Winter athletics end as playoff runs and seasons falter

Photo Caption- The DHS student section watches in solemn silence as the men’s basketball team falls behind at senior night on Feb. 11.

By Declan Fee

HUB Sports Editor

Davis crowds grew silent in disbelief as final whistles blew. Between disappointing seasons and playoff runs cut short, for both men’s and women’s basketball the last few weeks have been disappointing ends to winter seasons.

The men’s basketball team finished at 6-16 for the season, at the number seven spot in the Delta League. The season was finished with a narrow senior night loss to Pleasant Grove, leaving both the team, and the fans, disheartened.

“The senior night loss was really hard for all of us. We fought through the whole game and we just fell short … Overall, our record didn’t show a great season but we had a lot of fun,” sophomore Aidan Crawford said.

The women’s basketball team encountered a historic season this year, but not for the reason you may think. Dwindling roster numbers over the past few years left this team with just six players, and significant challenges every step of the way.

“Because we have such few subs … this year has obviously had a lot of challenges” said sophomore, Tessa Schouten, a leading scorer.

Despite this, they were able to put together a strong season.

The year started off rocky, with Davis struggling in their preliminary out of league games. But as the season progressed the team saw success in league play, earning a 9-3 league record, and 2nd place.

This gave players the 9th seed for the playoffs, matching up with 8th seed Monterey trail in the first round.

Monterey Trail came out strong though, too much for the visiting Devils, presenting them with a first round exit in the playoffs.

Although ultimately falling short of the championship, Davis High soccer experienced a successful year. Both the women’s and men’s teams made it past the first round of the section playoffs.

Women’s soccer at DHS has always had a reputation for being one of the best teams in the area, and this season held that reputation intact.

Second place in the Delta League and key wins over rival schools gave Davis the 9th seed entering the playoffs, and a first round matchup against 8th seed River City.

During this away game the Blue Devil defense shined, and kept the game 0-0 until junior Lauren Lemmo put away a goal in the final 10 minutes.

The team was now faced with a difficult obstacle in its path to the championship: nationally ranked Oak Ridge.

In their match-up, Davis put up a good fight, keeping the undefeated number one seed to a 0-0 score through the first half, but conceded two goals late in the game.

“This was a disappointing way to end the season, but overall I think we did really well and it was a super positive experience,” junior Una Keller said.

Despite the playoff exit, Davis kept its run of strong seasons, and set themselves up for success in ensuing years.

Expectations were remarkably high for the men’s soccer team entering this season, and in many ways, they were exceeded.

For the first time in many years, the team consisted only of juniors and seniors, many of whom play soccer together year round, on very successful teams.

This translated well into the high school season, as they went 12-2 during the regular season and earned first place in the Delta League.

This included a win over rivals Jesuit and their first league title since 2013.

The strong season gave the team the 1st seed in the playoffs, and a first round game against Chavez. They finished off that game with a 5-1 win, and continued the dominance against Oak Ridge, beating them in the quarter finals.

They were now set to face 4th seed Modesto in the semifinals.

In a close game, Modesto put away an early goal that Davis was never able to respond to, putting an end to Davis’s season.