But, when it's Davis High School and they lose for the first time to hated rival Layton in soccer, you can hardly call that an upset. The Lancers moved into sole possession of first place this past Thursday when they cruised to a 3-1 victory over the Darts in Layton. The Lancers improved their overall record 5-1-2 and 3-1-1 in league play while the Darts fell to 5-1-1 overall and 3-1 in Region 1.
With the win, Layton is in first place by virtue of their 10 points earned. Weber is in a second- place tie with Davis and Viewmont with nine points.
The Warriors, however, are the state's number one 5-A team and are undefeated at 7-0 overall and 3-0 in the conference.
Everybody else in Region 1 has at least one league loss.
The Darts did come into the game ranked fourth in the state and the Lancers made a very strong case for themselves to be in that top five for the first time this week with the win.
The game was all Layton from the get-go. Davis did start out the scoring on a Herschel Hugie goal in the first five minutes of the game, but that's all Davis could muster.
Davis held off the Layton onslaught as long as they could. They clung to that 1-0 lead until Kellan Christensen finally broke the Lancer scoring drought with a goal at the 34-minute mark.
After the Christensen goal, the Lancers were able to score two more in the final six minutes of the half to take a commanding 3-1 lead into halftime.
The Darts had their chances in the second half, but not nearly enough to make up the two-goal deficit.
Layton played well defensively after those first five minutes of the game. Hugie is Davis' scoring threat and he was held in check very well the final 75 minutes of the game.
Davis has problems scoring the ball.
When they get down by just one goal, the hole they've dug themselves has become literally so big that there's no way to dig themselves out. That's what happened in this one.
In seven games this year, Davis has scored 13 goals while giving up only nine themselves. The Darts' defense certainly didn't play up to their potential in the Layton game.
It's tough to fault the Davis defense in this game though, because of the explosiveness of the Lancer offense.
Through their first eight games, Layton has scored 20 goals while still giving up 14 on defense. The Lancers play an enjoyable brand of soccer that not a lot of teams play these days.
The Darts should be able to rebound from the loss with a somewhat easier game today against Northridge in Kaysville. The Knights are currently in last place in Region 1 at 0-4.
Layton, on the other hand, hosts the state's number one team, Weber, this afternoon. A Layton win would keep the Lancers in first and push Weber back into possibly fourth place with the one sole loss.
If Weber were to win, the same thing could happen where the Lancers could fall all the way from first place to fourth with a loss.
Region 1 is a wild soccer region and it's shaping up to be a four-team race for any one of the top four slots for the state tournament.
Not only will it be the top four vying for position, but also nobody can take Fremont lightly in fifth place.
Layton found out just how tough it is in the league this year when they tied a very game Clearfield club last week 3-3. The Falcons are considered one of the two weakest teams in Region 1 and they took the Lancers right down to the wire.
Layton is for real and Davis found that out first hand on Thursday.
Now, it's time for Layton to show Weber if they really have what it takes to play with the big boys.
If Davis is to continue winning and improving, that offense will need to come up with some more to help out that stellar Dart defense.
news@davisclipper.com


