Last Friday Night, the Mineral Point Football Team took down the Benton/Scales Mound/Shullsburg (B/SM/S) Knights 43-16.
    B/SM/S got off to a solid start on offense, but their first drive was stopped short when Matt Aurit ripped the ball out of the arms of Parker Mullen.
    Mineral Point found the endzone in just two plays, as Freshman Quarterback Liam Carey capped off the drive with a 30 yard touchdown run on the option keeper..
"As the game went on, our guys got better with their assignments, and that helped us to get the game going the way we wanted," Head Coach Justin Leonard said.
    With just two minutes left until the half, Mineral Point put together an 11 play drive. The Pointers leaned on Liam Carey, who strung together three consecutive passes, including a 28-yard strike to Tucker Dannenberg. That play set up a 1-yard Reid Acherman rushing touchdown with just 12 seconds left on the clock. After one half, Mineral Point led B/SM/S 14-0.
    The Pointer offense came alive in the second half. It took the Pointers just six plays to move the ball 51 yards into the endzone on their first drive of the third quarter. Once again, it was Reid Acherman who punched it in on a designed keeper. With the PAT, the Pointers extended their lead, now up 21-0.
    Following another B/SM/S punt, Reid Acherman took the ball 75 yards to the house for his third rushing touchdown of the game. Mineral Point tacked on the PAT to make the lead 28-0.
    Coach Leonard mentioned that "Reid is a special running back. He is physically a big back, which creates problems for defenses, but he also has a great shuffle step that allows him to bounce plays to different holes on offense."
    Late in the third quarter, the B/SM/S offense found success moving the ball. Quarterback Kaden Duerr found Freshman Tight End Maddux Russell numerous times down the field, including on a 17 yard pass to set the Knights up with their first goal-to-go situation of the game. B/SM/S capitalized with a run to Nick Reddington for a touchdown. Duerr found Parker Mullen on a quick flat route for the two point conversion.
    Mineral Point's only turnover of the game came late in the third quarter, as Liam Carey's pass to Roen Carey was short, getting intercepted by Parker Mullen. Disaster would strike for B/SM/S, however, as the Knights would fumble the snap on the punt from their own 13 yard line. The Punter Blak Lawrence had to jump on the ball, and Mineral Point would take over deep in Knight territory.
    While Mineral Point would turn the ball over on downs early in the fourth quarter, the Knights would fumble the ball on the first play of the ensuing drive, setting up the Mineral Point offense with good field position. Reid Acherman punched the ball in for his 4th rushing touchdown of the game.
    Late in the game, following another Pointer rushing touchdown, this time from Roen Carey, B/SM/S got on the board one final time, as Parker Mullen punched it in for six, and the Knights converted for two. The Pointers came away with the win, 43-16
With the win, the Pointer Football team has secured a spot in the WIAA Division 6 Playoffs. This is the 11th-consecutive season that the Pointers have qualified for the playoffs. Tomorrow night, Mineral Point will wrap up the regular season in Fennimore with a game against the Golden Eagles. Kickoff is slated for 7:00pm.
"We approach every game the same," Coach Leonard added. "We will work this week to get better at what we didn't do well last week, as well as continue to develop those skills that are not there yet."