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HERRIMAN — Back in the championship, yet again.
Davis, who had lost to Mountain Ridge 2-1 earlier in the season, was all business in the neutral site game at Zions Bank Stadium.
Davis used a dominant 3-0 first half to propel themselves over Mountain Ridge to advance to the state final with a 5-0 win for the first time since 2022, where they won it all as a No. 7 seed.
"The girls are used to winning, and they expect to win," Davis head coach Dillon Richens said. "They more than deserved this result and they played phenomenal."
The Darts were firing quickly, scoring their first goal of the game just one minute in off the foot of Cadence Parker.
Five minutes later, the Darts scored again when Simone Packer fired a shot where the ball was initially deflected by the keeper but found the back of the net — the shot was too powerful.
In the 21st minute, Packer found the goal again after receiving a beautiful cross from Kate Willard, and Davis was up 3-0 early in the game. The goal was Packers second goal of three in the game.
"She is tough to handle. She plays with the intensity of someone who knows if she has it her way she is going to win. She has an eye for a goal and makes a difference every game," Richens said.
Tensions got hot between the Mountain Ridge bench and the officiating crew as head coach Mark Osborne was assessed a yellow card for repeated frustrating discourse towards the officiating crew.
In the 63rd minute, Willard scored a goal herself after firing a shot to the top right of the net, stunning Mountain Ridge and ending all hopes of a comeback with a 5-0 lead.
It will be the 2022 state champion versus the 2023 state champion Lone Peak as the Darts and Knights battle for the 6A title on Friday at 2 p.m. MDT.
