SOUTH WAYNE — There was no lack of motivation for Darlington in Week 3. 

The Redbirds were coming off a late loss on the road at No. 1-ranked Saint Mary’s Springs the week prior. They were also preparing to open the conference slate with a crossover game against Black Hawk-Warren, ranked third in D7. 

“We were frustrated with how we played last week. Springs is the No. 1 team in the state and very good, and they exploited some things in us. We just didn’t feel we played great. Some of that is a credit to them, and some of that is on us,” said Darlington head coach Travis Winkers after his team dominated  to a 53-14 victory. “It was nice for us to re-focus against the No. 3-ranked team in D7 and do what we did to them, which was pretty much just dominate the whole thing.”

The two programs hadn’t met since 1992, and between a wrestling co-op, 4-H and other activities, players from each team know each other quite well. 

The game also served as a fundraiser, with a fundraiser, with a halftime “Pass the Bucket Miracle Minute” donation run, where cheerleaders and other volunteers went into the crowd for one minute to collect donations to give to UW Children’s Hospital in remembrance of Carson Hartwig, a young Darlington student that died March 2, 2020 after a battle with cancer. Carson would have been a senior at Darlington this school year. Players, coaches and fans wore mismatched, bright and colorful “silly socks” to honor Hartwig. The donation drive raised $6,238 dollars.

During the game, the Redbirds played nearly flawless football, while also taking full advantage of the Warriors’ mistakes and the gift of great field position.

“(Field position) is probably the most underrated stat in all of football,” Black Hawk-Warren coach Desie Breadon said.

Each team had 10 possessions, but Darlington’s average starting position was the Black Hawk 41-yard-line. In fact, just one possession — the final one of the fourth quarter — began from the Redbirds’ side of the 50.

The Warriors, meanwhile, started at an average of their own 19-yard-line. 

The game looked like it would be a slug-fest early on. Darlington took the opening kickoff to the BHW 49, but the Warriors held the Redbirds to a 3-and-out. On BHW’s drive, QB Reed McNutt broke free on an option run to his left for 20 yards. Soon the Warriors had the ball at midfield. 

However, on third-and-5, McNutt’s option pitch was batted down by Darlington’s Carver Fitzsimons, who recovered the loose ball and ran it all the way back to the BHW 24. Three plays later, Redbirds QB Cadyn Burbach scored on an option keeper to put his team ahead less than six minutes into the game.

The Warriors’ kick return team struggled, all night, and it was evident from the first attempt, as the Warriors were stopped at their own 6. Three plays later, after a loss of a yard in total, the Warriors punted, though the Redbirds took over at midfield again.

Maddox Goebel ran the ball four out of five plays on the drive, putting the Redbirds inside the Warriors’ 5, but a lost fumble on third-and-1 gave the Warriors the ball back at their own 3. Unfortunately for Black Hawk-Warren, the drive ended with fourth down at their own 2. A short punt was fair caught at the 32 with just 20 seconds left in the first quarter.

At the 9:36 mark in the second, Breylin Goebel plunged into the end zone for Darlington. A 2-point conversion made it 16-0.

Needing to respond quickly, the Warriors did just that. With the kick return only reaching the 14, McNutt & Co. faced a long field again. On the first play, McNutt dropped back to pass and found a streaking Seth Dunlavey open deep on a post route, with Dunlavey getting caught just three yards shy of a touchdown. On the very next play, Lucas Milz scored to put the Warriors on the board. A missed 2-point run kept it at a two-score game at 16-6, and the Warriors would never get as close again the rest of the night.

Maddox Goebel and Burbach scored touchdowns on back-to-back drives for the Redbirds, which went into halftime with a 32-6 advantage.

“They are a good team and well coached, and you just can’t have that,” Breadon said. “You’re so emotionally charged, that one mistake can snowball and then you can’t get out of your own way. That’s nothing to take away from Darlington — they are well coached and have a great team. The biggest thing I saw was our frustration kept us from being the team that we know we can be.”

The game got away from the Warriors even faster in the second half. The opening drive of the third went backwards by 10 yards for the Warriors, all while the Redbirds scored on a 10-play, 50-yard drive with Burbach tossing a TD pass to Fitzsimons. On BHW’s next play, McNutt was hit from behind and lost another fumble. Darlington, starting from the BHW 31, scored five plays later from 17-yards out to Roger Volkening III, making it 46-6. 

The Warriors snapped the ball just three times on the next drive, losing yet another fumble, this time at their own 25 with the mercy rule clock running in the final minute. Tye Crist then took Darlington’s next snap to the house. Burbach hit the extra point to make it 53-6.

Black Hawk-Warren’s final score came on the next drive against the Redbirds’ second string defense, as Owen Seffrood took a carry up the middle 54 yards for a score.

Subtracting Seffrood’s score and Dunlavey’s long catch, the Warriors had just 79 yards of offense and three turnovers on 34 plays — just 2.3 yards per play. Darlington, meanwhile, had 323 yards on  36 plays (8.9 yards per play).

Burbach finished 4 of 8 passing for 38 yards with two TDs, plus another 77 yards on nine carries with two more scores. Maddox Goebel had 86 yards and a score. Tye Crist chipped in with a score on 29 yards rushing.

“We just ran and communicated our stuff. I don’t know that we had a magic pill — we just focused. I don’t know what happened from last week with some blocking things, but we just did what we were supposed to, and that’s something we’ve shown in the past,” Winker said. “If we do this, and show up with the same intensity we had tonight, we’ll be in pretty good shape (in the SWAL).”

Darlington travels to winless Pecatonica-Argyle in Week 4. 

Seffrood led BHW in rushing with 56 yards on five carries. Landen Mahoney and Lucas Milz, each 1,000-yard rushers last season, combined for just 41 yards on 15 carries.

Breadon said that while some coaches might skip watching film after getting blown out, he plans to use the loss as a teaching moment before next week’s game at Cuba City.

“This will be a learning week. It’s got to be. There’s a lot of basic stuff that just went out the window tonight,” he said. “We weren’t reading our cues; we were watching stuff that we weren’t supposed to be watching; we weren’t lining up correctly formation-wise; we were running the wrong plays in — a lot of those mistakes. We’ve got to learn more from a loss than a win.”