BELLEVILLE — There is no mistaking which team was the best in the SWAL this fall. With a dominating 42-21 win over Belleville on Oct. 17 in Week 9, Darlington wrapped up the regular season unbeaten, with every win coming by two or more scores along the way.
“We were really hungry from last year after that loss to Cuba City,” junior quarterback Zeke Zuberbuhler said. “We had a lot of guys come back, and that was fuel to the fire because we were not going to lose conference again. We’re too good.”
All 21 of Belleville’s points came after Darlington set off the mercy-rule running clock early in the third quarter. The Redbirds (9-0, 7-0 SWAL) did it all with star running back and linebacker Callum Crist essentially out of the game with an injury suffered on the first series of the game.
“Callum is one of our top three players, one of our premier players,” Darlington head coach Travis Winkers said. “To not have him the whole game and for our defense to do what they did and for our offense to execute, I have to take a step back and recognize what they did.”
Zuberbuhler was 13 of 16 passing for 131 yards and two touchdowns. He added 84 rushing yards on 11 attempts, which included a third touchdown. Defensively, Zuberbuhler also intercepted a pass early in the third quarter before immediately throwing a downfield strike to Broker Buschor for the mercy-rule triggering score.
“He got in a good rhythm there, and he can do that with his arms and his legs,” Winkers said of Zuberbuhler.
Peyton Dempsey had two carries for 27 yards and a touchdown for Darlington, while Dante Glendenning had 11 totes and a score. Ryder Fitzsimons has 24 yards on four rushes with a touchdown, and Parker Mosley carried the ball six times for 23 yards. Crist had just one carry for three yards before exiting the game. In all, the Redbirds had 222 yards on the ground.
Belleville (5-4, 5-2) was also without its top running back. Senior Treyton Myers was lost in Week 8 with a leg injury and had to watch the game from the sidelines on crutches. He averaged about 95.4 yards per game this season — 763 yards (6.0 ypc) total. In his absence, his team collected 194 yards of total offense, including just 15 prior to the running clock, which first started with 9:19 left in the third quarter.
“I think the hardest part is we lost our emotional leader,” Belleville head coach Mike Nolden said of Myers. “From that stand point, it’s hard for the kids to see him standing on the sideline and not in the game.”
The two squads traded punts to open the game, and then the Redbirds recalibrated themselves from there. Darlington’s second possession was capped by a 6-yard TD run by Zuberbuhler. A short Wildcat punt gave Darlington the ball at midfield on the ensuing series, which ended with a 14-yard touchdown run from Dempsey just 41 seconds into the second quarter.
Darlington’s fourth possession lasted eight plays, collecting 69 yards and was ended on a six-yard touchdown rush by Glendenning. A blocked punt on Belleville’s next possession gave the Redbirds the ball at the Wildcat 10, but the home team held the third-ranked team in Division 6 to a short field goal attempt, which missed wide right.
The first of Belleville’s first downs came via a defensive pass interference on the home side’s fifth drive of the game, though three plays later they punted away yet again. Darlington’s last possession of the half went for ended with a five-yard TD pass from Zuberbuhler to Glendenning.
“Our defense came in clutch today. These guys were the No. 2 team in the conference,” Zuberbuhler said. “We figured out our assignments after (Crist) was out. He’s phenomenal, and it’s hard to replace a guy like him. We got it done today, but hopefully he comes back next week.”
In the third quarter, following the Redbirds’ fifth touchdown, Belleville registered its first non-penalty first down of the contest as QB Rayden Taylor took a fourth-and-two option keeper 26 yards up the sideline. On the next play, Taylor connected with Cooper Nemec on a 40-yard touchdown strike, with Nemec breaking a tackle immediately after catching the ball and running unchallenged the rest of the way to the end zone.
The score briefly stopped the running clock, but it started again just over a minute into the fourth when Fitzsimons capped an 80-yard drive with a three-yard TD run. He touched the ball on each of the final four plays of the possession, running for eight yards and two yards, plus adding a 25-yard run after the catch which was highlighted by a booming stiff arm that sent a defender through the air and to the ground.
As time ticked away late in the fourth, the Wildcats were able to get two scores off of the Redbird reserves, as well as two quick three-and-outs. Marcus Hebgen and backup QB Evan Edge added late touchdowns for Belleville.
“We’re a little disappointed in the first half from an execution standpoint. Darlington’s good, but those are the types of teams that give you consistent execution on every single play, and they force you to make mistakes. We have to match that execution, and unfortunately we didn’t, and that’s why the outcome was the way it was,” Nolden said.
The win also capped the first perfect regular season of coach Travis Winkers’ tenure at Darlington.
“And we plan to keep that going forward,” Zuberbuhler said. “We can’t play down to our opponents and we need to play our game and just let it be.”
Belleville finished the year tied for second in the SWAL with Fennimore at 5-2 in league play. Up next for the Wildcats is Level 1 playoff game against Markesan (9-0) on Oct. 24. The winner moves on in the D6 playoffs to face either Auburndale (8-1) or Crandon (5-4). Last year, Belleville made a miracle run to the state semifinal as an eight-seed. This year as a seven-seed, the route doesn’t get much easier, and the chance to host another home game are almost obsolete.
Darlington earned the No. 1 seed and home field advantage throughout the first three playoff rounds. The Redbirds will host eighth-seeded Melrose-Mindoro (5-4) in Level 1. The winner will get either Fennimore (7-3) or Mineral Point (6-4).
