Now that September has arrived, the region battles have begun for some local high school football teams. Both Davis and Farmington opened up Region 1 play last Friday with each team coming up short.

Davis

  The Darts dropped to 2-2 overall while losing their Region 1 opener in a close one, falling to Layton 24-21. 

Davis found itself in a hole early, falling behind 14-0 in the first quarter. Only eight minutes had gone by before Layton had scored a pair of touchdowns to build the lead. The Darts clawed back into contention, however. First, midway through the second quarter, Maxwell Painter hauled in a 26-yard touchdown pass from Easton Baggett. With the score 14-7 in favor of Layton at the break, Davis continued to clamp down on defense. The Darts held Layton scoreless in the third quarter as well and added a 1-yard touchdown from Trey Talbot with under a minute to play in the period to tie the game at 14-14.

Layton went back in front 21-14 on a touchdown with 6:13 left in the game. Davis answered with a 28-yard touchdown pass from Jackson Stevens to Ty Hoagland with just under three minutes to play. Hoping to get a stop and force overtime or give the offense time for the winning score, the defense couldn’t prevent Layton from moving down the field for the clinching field goal. 

For Davis, Baggett put up over 100 yards on the ground and through the air. He ran for 121 on 12 carries and completed 12 of 16 passes for 128 yards. Stevens added 66 through the air, and Talbot rushed for 43 yards. Painter had five catches for 83 yards. Davis had three sacks, and Colby Flint led the way with 13 tackles. 

Davis steps out of region action on Friday with a game at Alta.

Farmington

The Phoenix also had a close game in the first Region 1 game of the year. Unfortunately for Farmington, it wasn’t able to come out on top. Farmington dropped a tight 38-35 contest to Weber, falling to 1-3 on the season. 

In this back-and-forth affair, Farmington trailed 14-7 after one quarter, getting its first-quarter score on a 9-yard pass from Easton White to Mitch Nielsen. But the Phoenix turned the tables on Weber, outscoring the Warriors 14-7 in the second. White and Nielsen had another connection in the second quarter, this time from 55 yards out. After a Weber score made it 21-14 for the Warriors, Boston Reinhold scored on a 4-yard run with 19 seconds left in the half to tie the game at 21 apiece. 

Farmington took its first lead early in the third quarter on another 4-yard TD run from Reinhold. But Weber outscored the Phoenix 17-7 the rest of the way. Reinhold’s 23-yard touchdown run with 5:23 left in the game made it 35-31 Farmington. But Weber scored a TD with 2:30 left, and the Phoenix couldn’t counter for the tie or win. 

Farmington hosts Clearfield on Friday for another shot at a league victory.