It was a bad weekend for fans of high school sports in south Davis County.

In one fell swoop, the Davis Darts volleyball team went from possible repeat champs to a third place finish, and the remaining schools that were in the 4A and 5A football playoffs all lost.

That leaves the next week to 10 days for most Davis County high school sports fans Й well Й twiddling their thumbs.

Yes, it was a tough weekend for local high school sports, but there is some good news for those fans as well. Winter sports will be kicking off in less than 10 days as boys’ and girls’ basketball, wrestling, swimming, hockey and drill get started on what is sure to be a winter season full of good stories. Rivalries get to continue, region races get to heat up all over again, and state playoffs can be determined by mere seconds, or even one major call one way or another.

Some of the stories are already set into place, however. At Woods Cross, the administration cleaned house with the basketball program by hiring a new boys and a new girls’ basketball coach. The Wildcats welcomed Kacey Walkenhurst into the basketball court over the summer, replacing long-time coach Todd Street. The girls’ basketball team also welcomed a new coach, who will be roaming the sidelines in the coming weeks as well.

Over at Bountiful, it seems that it will be business as usual for the drill team as the Mandonelles focus on winning their fifth straight state title, and the boys’ basketball team will look to rebound from a tough playoff loss that eliminated them one round earlier than in 2010.

Viewmont and Davis will have their share of stories as well. While both remain in separate regions the UHSAA-approved sports, club sports such as hockey will keep the rivalry going as both schools set out to duplicate or improve on last year’s performances.

And there is plenty of excitement to be had on both school’s fronts. For the Vikings, the wrestling team’s strong finish in the 5A tournament will no doubt be a stepping stone for a class of wrestlers who can see the stat title in their sights this season. The basketball team for both the boys and girls will look to bounce back from tough playoff losses as well. Jeff Emery and Clint Straatman hit the court again in 2012 in the hopes of getting further into the playoffs.

Davis’ basketball and wrestling teams also made a strong splash last season, and with a full crop of players coming back from the many different winter sports, the Darts are likely to make deeper pushes in the basketball playoffs, wrestling tournament and hockey playoffs.

All around the southern end of Davis County are some good stories just waiting to happen, and getting the opportunity to be a part of these upcoming stories gives me some pretty good goose bumps.

So as the football playoffs wind down and the local all-region and all-staters get named for the respective sports, let’s all look forward into the winter sports and hope that the stories for the winter will be just as good, if not better, than everything that happened in the fall.

With the newest Winter Sports Preview section coming next week in the Clipper, hopefully you, the reader, will be just as excited as I am to get everything started. And keep the story ideas coming, please.sgillet@davisclipper.com