In local prep football, the Davis Darts up it in their first victory of the season, while the Farmington Phoenix lost to drop to 0-2. Both teams have a few more games before jumping into Region 1 contests. 

Davis 

The Darts won a thriller at home against West Jordan, holding on 35-34 after the Jaguars made a dramatic comeback. 

Davis made things look easy early on, rolling to a 24-0 lead in the first quarter. The three touchdowns and one field goal came in a seven-minute stretch in which the offense, defense and special teams all contributed. 

Finn Garff started the scoring when he connected on a 25-yard field goal with 8:26 to play in the opening quarter. At the 3:55 mark, Bode Sparrow caught a 22-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Tradon Bessinger. It was just 2 ½ minutes later when Bessinger tossed another touchdown pass, this time to Tyson Baggett from 30 yards out to make it 17-0 for Davis. On the next play from scrimmage, the lead swelled to 24-0 when Jackson Roybal ran back an interception 28 yards for a score. 

West Jordan then turned the tables. 

The Jaguars had three unanswered touchdowns to make the score 24-21 midway through the third quarter. Garff made his second field goal of the game with 12 seconds left in the third quarter, a 27-yarder, to increase Davis’ lead to 27-21. 

The fourth quarter was a back-and-forth affair. 

West Jordan took its first lead of the game with 7:25 to go by scoring a touchdown and converting on the extra point. Now trailing 28-27, Davis had a clutch go-ahead touchdown with just 1:06 left in the contest. Bessinger had his third touchdown pass of the night when he hit Logan Sundloff on a 6-yard score. A successful two-point conversion made it 35-28 Davis.

The Jaguars drove down the field and scored a touchdown with 31 left in the game, making it 35-34. But instead of opting for the tying extra-point kick, West Jordan went for two and the win. The Darts’ defense held, preventing the score and preserved the hard-fought victory. 

With his three touchdown passes, Bessinger was the start of the night. He also had 151 yards passing and rushed for 24 yards on four carries. Easton Frasure and Baggett each had four catches, with Frasure totaling 49 yards. The running game was solid too, picking up 203 yards. Brighton Pierce paced the Darts with 14 carries for 73 yards. Josh Barker had seven attempts for 47 yards. Defensively, Carter Dorius had a productive night, racking up 13 tackles. Kash Gates picked off two passes, and Roybal and Nick Johnson each had an interception. 

Davis will next play at former region rival Clearfield – which is now in Region 5 – this Friday. 

Farmington 

The Phoenix lost to Bountiful 37-27 last Friday, dropping to 0-2 on the young season. Farmington fell behind big early but made a valiant rally, only to fall short. 

Trailing 20-0 late in the second quarter, the Phoenix were struggling. But a timely interception return for a touchdown by Hayes Smith gave the team momentum. That narrowed the gap to 20-7 at halftime. Bountiful countered with a score, but then Farmington had back-to-back touchdowns to cut into the lead even more. Jake Metcalfe had a 27-yard touchdown reception from Easton Wight, though the extra point missed. Metcalfe then scored on the defensive side of the ball, giving the Phoenix their second interception return for a TD of the game when he took it 80 yards to the end zone. Now down just 27-20 with 8:54 to play in the contest, it was anyone’s game. 

Bountiful countered with 10 quick points to dash Farmington’s hopes. 

The Phoenix did tack on a late touchdown – a 1-yard pass from Wight to Metcalfe – but it wasn’t enough. The 10-point loss was in contrast to last year’s 24-3 Farmington win over Bountiful. 

Farmington will look to get on the winning track this Friday at home against Skyridge.