MCDONALD'S SWNEWS4U.COM GAME OF THE WEEK (Oct. 8–15)
SWAL FOOTBALL: D6 #7 Cuba City 14, D5 #10 Darlington 12
By Casey Lindecrantz, Tri-County Press / Republican Journal
Kopp earns 100th career win as his Cubans claim SWAL title with two-point victory over Redbirds
CUBA CITY — For the first time in six years, a SWAL opponent handed Darlington a loss. The Cubans were on the winning side of things via a 14—12 split on Oct. 11. Successful stops during each of the Redbirds’ 2-point conversions proved to be the difference on the scoreboard.
On top of the victory marking Cuba City’s first SWAL title or co-title in seven years. The title is the Cubans head coach, Guy Kopp’s, seventh with the program, and the 14th in program history on top of his 100th win with Cuba City. To make things more special, it was Pink night, Senior night, and Parents night. There were also literal fireworks, both before, and following the big win.
For the Kopp, the conference title was the goal from day one.
“Our team goal is always to win a conference title,” he said. “Watching the players celebrate after the game, and they knew what they just accomplished, was the best part. The years have flown by since we won one. We had some great teams and chances, and this was fantastic.”
The Cubans’ last title came in 2017 when they tied with Mineral Point at 5–1 atop the SWAL.
The low-scoring effort from both teams was due largely to the top tier defense representing each. No. 7 Cuba City (7–1, 6–0) forced a pair of punts, and a turnover on downs where the Cubans stacked the box with six rushers. Calum Crist recovered a strip fumble on 10th-ranked Darlington’s (7–2, 5–1) five, and Maddox Goebel scooped up a fumble on a Cuba City field goal attempt. The efforts yielded no points in the opening quarter.
“On defense, we wanted to stop the run and take them out of their game plan, and make them go three-and-out,” Kopp said. “We wanted our offense to control the ball and take time off the clock while scoring. Our team has done a great job all year sticking to the game plan, against Darlington, it was no different.”
A score wasn’t tallied until the 10:33-mark of the second quarter. This time, it was a connection from Tyson Richard to Henry Kruser for a 24-yard catch-and-scamper into the end zone. Most of the work was done through the air, but Kruser needed to turn and stretch the ball over the pylon for the score on a fade. The deadly-accurate Landon Busch nailed the PAT for the 7-0 advantage.
The Redbirds responded on their next drive. Goebel took the kickoff to his team’s 25. His number was called for the first play on the ground — Goebel rumbled nine yards up the middle, breaking a tackle at the line, and three Cubans were needed to prevent a bigger gain. A slightly overthrown deep ball on second gave way to a quick handoff to Calum Crist for a 2-yard gain up the middle for first down.
A false start negated a 5-yard gain from Goebel on the ground, and Cuba City stifled a rush at the line to set up a third-and-10 situation. Zeke Zuberbuhler found Dante Glendenning on a comeback route near Darlington’s sideline, but the result was a fourth-and-inches. Zuberbuhler remedied the problem with a keeper, assisted by his linemen with a massive hole for him to rush through for first down.
Goebel got the go ahead for a first down rush, and his 6-yard gain was bolstered by a 15-yard penalty against the Cubans.
The Redbirds went with what worked well over the next plays as Goebel broke off runs of 10 and two yards, with Zuberbuhler swinging around the right side of the line for eight of his own yards. Crist was called on for all 12 of the final yards in one play. He slipped through a defender’s arms at the line, and trucked through another on his way to the first of Darlington’s points. Cuba City’s Miles Hinderman broke up a passing 2-point attempt, leaving the Cubans with a 7–6 lead, 5:22 from the break.
The split stuck for almost 17 minutes before Cuba City broke the silence. The Redbirds nearly made the opposite true with a Talan Crist pick-6 before the half, but block in the back and unsportsmanlike conduct penalties against Darlington negated the score.
The Cubans needed three plays from eight yards out with 10:38 left in the fourth off a Redbirds turnover on downs to secure the icing score. Ethan Griffin got the first attempt with a 5-yard carry, then Kaden Drake broke through the line to force a 3-yard loss for Cuba City. Evan Muller hauled in Richard’s second passing score of the night wide open in the end zone.
Darlington’s first response ended in a punt to the Cuban 25. After a few plays with big gains to show, the Redbirds started calling timeouts. Darlington preserved enough time for a comeback. Its defense forced a punt for a touchback with 3:01 on the clock.
With an 80-yard span to go, the Redbirds got to work, but it wasn’t without some adversity.
Each of the first three plays either resulted in an incomplete pass, or came up just short of a first. On fourth-and-2, Isaac Crist got the handoff. He burst for a 14-yard gain, stopped only by Hinderman, to keep Darlington alive with 40 seconds knocked off the clock.
Goebel was stopped at the line on first by Caleb Tranel, Isaac Crist gained five yards for his squad on a reception running out of bounds. Goebel made up for the no gain with a 10-yard push to the Cuba City 45 as 1:34 showed on the clock.
A false start added five yards, and Zuberbuhler’s first pass fell incomplete as he was hit throwing. Zuberbuhler hit Goebel in the numbers on his next attempt, but the ball bounced out of the receiver’s arms with Kruser and Tranel in coverage. Eric Kieffer got his arms around Calum Crist to allow two yards with 1:15 showing on a moving clock.
On fourth down with the Cuban sideline jumping with excitement, Zuberbuhler dropped back 10 yards with a 4-man rush closing in. He readied himself and fired a rocket downfield to Glendenning who turned and bolted down to the Cuban 13 with Gavin Vaassen wrapping him up to stop a bigger gain. The Redbirds’ sophomore quarterback got a spike off with 41 seconds to play.
Zuberbuhler slipped out of a Tranel sack and got a throw off over a jumping Breyden Johll. Isaac Crist was on the reception, and Lincoln Rogers stopped him at a 7-yard gain with another spike to follow as 20 seconds remained in the contest.
Darlington’s second false start during the drive pushed the distance needed for a score to 10-yards.
Again, Zuberbuhler was asked to pass. He did so under heavy duress with a pair of rushers bearing down on him. After rolling out, he zipped a bullet between a pair of defenders to Broker Buschor in the end zone for the junior’s only catch of the game. The 2-point attempt was a quarterback keeper, but a swarm of defenders, led by Timmerman, thwarted the conversion at the line.
With 12 seconds on the clock, that was where the game was supposed to be over. Except, the Redbirds weren’t content with the story ending there. It attempted the seldom-successful onside kick, and Glendenning was the exception to the rule as he came down with the ball on the Cuba City 45 with 12 seconds to play.
Tranel nearly intercepted Zuberbuhler’s first pass, with the second pass being well short of Buschor’s position along the sideline. Buschor caught the third pass at the 35, and lateralled the ball to Goebel. Kruser and Vaassen were all over Goebel, and a desperation toss bounced off Vaassen and out of bounds as time expired.
As the Cubans met for their post game huddle and received the SWAL plaque, everything they needed to say showed on the 14-12 scoreboard.
“We never said anything [in the post huddle],” Kopp said. “The players got into a big mosh pit, and we went crazy. Wins against Darlington have never been easy. They have a great tradition, and it’s shown for years. This team took what we have and ran with it.”
Richard got the start under center, and his day consisted of going 10-for-15 through the air with 102 yards, two touchdowns, and two interceptions. He spread the ball evenly, and while Caden Brant earned the most receptions at three for 19 yards, Kruser led the team in yards with 35 on a pair of catches and one touchdown.
The rushing game was funneled mostly through one individual — Ethan Griffin. He got 19 touches in the game, totaling 91 yards.
Due to Cuba City receiving a forfeit from Random Lake-Ozaukee (0–8) in its SWAL makeup game on Oct. 18, the Cubans’ regular season is officially concluded. They will enter the WIAA Division 6 playoffs at 9–1 once this week’s games are added to their record.
Cuba City 14, Darlington 12
(from Friday, Oct. 11 @ Cuba City)
Darlington...0 6 0 6 — 12
Cuba City.....0 7 0 7 — 14
Second quarter
CC: Henry Kruser 24yd pass from Tyson Richard (Landon Busch PAT good), 10:33, 0–7
D: Calum Crist 13yd rush (2pt cnv failed), 5:22, 6–7
Fourth quarter
CC: Gavin Vaassen 78yd pass from Richard (Busch PAT good), 10:38, 6–14
D: Parker Mullen 5yd run (2pt cnv failed), 0:14, 12–14
Team statistics
First downs — D: 12; CC: 13. Rushing – D: 37-151 (1TD); CC: 32-111. Passing (comp-att-int, yards-td) — D: 10-22-1, 108-1; CC: 10-15-2, 102-2. Fumbles-lost – D: 0-0; CC: 2-2. Penalties-yards — D: 9-85; CC: 2-22.
Individual Leaders
Rushing — D: Calum Crist 13-39 (1TD), Maddox Goebel 13-37; CC: Ethan Griffin 19-91. Passing — D: Zeke Zuberbuhler 10-22-1, 108-1; CC: Tyson Richard 10-15-2, 102-2. Receiving — D: Dante Glendenning 3-52; CC: Henry Kruser 2-35 (1TD), Ethan Griffin 2-22.
