DARLINGTON — In just seven minutes the Redbirds’ playoff game against La Crosse Aquinas went from hopeful nail-biter to blank stare disbelief. That’s because the Blugolds forced three key turnovers and ran off 21 straight points en route to a 34-25 victory at Martens Field Nov. 13.

Darlington led Aquinas 14-13 at halftime and forced the Blugolds to punt on the first possession of the second half. As the Redbirds marched down the field, picking up 52 yards on 10 plays, the brisk November air was warming the hearts of the hometown faithful. All of that changed when a 12-yard pass to Hunter Hardyman on 3rd-and-10 turned into a fumble and turnover at the Aquinas 37.

Five plays later, the Blugolds scored on a 46-yard bubble screen pass to take an 18-13 lead and never looked back.

Darlington’s next two possessions also ended in turnovers — an underthrown INT at the sidelines by quarterback Braden Davis, and then a pitch fumble by Davis. Aquinas turned each into points thanks to superb field position and missed tackles.

“There’s no excuse for the pitches (fumbled),” Darlington coach Travis Winkers said. “We practice that more than anything because that’s a staple of our offense. We always pitch going to our left, and I don’t know what happened. It is what it is.”

With the clock showing 10:13 left in the fourth quarter, the allotted time remaining for a comeback was shrinking quickly. Darlington’s next possession ended with a turnover on downs after just four plays, but a Blugold fumble gave the ball back to the Redbirds. This time, Darlington was able to score on just three plays, with Carter Lancaster hauling in a 26-yard TD with 7:55 left to make it 34-19.

An onside kick went in the Redbirds’ favor on the ensuing kickoff, but the drive stalled and Darlington again turned it over on downs after just four plays. By the time the Redbirds got the ball back, just 1:32 remained on the clock.

Lancaster scored again on a 17-yard reception with just five seconds left, but the 2-point conversion rush by Davis failed. Darlington finished just 1-for-4 on point-after tries in the contest.

The nine-point deficit was too much to overcome with just five seconds left on the clock. As miraculous as a comeback would be, Aquinas held onto the ensuing onside kick to seal the game.

“In our program, we’re told to never give up. Even though the score wasn’t how we wanted it to end, I feel like we showed that ‘Darlington Pride’ today and we never gave up,” Lancaster said.

Davis finished 15 for 30 through the air with three touchdowns and an interception. He added 44 rushing yards on 14 carries.

Cayden Rankin had 46 yards rushing on five carries, and Brady Horne added 50 yards on the ground with 11 touches. Lancaster had nine grabs for 116 yards and three touchdowns.

Aquinas scored the first touchdown of the game with 6:28 left in the opening quarter on an 11-yard run by Joe Penchi, who finished with 67 yards rushing on 10 carries and two total scores. Darlington made it 7-6 when Davis punched in a run from a yard out and Cole Crist added the PAT.  Aquinas made it 12-7 just 74 seconds later when QB Jackson Flottmeyer connected with Chris Wilson on a 26-yard TD pass. Davis and Lancaster hooked up for a 22-yard score with 2:13 left in the half to put the Redbirds up 13-12 headed into halftime.

“We lost some of the physical battle tonight. Every week our goal is to stop the run, and we didn’t stop it well enough,” Winkers said. “We’ve been a good tackling team all year, and we had a lot of missed tackles — a lot of missed tackles.”

Aquinas finished with 199 rushing yards and another 167 yards through the air. Flottmeyer was 11 of 21 passing for 167 yards and two scores. Calvin Hargrove posed as a challenge for the Redbirds to bring down all night, breaking numerous tackles and collecting 89 yards rushing and a TD on 16 carries. Wilson had two catches for 73 yards, and Quinn Mishowski added 82 yards receiving on four catches, plus the interception off of Davis.

“They were a really good team and they played very hard,” Lancaster said. “I feel like they executed better than we did at times, but I wouldn’t want to be with any other team. I love my teammates and we’ve got a good family bond. (The loss) stings, but you just have to bounce back.”

One of the highlights for Darlington was to get junior Easton Evenstad, a two-way starter, back on the field. Evenstad opened the year as the team’s No. 1 running back, but was injured during the third game of the season, which paved the way for Horne to take over. Wearing a taped and padded glove on his right hand, Evenstad returned to the gridiron against Aquinas solely as a defender.

“I was trying my best to get back on the field,” Evenstad said. “I knew I probably wasn’t going to play offense, because it would be pretty tricky to catch the ball, so I did whatever I could to play on defense and help the team out as much as possible.”

Though he was hit with a couple of pass interference penalties and, like the rest of the Redbirds, struggled chasing down Aquinas’ state-caliber sprinters, like 2019 100-meter dash state champion Lukas Beck, a running back, Evenstad was just trying to do his best to help the Redbirds win.

“It’s tough, but you just have to keep your head up and keep going,” Evenstad said. “It’s tough when they have quick players. They have a 100-meter state champion on their team. They are a really fast team and it’s tough to guard them one-on-one.”

As sophomores, the Class of 2021 saw an upheaval of the offensive scheme when Winkers took over for longtime head coach Scott Zywicki. Winkers said this year’s senior class played a key role in transitioning the program to the new schemes. Perhaps the best thing about the class was the individual attributes each player brought to each practice and game.

“You take all the good things that they bring — like Matt Ruf’s passion for the game,” Winkers said. “Every individual has a little bit of something that they bring.”

Lancaster, one of eight seniors on Darlington’s roster this year, said he bleeds Darlington red and will never forget his four years of playing time at Martens Field.

“I always want to play another game — I never want this to end. It’s been a blessing. I love playing for Darlington,” Lancaster said. “Coach Winkers came in and taught us all this new offense in my sophomore year, and it just means a lot to me to be under him. He kind of took my class under his wing, and I feel like he does that for all of his classes, and you know, I couldn’t ask for a better coach and coaching staff.”