CUBA CITY — For the first time in exactly five years, Darlington suffered a conference loss at Cuba City on Oct. 11, 14-12. Failed 2-point conversions on each of Darlington’s scores proved to be the difference on the scoreboard.

“This was a conference championship game against a very good (Cuba City) team,” Darlington head coach Travis Winkers said. “We expected a tight game. I knew for multiple weeks that we’d go for two every time against the Cubans. I felt confident in our ability to go for two, and wanted to make them chase us throughout the game. I just didn’t expect to only have two chances at it.”

The low-scoring effort from both teams was due largely to the top-tier defense representing each. No. 7 Cuba City (7-1, 6-0) forced a pair of punts and a turnover on downs. Calum Crist recovered a strip fumble on 10th-ranked Darlington’s (7-2, 5-1) five, and Maddox Goebel scooped up a fumble on a Cuban field goal attempt. The efforts yielded no points in the opening quarter.

A score wasn’t tallied until the 10:33 mark of the second quarter. This time, it was a connection from Cuba City quarterback, Tyson Richard, to Henry Kruser for a 24-yard catch-and-scamper into the end zone. The deadly accurate Landon Busch nailed the PAT for the 7-0 advantage over the Redbirds.

Darlington responded on its next drive. Goebel took the kickoff to his team’s 25. His number was called for the first play on the ground — Goebel rumbled nine yards up the middle, breaking a tackle at the line, and three Cubans were needed to prevent a bigger gain. A slightly overthrown deep ball on second down gave way to a quick handoff to Calum Crist for a 2-yard gain up the middle for a first down.

Calum Crist and Goebel were featured heavily in the game, accounting for 26 touches and 69 yards. Despite the low total, Winkers was intent on instilling a run-first offense throughout.

“Our plan is always to lean on the run,” he said.

A false start negated a 5-yard gain from Goebel on the ground, and Cuba City stifled a rush at the line to set up a third-and-10 situation. Zeke Zuberbuhler found Dante Glendenning on a comeback route near the Redbirds’ sideline, but the result was a fourth-and-inches. Zuberbuhler remedied the problem with a keeper, assisted by his linemen with a massive hole for him to rush through for first down.

Goebel got the go ahead for a first down rush, and his 6-yard gain was bolstered by a 15-yard penalty against the Cubans. 

Darlington went with what worked well over the next plays, as Goebel broke off runs of 10 and 2 yards, with Zuberbuhler swinging around the right side of the line for eight of his own yards.  Calum Crist was called on for all 12 of the final yards in one play. He slipped through a defender’s arms at the line and trucked through another on his way to the first of the Redbirds’ points. The Cubans broke up a passing 2-point attempt, leaving Darlington with a 7-6 deficit, 5:22 from the break.

The split stuck for almost 17 minutes. The only problem was that Cuba City broke the silence. The Redbirds nearly made the opposite true with a Talan Crist pick-6 before the half, but penalties for block in the back and unsportsmanlike conduct against Darlington negated the score.

The Cubans needed three plays from eight yards out with 10:38 left in the fourth off a Redbird turnover on downs to secure the icing score. Ethan Griffin got the first attempt with a 5-yard carry, then Kaden Drake broke through the line to force a 3-yard loss for Cuba City. Evan Muller hauled in Richard’s second passing score of the night wide open in the end zone.

Darlington’s first response ended in a punt to the Cuban 25. After a few plays with big gains to show, the Redbirds started calling timeouts. Darlington preserved enough time for a comeback. Its defense forced a punt for a touchback with 3:01 on the clock. 

With an 80-yard span to go, the Redbirds got to work, but it wasn’t without some adversity.

Each of the first three plays either resulted in an incomplete pass, or came up just short of a first down. On fourth-and-2, Isaac Crist got the handoff and burst for a 14-yard gain to keep Darlington alive with 40 seconds knocked off the clock. 

Goebel was stopped at the line on first down, then Isaac Crist gained five yards for his squad on a reception running out of bounds. Goebel made up for the no gain with a 10-yard push to the Cuba City 45 as 1:34 showed on the clock.

A false start added five yards, and Zuberbuhler’s first pass fell incomplete as he was hit throwing. Zuberbuhler hit Goebel in the numbers on his next attempt, but the ball bounced out of the receiver’s arms. Calum Crist got the next opportunity, but his rush yielded only a pair of yards with 1:15 showing on a moving clock.

Zuberbuhler dropped back 10 yards with a four-man rush closing in. He readied himself and fired a rocket downfield to Glendenning who turned and bolted down to the Cuban 13. Darlington’s sophomore quarterback got a spike off with 41 seconds to play.

Zuberbuhler slipped out of a sack and got a throw off over a jumping defender. Isaac Crist was on the reception, and he secured a 7-yard gain with another spike to follow as 20 seconds remained in the contest.

The Redbirds’ second false start during the drive pushed the distance needed for a score to 10-yards.

Again, Zuberbuhler was asked to pass. He did so under heavy duress with a pair of rushers bearing down on him. After rolling out, he zipped a bullet between a pair of defenders to Broker Buschor in the end zone for the junior’s only catch of the game. The 2-point attempt was a quarterback keeper, but a swarm of defenders thwarted the conversion at the line.

With 12 seconds on the clock, that was where the game was supposed to be over. Except, Darlington wasn’t content with the story ending there. It attempted the seldom-successful onside kick, and Glendenning was the exception to the rule as he came down with the ball on the Cuba City 45 with 12 seconds to play. 

Zuberbuhler’s first pass was nearly intercepted, and his second was just short of Buschor’s position along the sideline. His third pass found its way into Buschor’s arms at the 35. Buschor lateralled the ball to Goebel, and a desperation toss flew out of bounds as time expired.

“I like the way we responded on our last two minute drive to have a chance to tie it up,” Winkers said. “Our defense also competed, and they were put in some tough spots because of lack of execution on some of our offensive stuff.”

The Redbirds outgained the Cubans on the ground and through the air in the loss, 259 to 213 yards overall.