KAYSVILLE -- The 250th state championship football game -- Region 3 champion Bingham versus Region 1 champion Davis High -- could be a smash-mouth spectacle and a fairly-quick game with two top-tier rushing attacks.
"We have to defend both the run and the pass," Darts second-year defensive coordinator Tyler Gladwell said. "They can beat you with the big play or a 75-yard drive. We need to play well on defense, and be able to get the ball back to our offense with good field position.
"One thing we talk about is winning first down and get off the field on third down," he said. "If we can get their offense in second-and-long and third-and-long, that's where we've been successful."
No Utah team this year has defeated the Miners (12-1 overall), who bring a 10-game winning streak into today's state 5-A title game in Utah's Rice-Eccles Stadium.
Bingham is making its third championship game appearance in four years. Davis (10-2), winner of five straight, is in the title game for just the third time in 16 seasons.
"We're just going to continue what we do well -- being good tacklers," Gladwell said. "We're not a big gambling defense; keep the ball in front of us and not give up big plays.
"We need to have a collective effort in all three phases of the game," he said. "Defense is all about attitude, emotion and flying around to make plays. Our kids have gotten smarter, which has allowed them to play harder and faster. We want to be faster than our opponent. If the kids have less to think about, they're more effective and play harder and faster."
In other words, the Darts are going after anyone in a different-colored helmet.
"There is a reason they're No. 1 in the state," Darts senior free safety Kyler Sprague said of the Miners. "We're just excited to play, and it's more about us. Nothing has really changed this week; our normal (4-3) defense with 11 hats to the ball.
"We knew we had something special coming into the year, and we knew we could do something if we tried and put our minds to it," he said. "I knew we had it in us, but at times we didn't show it. The two losses were big learning experiences for us. The intensity went up a notch after the Brighton loss for both the coaches and players. We've been a lot more focused since then."
The 17-year-old Sprague, who played some wideout as a junior but no defense, has 40 tackles and four interceptions -- three picks in the last four games.
"I like playing defense. It's more fun and more exciting," he said. "This year is the first year I haven't played offense. Getting a pick is fun, but the best thing is making a gang tackle with all the buds.
"Bingham is an awesome team, and we all know what's at stake," Sprague said. "This is a big game, but we're treating it just like another game. We also know how sweet it would be to win state."
* WEEK 14 NOTES: Davis tailback Tanner Hinds leads the state 5-A ranks with 23 rushing touchdowns and Bingham tailback Harvey Langi is second with 20. Each running back has scored 24 touchdowns this year. Hinds scored on a punt return, and Langi has four touchdown receptions. Hinds has nine 100-yard games and leads 5-A with 1,869 rushing yards. .... The Darts are 59-34 (.634) in the state playoffs with 42 appearances, and a 6-9 record (.400) in championship game appearances -- Davis would not play East in the 1943 class A finals -- with seven state championships. When Davis won the state 5-A title in 2004, its two season losses were a 26-0 shutout to Brighton and a 41-13 Region 1 game to Fremont. This year, the Darts' two setbacks were a 24-0 whitewash to the Bengals and a 24-21 league game to Viewmont. ... Davis has won 10 games for the first time since 2004 -- the Darts were 11-2 in their 5-A championship season -- and only the third time in 16 seasons. ... Davis is making its 16th championship game appearance; only Millard (20), Skyline (20), Beaver (18) and Box Elder (17) have more. ... Eight championship games have been decided in overtime, with the most recent being the Darts' 50-43 victory over Cottonwood in 2004 in Rice-Eccles Stadium.
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