NEW GLARUS — Week 4 was a chance for seventh-ranked New Glarus to make a statement in the SWAL — and in Division 5. For reigning Division 6 champion Darlington, which is ranked No. 1 in D5 this fall, Week 4 was a chance for the Redbirds to cement themselves as the team to beat yet again.
“Everyone’s going to give us their best shot, and we know that as defending state champs,” DHS coach Travis Winkers said. “We played better today that we did last Friday but there’s still stuff to fix, and our guys know that.”
After falling behind 3-0 in the first quarter, the Redbirds took full control, outscoring the Glarner Knights 41-7 the rest of the way.
“We have to fix that, because we want to score on every possession,” Winkers said. “But I was happy with the way our guys responded.”
Darlington dropped the ball — literally — on the first possession of the game, allowing New Glarus an opportunity starting at midfield. While the Knights were able to march down the field and pick up a fourth down conversion, the Redbirds locked up when they needed to and kept New Glarus out of the end zone. Freshman kicker Brett Weeden split the uprights on a 26-yard field goal with 3:03 left in the first quarter.
“It was close to the start we wanted to have — obviously we would have liked to have punched that one in,” NG coach DJ Schuett said.
Darlington regrouped and took over from there. New Glarus gained just four yards of offense the rest of the half.
Four minutes and eight seconds of game time after the field goal, Darlington put the ball in the end zone. Capping an 80-yard drive, QB Zeke Zuberbuhler connected with Dante Glendenning on a slant route near midfield, and Glendenning outsprinted the defense for the 49-yard score.
With 48 seconds left in the half, Zuberbuhler found Peyton Dempsey in the end zone on a corner route to make it a two-score game.
The momentum only sped up for the Redbirds in the second half. After forcing a New Glarus punt, Darlington’s first possession of the third quarter started at its own seven yard line. Eleven plays and 93 yards later, Glendenning punched the ball across the goal line, making it 20-3.
A three-and-out on defense got the Redbirds the ball back almost immediately. Coach Travis Winkers stayed with the running game, passing just two times on the ensuing drive, which went 17 plays and 78 yards with Ryder Fitzsimons scoring from six yards out with 6:36 left in the fourth.
“I was disappointed in a small, short window where I thought we didn’t believe in ourselves,” Schuett said. “There in the fourth quarter, though, we dug down, we moved the ball, and I don’t think a lot of teams move the ball on them. So we can take some positives out of that.”
The Knights were able to score on the next drive to get back to within 17 points, but that’s where it ended. Following a foiled onside kick, Zuberbuhler went 49 yards on the next snap to make it a 24-point game again at 34-10. Knights QB Brock Roth was intercepted on the next drive on a screen pass, with linebacker Sloan Glendenning coming up 11 yards short of a touchdown. Sloan Glendenning is an offensive lineman and a linebacker, and rarely gets scoring opportunities like his running back brother.
“He’s a tremendous athlete. He could easily be a skill player, and he probably will be a skill player next year on some stuff,” Winkers said of the junior two-way starter. “I wish he could have got in, get him a touchdown, but he’s going to have another chance I fell this year.”
The interception, and the TD by Calum Crist that followed, put the game away for good with less than two minutes left.
Crist ended the night with 110 yards rushing on 18 carries. Zuberbuhler had 65 yards rushing and 127 yards on 8 of 10 passing. Dante Glendenning had 49 yards on the ground, Fitzsimons 35 yards and Parker Mosley 30 yards. The Redbirds collected 413 yards of total offense.
“Our offense didn’t score on two of our seven possessions. That’s no disrespect to them (NG), we just didn’t execute,” Winkers said.
Maximo Xolo and Tag Goebel led Darlington with 11 tackles each.
“They are a good football team, and I’ve been preaching to our guys all week that we are a good football team. The pressure was on them tonight, and they showed their pedigree. They played four quarters of football and didn’t make mistakes,” Schuett said.
Roth was 12-for-24 passing for 91 yards, and the Knights finished with 101 yards on the ground, with Carson Prechel (27 yards), Brady Baer (26 yards), Roth (25 yards) and Brent Weeden (23 yards) all having nearly identical stat lines. Prechel had the lone touchdown for the Glarner Knights. Tyse Hoesly had a team-high 11 tackles, with Gavin O’Bel adding 10 more total tackles.
“Bubba (Brent Weeden) is a team guy. Bubba will do whatever he has to do to help us out,” Schuett said. A year ago he made the transition — midseason — from offensive line to tight end. This year he’s also carrying the ball on occasion. “Tonight we lost (Dylan) Colstad in our safety spot for the remainder of the game. We were thinking break-glass-scenario, so we moved Bubba again from D-Line to outside backer where he’s had maybe 2 1/2 hours of practice.”
Schuett said this year’s squad is collectively the most physical team he’s seen in program history, meaning that the ceiling for this fall is actually quite high.
“They play hard. They play to the whistle. They tackle hard, they block hard, they run hard. It’s all great stuff, and we’re progressively getting better. We’re progressively making less mistakes,” Schuett said. “We’ve still got some things to clean up, but I think we’ll be OK. We just have to play our game, gotta do our jobs and trust our teammates, and then we’ll be alright.”
Darlington (4-0, 2-0 SWAL) hosts winless Southwestern/East Dubuque (0-4, 0-2) in Week 5, while New Glarus (3-1, 1-1) welcomes Mineral Point (3-1, 1-1).
