September 17, 2015 at 2:33 p.m.

Redbirds get loose for win over Pointers


The nine scores Darlington put on the scoreboard were more than enough to keep them in first place and hand Mineral Point its first SWAL loss.
The Redbirds won conviningly 57-21 and set up a showdown with Cuba City Friday for an early championship bid.
The wounded Pointers played without one of their top players as Steven Blume is sidelined with a leg injury.  His status for the rest of the year is doubtful.
"Steven's status is not known in terms of when or if he will be back," said coach Andy Palzkill. "He is potentially out for the year or we could get him back in four weeks. Depends on how things heal."
The Pointers have been exploring options for a replacement.
"We are working Brandon Forseth and Logan Bidlingmaier at the slot position and hopefully can get good things at tailback from Lucas Sanchez," Palzkill said. "That will be out best line-up moving forward."
The Redbirds stuck 20 points on the board in the first quarter and never looked back.
Conrad Blosch opened up with a one year run. Brayden McDonald picked off a pass and romped 70 yards for the second score. Trevor Johnson had a third big play with a 51 yard run for the third touchdown of the frame.
The Pointers scored twice in the second quarter both scores coming from Scott Pittz. The Pointer junior quarterback got both of them on 16 and six yard runs.
But, Trevor Johnson and Hunter Johnson matched that with a pair of runs, Trevor from the 48 and Hunter from the 44.
Pittz capped Mineral Point's scoring with a 14 yard run in the third.
Hunter Johnson scored again on a four yard run and Chad Golackson closed out the night with a field goal from the 21.
The Pointers came away from the game with respect for the Redbirds.
Darlington is a strong team and are playing well," Palzkill said. "We were impressed with them on both sides of the football. They are a very physical and well coached team."
They also had a game plan to stop the Pointers and force Pittz to do the bulk of the running.
"They played a squeezing 4-3 and really did a good job of making us pitch the ball in our veer scheme," Palzkill said. "Our game plan was to run the ball the majority of the time and we also did not take advantage of opportunities in the passing game. Scott threw the ball well but we had multiple drops and three of them led to interceptions. We did not take good care of the ball and when you play good teams like Darlington turnovers will usually tell the story."
Palzkill said the Pointers took some positives away from the game.
"We were proud our effort," Palzkill said. "Even being down by three scores early, we felt like we could come back and win the game. Sometimes I forget how young we are at certain positions and I think we will grow up considerably moving forward and learn a lot from this loss. Losses aren't always a bad thing and we learned a lot about ourselves from this past week."
Palzkill also said he was pleased with the line play on both sides of the football.
"I thought our front seven played very well on both sides of the ball," the coach said. "We were able to control the ball and run well against their front. On defense, we were able to take away their inside running concepts. We will focus on improving on the perimeter offensively and defensively."
The Pointers will take the field Friday for a home game.
"We will play Riverdale at home this Friday," Palzkill said. "It is senior night and we look forward to an opportunity to play again and do things better."
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