MADISON — The Darlington Redbirds have reached the summit of the mountain once again. After a 30 year wait, and zero wins over their last seven games at Camp Randall, the Redbirds are state champions in football.
“It’s awesome — we haven’t won a championship in 30 years,” said Darlington senior Broker Buschor after his team’s convincing 42-18 win over Edgar in the WIAA Division 6 state title game on Thursday, Nov. 20. “We come and do this, and we’re the first ones to do it undefeated. It feels awesome. We have bragging rights now.”
The Redbirds were playing in their 14th state championship in program history, one shy of Edgar for the most all-time in state history. Darlington, which has made the postseason in 36 of the last 37 years, including 19 straight, won titles in 1987, 1990, 1991 and 1995. The ‘Birds made it to state seven times in an 8-year run in the 1990s. DHS then made four straight appearances from 2013-2016 and another in 2023 — all ending with losses.
“It’s been 30 years, about to the dot — or a little too long as some people in Darlington down at the bars on Main Street would say,” said junior quarterback Zeke Zuberbuhler.
Two seasons ago, Darlington nearly took Stratford to overtime, but a late fumble, penalty and walk-off field goal by a foreign exchange student put a knife in the hearts of the townspeople. Last season, the Redbirds, then playing in Division 5, were stunned by Milwaukee Academy of Science at home at Martens Field.
Feeling that angst while knowing they were talented enough to win a championship, the players pushed each other in the off-season in preparation to make a deep postseason run this fall. The result was running the table all season — DHS won all 14 games by two or more scores. In fact, 13 of the 14 wins came by three or more scores, with a 26-14 win over Prairie du Chien in Week 2 the closest contest of them all.
“It’s really special to be the first undefeated state champ in Darlington history,” head coach Travis Winkers said. “You don’t get to say many ‘first things’ in Darlington football — but our guys get to say that, and I am so happy for them.”
Ready from the jump
Zuberbuhler said his teammates were locked in from the moment they took the field in practice on Monday, Nov. 17.
“We really bought in this week (in practice) and we knew we had to come out with some fire. We knew this wasn’t going to be just another game like the rest of them,” Zuberbuhler said.
That readiness continued throughout the week, despite the distractions that come with the pregame hype of this magnitude. That includes both in-school and out of school actions that deviate from the normal weekly routine — the fire-truck-led procession through Darlington, the homemade signs in the stands and tacked onto road signs on the way to Madison, and warming up before the game in the McClain Center during the Division 7 state championship.
“The walk from the McClain Center to here, it was just different. I’ve never experienced that. I knew we were ready to go,” Winkers said.
Darlington received the opening kickoff and quickly marched down the field, gaining 42 yards on the first five plays of the game — all runs with junior all-state running back Calum Crist. Then Edgar (13-1), back-to-back defending WIAA D7 champions, locked enough to force a fourth-and-7 at the Edgar 20.
Winkers decided to go for the touchdown and make an early statement instead of testing kicker Yasser Andino-Andino’s leg from 37 yards out. The bold move paid off. The Redbirds ran a trick play — a double-reverse play action pass — and Zuberbuhler’s throw was in the perfect spot in the end zone where only the 6-3 Buschor could get to it.
“We came out and we played with fire. We came out hot,” Buschor said. “I’ve been nervous all week; couldn’t sleep last night. (But) we worked all year for this. We were prepared for the big stage.”
Andino-Andino’s kick split the uprights to make it 7-0 Darlington with 7:39 left in the first quarter. Edgar’s ensuing possession was a quick three-and-out, gaining just seven yards in the process. The Redbirds got right back to it on offense, and the offensive line opened up more holes for the skill backs.
“You just have to open up the lane for the ball carrier,” said Sloan Glendenning, sophomore lineman. “To win you gotta do your job.”
A 33-yard bullying run by Crist flipped the field and had DHS knocking on the door of the red zone. Two plays later, Zuberbuhler had a 13-yard run to set up a first down at the 12. Then Dante Glendenning got in on the action, gaining four yards on his first carry, and then diving into the end zone over a would-be tackler for a 9-yard score on the next play.
“It is something else. Nothing can replicate it,” Dante Glendenning said of scoring a touchdown at Camp Randall. “It’s a feeling of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that you’ll never ever, ever, get again.”
The score made it 14-0 Darlington with 50 seconds left in the first quarter. For Edgar, the worst wasn’t over yet. On the very next play from scrimmage, Darlington senior Brady Jones broke through the line and put immediate pressure on Edgar QB Tucker Streit, who rushed a pass across the middle of the field. Before another Wildcat could get a hand on it, Crist intercepted the ball and returned it 25 yards for yet another touchdown, sending the Redbird faithful into a tizzy while the fans in green and yellow into were shocked at the nearly immediate three-score deficit.
“We came out just guns-a-blazing,” Winkers said of the first quarter, in which his team took a 21-0 advantage.
Edgar has played in 38 postseasons during head coach Jerry Sinz’s 51-year career. In 16 of those seasons, the Wildcats have played for a championship, and have won it all nine times.
“They have Coach Sinz, and we knew they were going to pull something and not make it easy. They really gave us a tough time” after that, Zuberbuhler said.
From the second quarter to the history books
On the last play of the first quarter, Edgar running back Maverick Butt took off for a 61-yard gain to the Darlington 16. Two plays later, Gavin Mauer scored on a five-yard run to put Sinz & Co. on the board.
However, the Redbirds didn’t flinch, and instead countered with another sustained scoring drive. Following a 33-yard kickoff return from Dante Glendenning, Zuberbuhler put it back to a three-score game with a six-yard score at the 7:41 mark of the second, closing out a nine-play, 39-yard drive.
Darlington then held Edgar to just nine yards on the next drive, thanks in part to back-to-back sacks by Brady Jones and Dante Glendenning, erasing 15 yards and forcing a fourth-and-24. A punt gave Darlington the ball back, and on the first snap, offsetting penalties erased a 15-yard carry from Zuberbuhler. On the next play, Zuberbuhler a captain and a two-way starter, pulled back the handoff on a read-option and took the pigskin to the house 90 yards away.
“It might have been the most tired I’ve ever been,” he said. “I saw green grass and just made my cuts, read some blocks, and tried to run as fast as I can. I looked up at the jumbotron to see if anybody was behind me, because I wasn’t going to turn around. The feeling of just watching yourself run on the jumbotron was just amazing, and I think it made me go even faster.”
Officially, the drive was one play, 90 yards and 22 seconds of the clock. The scoreboard had Darlington ahead 35-6, and there was a legitimate chance a running clock could be called into play, let alone a potential Redbird run at their record-setting 63-6 win over Hurley in 1995 — still the state’s top mark for points in a game and margin of victory in any championship, regardless of division.
“When you make big plays, everyone cheers you on. It’s the best, said Sloan Glendenning, who finished the game with 2.5 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks on defense. “The crowd helps a lot. It was just all-around a perfect game.”
Zuberbuhler said the crowd noise, brought on by a strong turnout in the west bleachers, added fuel to the fire.
“Feeling the whole town behind you, you just want a gold ball and to go down in the history books,” he said.
Statcast
Zuberbuhler finished the game with 133 rushing yards on 12 attempts, and added another 64 yards and a score on 4 of 7 passing. He had three rushing touchdowns and a passing touchdown. Defensively, he added four tackles and had a late fourth-quarter interception overturned due to a pass interference call on a teammate. This season Zuberbuhler earned all-conference and all-state honors at both quarterback and defensive back.
Crist had 104 yards rushing on 16 carries. Ryder Fitzsimons added 30 yards on five totes, and Dante Glendenning ended the day with 21 yards and a score on seven rushing attempts and added two catches for 15 yards. Buschor had two catches for 49 yards and had a deep pass late in the second quarter overturned by video replay.
Crist led the Redbirds with nine total tackles, including eight solo, plus one tackle for a loss. Both Dante and Sloan Glendenning had even total tackles and a combined four tackles for a loss and two sacks. Dante Glendenning recovered a fumble, while Peyton Dempsey and Gage Ruf forced fumbles on defense. As a team, the Redbirds had eight tackles for a loss (-46 yards total), with five sacks (-32 yards) and four other QB hits.
“We filled the box and shut down their run game. Shutting down their run game is key to winning football games,” Dante Glendenning said.
Edgar was held to 231 yards of offense in the game, while Darlington had 351. However, at halftime (score 35-6), the Redbirds led the Wildcats in offensive yards 262-94.
“Coach (Jared) McGranahan did a great job of dialing up stuff at the right time. The kids played hard, and that’s all you can ask from them — and it resulted in a W,” Winkers said.
What’s next
While the entire Darlington community will celebrate the state championship for the next year, the Redbird underclassmen have already started looking ahead to next year and “running it back,” albeit likely in Division 5.
“We only lose three or four seniors that start. We’re going to keep this to heart. For next year, the job ain’t finished. We’re going to keep grinding and keep working, because that’s what got us here,” said Dante Glendenning, one of three junior captains on the 2025 team.
Sloan Glendenning said the key to “the bulk” of the team returning is to do just that — bulk up.
“We gotta stay in the weight room — and be consistent in the weight room,” Sloan said.
Buschor, one of the few seniors on the team, said that the experience gained from the guys returning will help them again this offseason and next year.
“We worked all year for this. We were prepared for the big stage,” Buschor said. “We have a lot of people that are committed to the program. Our junior class is huge right now. We’ve got three junior captains — that says something.”
