DARLINGTON — A battle of conference champions in two of southwestern Wisconsin conferences saw Darlington put Platteville on blast on Oct. 16, 49-20.
The Redbirds (9-0, 6-0 SWAL) entered the matchup as Division 5’s top-ranked team, and they played like it from the opening whistle. Darlington’s defense held the Hillmen (7-2, 6-0 SWC) — also a ranked squad at 10th in Division 4 — to a trio of punts and a turnover on downs from the game’s outset to the 6:50-mark of the second frame. Meanwhile, the Redbirds’ prolific offense got to work; however, they faced some resistance at the start.
Darlington’s opening drive started strong thanks to a Dante Glendenning 6-yard scamper from Platteville’s 40 before nearly making up the remaining yards to the end zone on the ground on the next play. Unfortunately, the Hillmen punched the ball out on the 1-yard line, and got the touchback.
The Redbirds had an appropriate response offensively as they posted five touchdowns to the break. Each came on the ground, with two from both Ryder Fitzsimons and Dante Glendenning, and one from Calum Crist. Perfect in all seven of his team’s PATs was Yasser Andino-Andino. Platteville prevented a first half shutout with a 37-yard passing score halfway through the second quarter.
The 35-7 split was a comfortable gap, and while Darlington’s offense split scoring duties with its special teams over the final 24 minutes, the Hillmen could only match the Redbirds score-for-score to the final whistle.
“I felt our kids were pretty dialed in right from the start,” Darlington head coach Travis Winkers said. “If you take away Dante [Glendenning’s] fumble at the 1-yard line after a long run, we scored on every possession with our starters.”
Senior signal-caller Zeke Zuberbuhler was efficient under center for the Redbirds, completing 3-of-4 passes for 32 yards, and rushing seven times for 28 yards. He was also responsible for Darlington’s special teams touchdown with a 67-yard to open the third quarter. Dante Glendenning was the only rusher to eclipse 100 yards as he traveled 158 yards over 11 carries. Behind him was Calum Crist (9 car, 2 TD) at 82 yards ahead of Fitzsimons’ (4 car, 2 TD) 50. Glendenning also narrowly out-earned Fitzsimons in the receiving game with 13 yards to the latter’s 12, with both tallying a reception.
“We felt Zeke [Zuberbuhler] did a good job of audibling into correct plays, and we were able to see a variety of kids score touchdowns,” Winkers said. “As always, there are things we need to improve on. We will show it in film and coach them up to fix these issues.”
Defense was another strong area for the Redbirds in the cross-conference affair. Their number recorded nine tackles for a loss, and 65 total tackles. Leading the pack was Crist at 11 total tackles and three tackles for a loss. Dante Glendenning followed with seven total tackles ahead of Maximo Xolo, Parker Mosley, and Sloan Glendenning — each with six total tackles and one tackle for a loss.
“A shutout with our starters is always a goal, and our kids are frustrated we didn’t do that,” Winkers said. “With that being said, our guys played well again and held an offense that is averaging a lot of points well below their average to 14 with our starters. They hit one long pass on us, and we let the quarterback out of the pocket a couple of other times. Like on offense, we feel we can correct these mistakes and could have avoided giving up those scores.”
Darlington now brings its full focus to the WIAA Division 5 playoffs, where it is a top-seeded team. The Redbirds will first host 8th-seeded Dodgeville on Oct. 23. The Dodgers (4-5) concluded the year tied for second in the SWC with a 4-2 conference record with two straight wins over Lancaster, 42-14, and at Richland Center, 32-19.
