September 26, 2013 at 4:20 p.m.
Momentum swings to Cuba City at the end
The Cuba City win set them even with the Pointers at 2-1, the same record shared by Riverdale and Iowa-Grant for a real log-jam for second place. Darlington tops the SWAL at 3-0.
Both teams scored in the first quarter with the Cubans getting a 38 yard sprint to the end zone from Scott Kaiser. Eric Matuszak made it 7-0 with his kick.
That score came at the 10:10 mark of the opening quarter.
The Pointers answered six minutes later when sophomore quarterback Scotty Pittz fired a three yarder to Turner Poad. They missed the conversion and trailed 7-6 at the end of the frame.
Preston Droessler plunged in from the one on a quarterback keeper to make it 13-6 just after the second quarter started.
Pittz answered at 7:16 with a one yard sneak and Tommy Olson knotted the game at 13-13 with his conversion kick.
Droessler struck again, this time from four yards out with 40 seconds left in the third quarter to push the Cubans to 21-13. They converted on a two point play, Droessler to Jake Jansen.
It was Droessler again from the nine with 8:37 left in the game that eventually served as the gamewinner. Matuszak's kick made it 28-13.
The Pointers scored with four minutes left and a 28 yard pass play, Pittz to Sy Staver. Pittz's pass to Alec Schmitz gave the Pointers 21 points and make it a one touchdown game but they couldn't get the score to tie the game.
The Cubans rolled up 279 yards on the ground and tacked on 26 more passing.
"They do a great job within their veer and midline running attack," said Pointer coach Andy Palzkill. "The most impressive thing to me was the way they got off the line of scrimmage all night. We did not match their intensity off the ball and ultimately that goes a long way in winning football games."
Palzkill said the ability of the Cubans to play with that much intensity turned the game in their favor.
"In my opinion, their tenacity and overall intensity was the difference," he said. "We did not respond to their challenges at times in the second and third quarter. It came down to us trying to make a fourth quarter run and we just did not make the plays needed to get the win."
It was a case of two teams matching up very well, making it an evenly played game. It served to create momentum swings multiple times.
"Both teams were evenly matched and the momentum swung multiple times throughout the game," Palzkill said. "In the end, credit needs to be given to Cuba City for making plays and taking the victory. My hat's off to coach Copp and Coach Graber for a job well done. They do a great job preparing their athletes. "
The Pointers had 257 passing yards and 20 rushing. Pittz was 24 of 43 and accounted for all the air yards.
Turner Poad was the recipient of seven of those passes and totaled 100 yards.
This was Pittz's second start since returning from an early season hand injury.
"Scotty has been very impressive in his first two varsity starts," Palzkill said. "He is a very intelligent football player and a fierce competitor. I am very impressed with his toughness. He stayed in the pocket and delivered many throws under pressure. "
"Scotty has been everything that we expected him to be before he injured his hand in August," Palzkill said. "He certainly has my confidence and I trust him to make good decisions on the football field."
"With our formations and personnel, we put a lot of pressure on defenses in the passing game," Palzkill continued. "Our receivers do a great job of running their routes and then blocking for each other. I expect the timing to keep getting better as we continue through the rest of our season."
"Overall, I am pleased with our overall offensive performance. We just need to continue to execute better.," he said.
He also said Poad is becoming a force in the Pointer offensive scheme.
"Turner Poad is a great weapon to have in the backfield," Palzkill said. "He is a hard-nosed runner with great hands. His versatility allows us to really spread out defenses horizontally in the passing game. He is a tough match-up for any linebacker and we will continue to rely on Turner as a huge part of our offense."
Palzkill said the Pointers learned from the loss and will use it as the season continues.
"I told our kids after the game that we control how well we play," the coach said. "We learned a big lesson against Cuba City and that is the fact that nobody is going to give you a win. Instead, you have to believe in your teammates and in your ability and make things happen in order to win football games. "
"In my mind, I am still not sure how good Mineral Point can be if we play four good quarters of football."
The Pointers entertain Iowa-Grant for their homecoming this week.
"They are a big and physical football team," Palzkill said. "We need to raise our level of play in order to compete for a victory. There is no doubt in my mind we can win this football game, but we have to improve this week in practice and go get the win."
