In their first SWAL contest of the season, the Mineral Point Pointers were defeated by the Darlington Redbirds 27-0.
Redbirds Calum Crist and Dante Glendenning established the run early. Coach Travis Winkers kept his offense on the field on the first fourth down of the game, but the pass from Sophomore Quarterback Zeke Zuberbuhler to Broker Buschor would not make it past the line to gain, and the Redbirds would turn the ball over on downs. The Pointers would punt it right back to the Redbirds after going three and out.
A 14-yard pickup on 3rd and 11 to Broker Buschor would extend the second Darlington drive, but after confusion on where Crist was called down on a 4th and 1 run, the call was another Darlington turnover on downs near the end of the first quarter.
"As a team, we played hard," Head Coach Justin Leonard said. "Defensively, we were there for a lot of the game." 
Late in the first, Mineral Point would punt the ball back to the Redbirds, and the Darlington offense would put together a long drive, taking up over half of the second quarter, ending with a strong 3-yard touchdown run from Dante Glendenning. The PAT from Yasser Andino-Andino made the Darlington lead 7-0 halfway through the second quarter.
With the ball back late in the second quarter, Gady Finley fumbled the pitch from Reid Acherman, and the ball was recovered by the Redbird defense, getting their offense back on the field with excellent field position. However, a 28-yard field goal try from Andino-Andino would be no good, and the Redbirds would take the 7-0 lead into the half.
The second half belonged to the Darlington Redbirds. The Pointers would start with the ball, but an early fumble by Reid Acherman gave the Redbirds an opportunity on offense. The Redbirds would take advantage; a keeper up the middle from Zeke Zuberbuhler would set up a 4th down touchdown pass to Maddox Goebel. With the PAT, the Redbirds would increase the lead to 14-0.
Late in the third quarter and deep in their own territory, a Reid Acherman pass would be intercepted by Ross Crist, setting up Darlington in the redzone. From there, Zuberbuhler found Maddox Goebel in the endzone for the second time in the game. With the Andino-Andino PAT, Darlington stretched the lead to 21-0.
On a fourth down attempt late in the fourth quarter, the snap would be too high for Freshman Quarterback Liam Carey, who would have to jump on the ball, resulting in a turnover on downs.
Zeke Zuberbuhler would open up the fourth quarter with a 41-yard strike through double coverage to Maddox Goebel, and on third and goal, Zuberbuhler placed the ball over the shoulder of Broker Buschor in the back corner of the endzone for his third passing touchdown of the night.
"We need to keep trying to put guys in positions where they can be successful," Coach Leonard added. "Our younger, inexperienced skill position players are still learning. We are going to have to keep battling and keep fighting."
Andino-Andino would miss the PAT, with neither team putting together any significant drive for the remainder of the game; the Darlington Redbirds would come away with the 27-0 victory, their 93rd win in 124 games against the Pointers. 
Tomorrow night, the Pointers will travel to Cuba City to take on the Cubans in their second SWAL game of the year.
"It's a long season," Coach Leonard mentioned." As long as we are focused on continued improvement each week and improving the fundamentals, success will come."