MCDONALD'S SWNEWS4U.COM GAME OF THE WEEK (Aug. 20–27)
Prep football season kick offs this Friday

By Jason Nihles, The Platteville Journal / Fennimore Times / Boscobel Dial

Prep football preview: Platteville at Darlington, Friday, 2 p.m.

DARLINGTON — Wins and losses will officially count when area prep football teams take the field this Friday.

First on the docket is 2 p.m. non-conference kickoff between visiting Platteville and Darlington, a call back to the not-so-distant past when the Redbirds hosted all its home games Friday afternoons before adding lights to its field prior to the 2015 season.

Darlington has won five straight games in the series (2020–23, 2015) dating back to Platteville’s last win over the Redbirds in the first game of the 2014 season.

Third-year Platteville head coach Bryce Arneson (13–8), who led the Hillmen to last year’s SWC title and a berth in the second round of the WIAA Division 4 playoffs, got his first look at this year’s squad against outside competition at Friday’s four-team Wisconsin Dells scrimmage.

“I thought the scrimmage was a success because we got some great competition in and we had no injuries, so that’s always a success when that happens,” said Arneson. “Right away when you get done with the scrimmage you always have your thoughts, but when you actually get to sit down and watch the film then you get to know how it went and I believe that we did some good things, and we also need to get better at some things. 

“I believe the best thing we did all day was show progression from session to session. We had our worst scrimmage the first session, but then we came back and competed in our best session at the end.”

The biggest key to this year’s success relies on the right shoulder, and health, of senior quarterback T.J. Pink.

Pink, who was named the SWC Offensive Player of the Year last year after passing for 2,457 yards and 27 TDs, will work behind a rebuilt offensive line this fall.

Senior left guard Mason Mandurano (2nd-team All-SWC) is the lone returning starting in Platteville’s front five, as seniors Rusty Wruck (LT) and Joe Vysticil (RT), and juniors  Cam Moore (LG) and Ethan Burgraff (C) will start alongside Mandurano this year.

Pink will have a bevy of returning playmakers as junior running backs Tyler Sasse (2nd-team All-SWC, 101–810–12 rushing, 18–299–2 rec.) and Dylan Weigel (26–155–1) return in the backfield, while seniors Lucas Ludlum (1st-team All-SWC, 61–797–7 rec.), Logan Day (14–136–3), Seth Wilson (TE), and juniors Jauron Blevins (16–147–3) and Myron Reuter (5–40–1) return to the receiving corps.  

Wruck (DE), Moore (DE), Wilson (OLB), Weigel (ILB), Mandurano (ILB), Reuter (CB), Ludlum (CB), Day (FS) and Sasse (SS) will all start on defense as well.

“The thing that we need to pay more attention to is getting ourselves in that mental state of coming and competing right away at the beginning of the day or game,” said Arneson. “Now it was a scrimmage and was early in the morning, but we can’t use that as an excuse for lack of energy and execution on the field. I am expecting this to change for our Week 1 game this Friday afternoon!”

Darlington is coming off 12–2 season that ended with a heartbreaking 10–7 loss to Stratford in the D6 state championship. The Redbirds also won a third-straight SWAL title a year ago with a perfect 7–0 mark, but replace its leading passer Breylin Goebel (937 yards, 9 TDs), top two rushers in Tye Crist (938 yards, 11 TDs) and Goebel (544-5 rushing) and top two receivers in Will Murray (18-363-4 rec.) and Crist (16-292), leading tackler Reagan Jackson (97 tackles) and WFCA All-Star defensive end Carter Murray (42 tackles, 3 sacks). 

Senior Maddox Goebel returns as Darlington's top offensive threat after rushing for 506 yards and 10 TDs on 97 carries as a junior. He also caught 15 passes for 319 yards and four more scores, and recorded 72 tackles, four sacks and one interception. Junior Broker Buschor is back at tight end and linebacker (8-102-2 rec.) and juniors Ross Crist (66 tackles, 17 TFL) and Talan Crist (47 tackles, 17 TFL, 7 sacks) return to anchor both lines. 

Sophomore Zeke Zuberbuhler takes over at quarterback after completing both of his varsity passes for 24 yards last year as a freshman.