May is just a few days away, which means state tournament action for high school athletes is coming up quickly. 

It’s crunch time.

Though league standings don’t have a direct effect on playoff position, bragging rights are always a big deal in high school sports. As this week began, Viewmont held onto first place in Region 5 boys soccer. But a trio of Davis County rivals were nipping at the Vikings’ heels. 

Viewmont

Despite a loss last week on April 20 to Box Elder, the Vikings entered this week’s slate of matches with a one-game lead over a bunch of league foes. At 4-2 in region play, Viewmont is just ahead over Woods Cross, Farmington, Bountiful and Box Elder. The team is 7-4-1 overall, and, most importantly, seventh in RPI ratings. 

The Vikings fell to Box Elder 1-0 at home, giving up a second-half goal. Three days later, Viewmont took on Bountiful, and the two teams played a marathon match, decided by a long shootout. 

The Vikings trailed 2-1 at halftime but got the equalizer in the second half to send the game into overtime. Neither team managed a goal in either overtime period, so penalty kicks had to decide the winner.

Even that wasn’t easy.

Viewmont outlasted the Braves 12-11 in a setting where the winner often wins in a best-of-five scenario. But this contest dragged on before Viewmont finally prevailed. Mason Hansen and Ben Gladwell scored in regulation for the Vikings. Kalei Medeirnos scored for the Braves. 

This week, Viewmont hosted Farmington in a key matchup. Not only can this help Viewmont put some more distance between itself and the Phoenix, but Farmington is actually above the Vikings in the RPI rankings at No. 5. On Friday, the Vikings play at Bonneville. 

Woods Cross

The Wildcats are 3-3 in league action (7-5 overall) after a week with one loss and a thrilling shootout win.

The defeat came at the hands of Farmington, 3-1 on April 20. Jagger West scored Woods Cross’ goal, but a pair of Farmington goals in the first half set the tone. Abe Ashby, Brady Barnett and Coleman Stetler scored for the Phoenix. 

On April 23, a scoreless regulation and two overtime periods sent Woods Cross and Bonneville into a shootout. The Wildcats outlasted the Lakers 4-3 in the contest. Karson Vanderhoof played well in the net. The goalie got his second shutout of the season for his efforts. 

Woods Cross is 15th in RPI standings. The team hosted Bountiful on Tuesday and entertains Box Elder on Friday. 

Farmington

The Phoenix helped their cause last week by winning both their games. Farmington is now 7-4 and is the highest-rated Region 5 team in RPI rankings. 

After taking care of Woods Cross, Farmington had little trouble with Box Elder last Friday in a 3-0 blanking. The Phoenix were up 2-0 at halftime and added an insurance goal in the second half to secure the win. Adam Esobosa registered his fourth shutout of the year. Cameron Bingham was the game’s offensive star. He tallied two goals to bring his season total to seven. Austin Argyle also found the back of the net for Farmington. 

After playing at Viewmont on Tuesday for a chance to tie the Vikings for first place in Region 4, the Phoenix travel to Bountiful to take on the Braves. 

Bountiful

Speaking of the Braves, they’re also in the thick of the region race. The 3-3 Bountiful squad (5-6 overall) sits in the 20th spot out of 29 teams in the RPI rankings. 

Both of Bountiful’s games last week went into shootouts. Before its heartbreaking loss to Viewmont, the Braves beat Bonneville by outscoring the Lakers 5-4 in the penalty kicks. Neither team scored in regulation or overtime. 

The Braves have scored nine goals in region play while allowing an identical number themselves. 

Davis

In Region 1 of Class 6A, everyone is chasing Weber, including the Davis Darts. 

Weber is a perfect 9-0, three games ahead of Davis, which is also 7-3-1 overall. Davis is sixth in the RPI standings, third-best in Region 1. 

Last week, Davis took care of Northridge 3-0 at home on April 20. It was a noteworthy win considering Northridge crushed the Darts 5-1 when the two teams met earlier in the season on March 18. Three players scored for Davis, all on assisted goals. Stephen Seelos, Simon Jensen and Nash Jensen were the goal-scorers, while Talon Meyer, Wyatt Sander and Elliot Pehrson got the assists. The defense shut out the Knights, a far cry from the previous meeting. Goalkeeper Jude Walker was credited with the shutout. 

On April 22, Weber scored a first-half goal against Davis. It was all the Warriors needed to win on the road. It was just the third time all season that Weber failed to score at least twice. 

Davis hosted Clearfield on Tuesday and played at Roy on Thursday.