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A glimpse behind and a long look ahead.
That is what the Mineral Point football team has on it's agenda for this week and for that matter, the rest of the season.
The Pointers will not win the SWAL title and their hopes of extra games in an abbreviated 8-game season hinges on one thing.
Winning out.
The Pointers need to beat Cuba City at home tomorrow night and Southwestern on the road next Friday.
So far, no one has been able to get past the Cubans.
"They are a great team that is on a roll," Pointer coach Andy Palzkill said. "They have done a great job of creating turnovers and capitalizing on them this year. Coach Kopp always does a great job of preparing them and we will need a great effort this week in order to defeat the Cubans."
Palzkill expects the Cubans to play an aggressive style of defense and run a flex-bone offense.
That is the look ahead.
Now for the glance back.
Last Friday the Pointers got a three touchdown outburst by senior back John Schmitz, a strong defense, especially from the DBs, and took care of Boscobel 47-6 in a SWAL homecoming battle.
Sophomore Turner Poad started the clock ticking for the Pointers when he raced for a 60 yard touchdown off an interception. Tommy Olson kicked the conversion.
The Pointers added to the score again in the first quarter when Nick Mohlmann capped a drive with a nine yard run and Olson kicked the extra point.
That gave the Pointers a 14-0 lead after one quarter.
Schmitz then got into the act quickly and punched in a pair of touchdowns, scoring on a one yard plunge and adding a 33 yard scamper.
Before the half ended the Pointers added a three yard run by Jacob Heimsoth and a 46 yard pass play, Nolan Barrette to sophomore Sy Staver for scores. Olson kicked two conversions to make it 40-6 at the half.
Boscobel's lone score of the night came in the second quarter when Ryan Boebel intercepted a pass and ran it 36 yards to score.
The Pointers capped their night with a third Schmitz tally, this one in the third quarter and from six yards away. Olson added the conversion.
Palzkill said Schmitz has developed into a threat at running back and is playing football the way the Pointers need.
"John is doing a good job of anticipating how each play will develop based on the defensive alignment," Palzkill said. "He did a good job of reading his isolation block and then quickly getting outside to daylight. John is playing his best football of the year. He is hitting the hole at full speed and finishing his runs."
The senior back totaled 196 yards on 19 attempts Friday.
A lot of Mineral Point's success came courtesy of the visitors. There were five interceptions and two fumble recoveries that played out in Mineral Point's favor.
"Turner Poad had three interceptions, Tarek Oellerich had two interceptions, Nick Mohlmann and Casey Robinson had fumble recoveries," Palzkill said. "Turnovers are always a huge momentum factor in a football game. We were able to get good field position and points directly off of turnovers which helps the offense put points on the scoreboard."
The Pointers are getting a full effort from a very young defensive backfield.
"Turner Poad had an outstanding night for us defensively with three interceptions and one that he ran back for our first score. He definitely set the tone for the rest of the game," Palzkill said.
"Turner started the year for us as a linebacker and has become a great cover corner. He is a versatile player who we slide in as a linebacker as needed," the coach added.
"Tarek Oellerich also had a great game as a safety," Palzkill said. "He intercepted two passes and had great technique as he was able to play forward and high point the football."
"We are now comfortable with our "cover 2" scheme and it is putting kids in positions to make plays on the ball," Palzkill said. "The last two weeks it has been good to see our athletes making the plays when they have the chance. We have had great play out of our sophomores all year and they are not playing like sophomores at this point in the season."
Palzkill said it all started with Poad's interception and score.
"Turner's interception for a touchdown was a big momentum swing and our first score of the game," Palzkill said. "We were then able to settle in and call plays primarily to the weak side based on their alignment. The kids did a great job of executing. The past few weeks we have been focusing on playing a four quarter game. This was the first effort where we did play all four quarters at a high level. The first half was our best of the year and I like the way we are playing right now."
The Pointer put the stops to Boscobel, holding them to held 59 ground yards and 27 passing.  
"Our defense has been improving all season," Palzkill said. "We are getting great linebacker play and our secondary is understanding our coverage concepts. Right now, we are reading keys and this is helping us to anticipate what play the offense will run next. Based on this, we are much more of an attacking defense. Early in the year we were more of a reacting defense. We need to continue to understand our opponents plays and how to read their keys in order to identify which plays can affect us on each down."
Coach Olson (John Olson is our D-Coordinator) is really finding his rhythm calling the defense right now," Palzkill said. "He is trying to stay one-step ahead of the opposition. Each week we do have to change certain things in our defensive game-plan depending on the offense we will see. This week will be no different with Cuba City's flexbone look."
The Pointers understand they have to keep one eye on the play-offs as they prepare for the rest of the SWAL season.
"We have been discussing our situation for the past few weeks with the athletes," Palzkill said. "After the Darlington loss we simply have to win out. Any losses will keep us out of the post-season. Obviously, this is a must win game for us and we will be treating it like a play-off game. Our team understands the challenge ahead this week with Cuba City and we will play with a lot of heart knowing our season is on the line."