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Mineral Point's football team called on some players to make some big plays in an attempt to stay with SWAL leader Cuba City Friday.
But, the Cubans unveiled an explosive offense and ran past the Pointers 64-18. The loss ended Mineral Point's hopes of extending into the post season.
The Pointers hung with the Cubans for the first quarter and a half until the conference leaders pulled away, outscoring the Pointers 27-0 the second half.
Brandon Slaats ran for 204 yards on eight carries and turned in three touchdowns for the Cubans. He scored on a 44 yard run then added a 12 yard scamper in the first quarter. Slaats then capped off his big night with 54 yard run to start the scoring the second half.
Greg Ganter kicked five extra points and added a field goal from 32 yards away for the Cubans. Eight different players scored in some fashion to account for the 64 points.
The Cubans ended up with 507 yards on the ground and passed for 73 more. The Pointers attempted to answer through the air.
The aerial attack netted 200 yards passing the first quarter and 353 for the game. Nolan Barrette drilled Terek Oellerich with a 69 yarder for the first Pointer score. He then nailed Sy Staver for a 59 yard score, also in the first frame.
Staver was on the receiving end of an 80 yard pass play for a score in the second quarater. All three scoring strikes came courtesy of Barrette who completed 12 of 32 tries for 311 yards.
Staver also did some signal calling and completed one pass for 42 yards.
Staver grabbed five passes for 168 yards.
The Pointers had 37 yards on the ground, 30 of them from John Schmitz in nine tries.
With the Pointers still rebuilding with some talented young players the Cubans proved to be a handful.
"They are a talented and well coached team," first year Pointer coach Andy Palzkill said. "They have four dangerous running threats and their offense puts you in a position that if you fail to take care of those threats it allows big plays to happen."
Slaats proved his worth in the Cuban attack, doing much of his damage on their toss play.
"We worked all week on stopping the toss, but it was hard to replicate his speed in practice," Palzkill said about Slaats. "He is a big play athlete that we were not able to contain."
The aerial display with the sophomore receivers proved to be successful for the Pointers.
"I continue to be impressed with the young receiving crew." Palzkill said. "We had route combinations we like against man and zone. This week we expected a cover two which we did get early. After two big plays against the zone, Cuba switched to a Cover zero man look. Nolan Barrette and our sophomores recognized this and they adjusted their alignment and changed the route to our man combination. It resulted into a 59 yard touchdown for Tarek Oellerich."
Another sophomore picked up the next two scores.
"Sy Staver had an outstanding night and made some veteran adjustment to his routes that Nolan also read and provided us with some big plays," Palzkill added. "We are understanding the concepts in our passing game which is exciting for the future."
The outcome was decided early but the Pointers played until the final whistle.
"We have learned a lot from our mistakes and inexperience this year," Palzkill said. "This game was no different. We made too many mistakes defensively with alignment and not reading our keys well. Offensively, we failed to make good first steps and execute our blocking schemes. It comes down to fundamentals and good teams will take advantage if you do not execute fundamental technique."
Palzkill said some Pointers had exceptional performances against the powerhouse opponent.
"I think Turner Poad, Tarek Oellerich, and Sy Staver are noteworthy because they have continued to develop into playmakers as this season has progressed. We are very confident in these three sophomores and can count on them from week to week," Palzkill said. "Nolan Barrette has also continued to impress me with his football savvy and toughness. He played through a lot of pain in this game and continued to compete at a high-level."
"We need to improve on our mistakes and prepare for Southwestern this Friday night in Hazel Green," the coach added. "They are a team that will open things up offensively and run a variety of routes in their spread offese. They also run some wishbone formation so we will need to recognize formation and make sure to check to the appropriate defense."
"Offensively, we just need to get back to firing off the ball and playing aggressively," Palkill said.