guys like Thomas Bryson, Karl Williams, Nick Ciancone and of course, Kimble Jensen turned in memorable performances. Layton's secondary is a lot of fun to watch. They deliver some punishment.