And even fewer in a rehash of a regular season matchup.

Davis dominated Mountain Ridge 40-14 in Week 3 and methodically followed the script again in a 28-10 decision Friday night to advance to the 6A quarterfinals.

“Coach drilled it into our guys that it’s hard to beat a team twice,” Davis junior quarterback Tradon Bessinger said. “These guys are not an opponent to overlook. They’ve played nothing but great teams. They’re a really good team.”

Bessinger set the tone by orchestrating an 82-yard drive on the opening possession. As a capper, he scrambled up the middle for a 3-yard touchdown to give Davis (8-3) a lead it wouldn’t relinquish.

Photo supplied, Isaac Fisher

Mountain Ridge (5-6) stayed close in the opening period, blocking a Davis field goal attempt before Kadin Humeniuk countered by splitting the uprights with a 36-yard kick to make it 7-3 at the 7:24 mark.

But after Tyson Baggett took a short swing pass from Bessinger and sprinted 40 yards for a touchdown late in the opening period, the Sentinels were in trouble.

Mountain Ridge’s offense, predicated on short passes and the running abilities of quarterback Wyatt Bingham, wasn’t endowed with the quick-strike ability to keep up with the Darts.

The Davis defense gave up some yards but rose to the occasion when the situation most warranted it. The Darts kept the Sentinels out of the end zone until the final two minutes when Bingham tossed a scoring pass against the Davis second string.

Perhaps the sequence that put the game out of reach came with time running out late in the first half.

The Sentinels took the ball into Davis territory with their sights set on making it a one-score game. But the Darts forced an incompletion on fourth down with 44 ticks left on the clock, handing the ball to the offense.

Rather than taking a knee knowing they would receive the second-half kickoff, the Darts went to work putting on a short-clock tutorial.

Bessinger used sideline routes and chunk plays to move the ball up the field before finally rolling left and throwing back right to a wide-open Cooper Harsin from 1 yard out with nine seconds to spare. The touchdown advanced the Davis lead to 21-3 and dealt a demoralizing blow to the visitors.

“Our defense balled out this whole entire game,” Bessinger said. “They gave our offense opportunities. We didn’t execute on them the entire time but at the end of that first half, it was huge for them to get a stop and for us to go down and score.”

The Darts went up 28-3 midway through the third quarter on a 4-yard Owen Talbot run.

Bessinger finished 19 of 37 for 238 yards and three touchdowns through the air. Bode Sparrow was on the receiving end of six of those receptions for 63 yards. Sparrow also got his hands on two more balls with a pair of interceptions.

Talbot accumulated 71 tough yards on the ground on 16 carries. Davis had 11 tackles for loss, with Cole Clark totaling four and Jackson Kuma adding 1.5 sacks.

For Mountain Ridge, Bingham finished 21 of 36 for 184 yards and also ran 18 times for 73 yards.

“We’ve got a tough team and when we lock in, we’ll be locked in,” Bessinger said, looking forward to the next round.

The Darts will play at No. 2 Skyridge (9-2) on Nov. 8 after the Falcons survived No. 15 Riverton 21-17.