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It was billed as the game for all the SWAL marbles and for a quarter and a half it was.
Conference leading Darlington scored the first two touchdowns but the Mineral Point answered and it was suddenly a 16-14 difference in favor of the Redbirds.
But as quickly as ice being hit with 60 degree temperatures in the spring, the Pointer lead melted away and the Redbirds romped to a 60-21 win.
Myles Leahy ran for four touchdowns for the Redbirds, scoring on runs of three, three, five and 49. Jason Singer caught a 75 yard pass for the first score of the game then later ran in from 34 yards away.
Hunter Johnson and Dane Siegenthaler also picked up touchdowns for the Redbirds on runs of six and nine.
Singer, Cole McDonald, Cole Trumble (on a McDonald pass) and Slade Norton all had two point conversions for Darlington.
Sy Staver was the top weapon for the Pointers. He electrified the Pointer crowd and stunned those from Darlington when he raced 75 yards to score on a kick off return after the second Redbird touchdown. Staver later scored on a 19 yard pass from Scott Pittz. He also grabbed 11 passes for 98 yards.
"Sy has turned into a complete football player for us," said coach Andy Palzkill. "We can count on him to make the tough catches and he is explosive once he gets the ball in his hands. I think people were wondering why I made Darlington re-kick on two kickoff penalties until Sy took one the distance on the second kickoff! I have not coached many kids like Sy who can take over a game at times and make those kind of plays.
I can say that I have never coached an athlete that has ran back four kickoffs as Sy has done this year."
Tarek Oellerich and Pittz combined for the other Pointer score, a 19 yard pass play that drew the Pointers within two in the second frame.
Alec Schmitz scored on a two point conversion which came on a pass from Staver and Brant James kicked one extra point.
Darlington had 570 total yards with 385 rushing and 185 more passing. The Pointers totaled 281 with 268 of them through the air.
Pittz lofted 53 passes and connected on 35 of them as the running game stalled.
"Overall we played well enough in the passing to game to potentially win," Palzkill felt. "In the end, our inability to run the ball was our main problem on offense. I thought that we hit them with some big plays and did a good job of taking what they gave us within their coverages. Our athletes did a good job of catching the football in traffic and Scott did a great job of throwing with constant pressure in his face."
Palzkill felt the turning point was Darlington's ability to develop a passing attack to go with their bruising run game.
"I think the turning point came with those big pass plays," Palzkill said. "We were bottling up the run at that point in the ball game and had made them punt twice. Once they hit those passes and eventually scored, I felt that we lost momentum and our defense began to hang its head."
The Leahy-Singer attack, along with the supporting cast, became too much for the Pointers to deal with.
"Darlington is the best team we have faced," Palzkill said. "They are so physical up front that we knew we needed to commit 10 people to the run in order to stop them. They did a great job of finding a weakness in our coverage scheme on play action and that is what allowed them to pull away from us. They are a team with great backs and they are coached well. At this point, we can only hope to see them again in the playoffs."
Darlington's success in holding down the run game was also a big factor in the win.
"Sometimes you just have to admit that their players are better," Palzkill said. "We had the offensive schemes to block their defensive front, but they were able to beat and play off our blocking. It is hard to beat a good team when they do not have to respect your running game."
"As we progress with our football program, we need to continue to become more physical and be able to establish a running game against the best teams in our conference such as a team like Darlington," Palzkill said.
Schmitz went down with an injury and Palzkill called on Jordan Kittleson to take his place. He was happy with the results.
"Jordan Kittleson stepped in for Alec Schmitz and did a great job for us," Palzkill said. "The good news is that I am not surprised by the play of Jordan Kittleson. He works very hard and I have complete confidence in his ability. He does an outstanding job of snapping for us and will get chance to show what he can do in a starting role at wide receiver this week."
The Pointers finish the SWAL schedule at Fennimore and would like to have the momentum of a win
"Fennimore is a talented team that is very similar to us in terms of their offensive schemes and personnel," Palzkill said. "We do match up well with them and we are looking forward to getting back on the field this Friday night."