DARLINGTON — The Redbirds capped the SWAL schedule unbeaten, toppling Lancaster 46-26 in Week 9 Oct. 15.
Easton Evenstad had 156 yards rushing and four touchdowns for Darlington, and added another 77 yards on three catches. Braden Davis was 5 of 11 passing for 122 yards and had 105 yards rushing and a score. Brady Horne gained 56 yards and a TD on the ground, plus a team-leading 17 tackles, while Breylin Goebel added 49 yards and a score. Hunter Hardyman had two catches for 45 yards. Evenstad leads the Redbirds in rushing on the season with 817 yards. Goebel (670), Davis (633) and Horne (555) all average more than 61 yards rushing and a score each game. The four-some has combined for 41 rushing touchdowns this season
Darlington took a 22-6 lead in the first quarter, and led 40-13 at halftime. Lancaster scored back-to-back TDs late in the fourth quarter to make it 40-27, but Evenstad capped the night with his fourth touchdown with just 90 seconds left.
Darlington outgained Lancaster in yardage 488-262.
The Redbirds (8-1, 7-0 SWAL) will host Benton-Scales Mound-Shullsburg (3-7, 3-4) in the first round of the WIAA Division 6 playoffs. The Knights received a conference win via forfeit against Southwestern in Week 9, then were pummeled by Edgar (6-3, Ranked 5th in D7) 42-0 in a replacement game.
In Week 5, Darlington trampled the Knights 58-6.
River Ridge 25, Black Hawk-Warren 0
PATCH GROVE — The Warriors saw their dreams of a conference championship crushed in Week 9. River Ridge (7-2, 6-1) scored a touchdown in all four quarters, while Black Hawk-Warren (6-3, 5-2) was shutout in the contest.
Lucas Milz finished the night with 59 rushing yards to lead the Warriors, which had just 149 yards of offense. Logan Drone finished the game with 176 rushing yards and three TDs for River Ridge, averaging 9.3 yards per carry. He also threw for 136 yards and a score on just three completions, including an 89-yard TD pass to Braden Brubel in the third quarter.
River Ridge closed the regular season as co-Six Rivers champions with Potosi-Cassville (8-1, 6-1). Milz finished the regular season as the league’s leading rusher with 905 yards — one more than Drone. BHW’s Landen Mahoney was fourth (763).
Awaiting in the first round of the WIAA Division 7 playoffs is Randolph (8-2, 6-1 Trailways), which received a forfeit in Week 9 from Wayland Academy, then dominated Mishicot 41-0 in a replacement game. The Rockets’ only conference loss came to Oshkosh Lourdes in Week 3, which went unbeaten in conference play. Randolph also lost to Hilbert in a nonconference game in Week 2, 42-6.
Randolph has outscored opponents 288-108 this season, while gaining over 2,800 yards of offense, with nearly two-third of those yards coming on the ground. BHW has outscored opponents 230-112 and has 2,456 yards of offense, with 2,013 coming via the ground attack.
Brodhead-Juda 22,
Prairie du Chien 19
PRAIRIE DU CHIEN — The Cardinals had their closest scare of the season in Week 9, but did enough to cap the regular season unbeaten.
After going up 6-0 in the first quarter on a 27-yard TD pass from Cole Hoesly to Gage Boegli, PDC came back with a score to open the second quarter — and then took the 7-6 advantage into halftime.
The two schools went into the fourth quarter with the same score, but Blake Matthys put Brodhead-Juda ahead with a 1-yard TD plunge with 10:18 left I the game. A two-point conversion pass from Hoesly to Aiden Vondra made it 14-7. PDC (5-4, 4-3 SWC) then answered with 6:35 left, but the two-point try was scuttled by the Cardinals defense.
Fifth-ranked in D5, Brodhead-Juda (9-0, 7-0) tacked on to the lead with Boegli scoring from a yard out with 4:07 to play, making it 22-13 after a successful two-point conversion run. PDC scored once more about 40 seconds later on a 20-yard pass from Maddox Cejka to Trent Mallat, but the Cardinals were able to hold on over the final 3:25 of the game.
Boegli had 150 rushing yards on the ground on just eight carries. He finished the regular season with a conference-leading 1,155 yards on just 88 attempts, averaging 13.1 yards per carry and scoring 20 TDs with zero fumbles.
The Cardinals will host Watertown Luther Prep (5-4) in the opening round of the D5 playoffs. The Phoenix finished fifth in the Capitol Conference this fall. WLP runs at more than a 3:1 clip than it passes, and gains yardage at a more than 4:1 clip on the ground, picking up over 2,200 yards of offense in total. Meanwhile Brodhead-Juda has throttled teams pretty much all season, outscoring opponents 379-62 and has gained more than 3,300 yards of offense, including 2,733 on the ground.
NG-Monticello 47, Dodgeville 0
NEW GLARUS — The Glarner Knights finished the season with a rousing victory on their home turf.
Max Marty was an efficient 13 of 15 passing for 186 yards and three TDs for New Glarus-Monticello (2-7, 2-5 SWC). Marty also added 100 yards rushing with a score. Nate Brandes has 31 yards and a TD on the ground, while Emery Johnson had 40 yards rushing and Jackson Eyler gained 34 yards on a single play. Ethan Friedrich had four catches for 114 yards and two scores, and Brandes added a 41-yard catch to his night.
NGM took a 13-0 lead on Dodgeville (1-8, 0-7) after one quarter of play, then went up 27-0 by halftime. By the end of the third quarter it was 40-0 and the running clock was on.
Cuba City 64, Parkview-Albany 13
CUBA CITY — The Vikings saw their season come to a close without a win, falling to the Cubans (SWAL) in Week 9.
Cuba City scored four first-quarter touchdowns and made it 50-7 by halftime. Zander Brown scored on a 5-yard run in the second quarter to put Parkview Albany (0-9, 0-7) on the board.
Brown added a two-yard score in the fourth quarter. He was 12 of 25 passing for 163 yards, but the Cubans caught five of Browns passes of their own, including one for a score. Cuba City also had a fumble recovery for a score.
Gauge Pomplun had six grabs for 100 yards for the Vikings, while Karson Redman had three catches for 51 yards. Caden Cleasby added 41 yards on the ground.
The final game of the season for Pecatonica-Argyle (2-7, 1-6 Six Rivers) against Iowa-Grant was forfeited due to COVID-19 protocols.
