CUBA CITY — Darlington brought out the brooms as it dominated at Cuba City in a 41-7 win on Oct. 9.
The win also marks the #1-Redbirds’ (8-0, 6-0) 40th conference title, who saw their last SWAL loss to the Cubans (5-3, 2-3) two years prior, almost to the day, on Cuba City’s turf — Darlington’s only conference loss since before the 2020 season.
“40 conference titles is crazy, and has to be up there for most in the state of Wisconsin,” Redbirds head coach Travis Winkers said. “To secure the outright title at Cuba City, a place where we have not played well the last two times being there, was very nice. It was nice to start the way we did, and it allowed every player who made the road trip to get playing time.”
The reason every Darlington player got playing time was because it got to work extremely quickly on building its lead. The Redbirds had a delay of game before their first snap, knocking a short return from Zeke Zuberbuhler to Darlington’s own 22 back to the 17. The minor extension from the end zone merely padded stats for the Redbirds as Calum Crist took the ball for an 83-yard rush around the weak side with little resistance. A missed PAT from Yasser Andino-Andino set the lead at 6-0 with 22 seconds knocked off the clock.
The Cubans’ bid to fire back fell short, and they started by hindering themselves as an illegal touching on the kickoff made a bad situation worse. Instead of starting on its own 11, Cuba City’s first offensive snap came on its 1-yard line. Darlington’s suffocating defense allowed just two yards before the punt unit came out.
Only, the Redbirds’ offense didn’t end up taking the field. Several defenders broke through the line of scrimmage, with Dante Glendenning blocking the punt. Brendan Leary dove on the ball for a touchdown just as the clock crossed the 10-minute mark in the first. This time, and on every subsequent time lining up for a PAT, Andino-Andino’s kick was true for a 13-0 advantage.
“We talk a lot about not letting teams hang around and giving them confidence,” Winkers said. “This week, we started extremely fast, and after we got up 13-0 early, you could see the doubt in Cuba City’s players.”
Darlington crossed the goal line twice more to the end of the quarter. Following a blocked field goal attempt on the Redbirds’ next drive, Zuberbuhler accounted for 35 of his squad’s 58 yards on the ground, including a 30-yard touchdown rush just inside two minutes left to the end of the first frame.
The Cubans continued to be stymied at every stop as Darlington forced a 4-and-out. Instead of calling on their offense, the Redbirds’ special teams scored yet again. Zuberbuhler got the ball on an end-around from Glendenning, and was off for a 69-yard return for a touchdown with 11 seconds to the end of the quarter.
It would be Zuberbuhler’s name that was called again as the senior Air Force commit scored eight plays into the second frame on a 65-yard rush with 8:33 to the half. Glendenning finally got his opportunity to add to the Redbirds’ lead thanks to a 53-yard rush less than two minutes later.
Meanwhile, Cuba City wasn’t able to get much going until within four minutes of the end of the contest as Darlington’s defense ensured a comeback wasn’t achieved.
“We had two special teams touchdowns on a blocked punt and a punt return,” Winkers said. “Those types of plays are obviously huge. However, our protection on extra point and field goals was not great, and it caused some missed kicks. That has to be fixed going forward.”
The rushing game saw three athletes top 80 yards, including Zuberbuhler (5 car, 109 yds, 2 TD), Crist (3 car, 91 yds, 1 TD), and Glendenning (4 car, 86 yds, 1 TD). Zuberbuhler’s time under center saw limited throwing opportunities as he completed 3-of-7 attempts for 50 yards. Glendenning made the most of his two catches, earning a team-best 33 yards.
On deck for the Redbirds is a regular season closer against SWC-champion Platteville on Oct. 16. The Hillmen (7-1) fresh off a 43-42 win at Prairie du Chien a week prior that saw them overcome a 30-14 deficit.
“Our players and coaches are excited about having such a good matchup this late in the year,” Winkers said. “Platteville is a very good team. You don’t win conference titles without being good. Due to injuries, they have had two different kids play quarterback, and have not missed a beat. This speaks to the type of team they have.”
“I know we have been winning and scoring quite a few points, but the communication part is not up to our standard,” Winkers added. “We only have one more game to get it right before playoffs; otherwise, this deficiency could end up sending us home early. I don’t know if there have ever been two conference title teams meeting week nine of the regular season. It will be a playoff-type game, and a great test for our program.”
