Davis football dominating with strong defensive play

Kaysville, Utah – If defense truly wins championships, it might be a good time for Davis (Kaysville) to start making room in the school's trophy case.

Strong defense has always been a trademark for the Darts. This season, however, they have taken their ability to contain opponents to a new level.

Davis leads Class 5A in scoring defense as the regular season concludes this week. The Darts are allowing just 9.0 points per game en route to an 8-0 start. In those eight wins, Davis has registered two shutouts and held five opponents to seven points or less.

"It's really fun to play on defense like this," senior safety Matt Morrell said. "We go out there and we have fun. We're all making plays and we're happy for each other. It just makes the game fun."

Staying on target defensively has allowed the Darts to win their first eight games by an average margin of 23.4 points per game.

Moving the chains against Davis is difficult enough. Scoring points is virtually impossible.

Seeing opponents struggle to do anything offensively has bred confidence as the season has progressed. The Darts take pride in holding opponents out of the end zone. They take even greater pride in having built such a long winning streak.

"Our main goal is to say we played our best," senior defensive lineman Kawika Tupuola said. "The opposing offense we play, we want them to be saying, 'That was one of the most intense defenses we ever played.' The fact that we've given up the least amount of points is an extra achievement."

Surprisingly, few Davis players are dominating defensive categories like sacks, interceptions and tackles. Morrell is the state co-leader in interceptions with six picks. Beyond the 6-foot-2, 190-pound senior, however, the other defensive mainstays don't have the sort of numbers that jump off of a stat sheet.

That's just fine with the Darts. To players and coaches alike, it's a sign that every player in the unit is making an equal contribution to the team's defensive success.

"I would just say we're 11 players acting as one," Morrell said. "We're not looking to have one superstar. We're looking to make the whole team a star."

Davis uses a basic 3-4 defense to get the job done. You won't see the Darts doing any unusual blitzing packages or offbeat alignments on a Friday night. Their goal is to play sound defensive football and keep an offense second-guessing and making the wrong choices for four quarters.

Davis coach Ryan Bishop said he and his coaches make a point of putting their team in a position where they can anticipate a play or group of plays in whatever situation lies ahead.

"You're not going to see us run a whole bunch of exotic coverages," Bishop said. "You're not going to see us do everything under the sun up front. We want to put our kids in a situation where they can be sound, they can play aggressive and they can finish to the football."

With the right ingredients in place, the Darts have cooked up a recipe for success in 2013. Bingham (South Jordan) remains a heavy favorite to claim the Class 5A title when the playoffs start next week. But Davis is showing it has plenty of potential to make life tough for any team — including the Miners.

One reason why Davis remains a consistent defensive force late into the season is that coaches lay a sound foundation and then trust the players to execute the schemes without resorting to a bag of tricks.

"The reason we play the defense that we do is so we don't have to be too cute," Davis defensive coordinator Preston Parrish said. "We don't have to be too creative. If we can just teach them a basic read, that allows us to play fast. We just tell them if we're aligned correctly, we get our reads and then we don't give up the big play, then most of the time good things are going to happen."

Those good things, as Davis has learned, can lead to carving out a spot as an elite team in Utah's highest classification.

John Coon covers Utah high school sports for MaxPreps.com. He is a former prep sports reporter with the Salt Lake Tribune and the Deseret News. You can contact him at john_coon@hotmail.com or follow him on Twitter at @johncoonsports.