CUBA CITY 9/8 – After getting beaten up, both physically and mentally, by Darlington a week earlier, coach Mark Siegert’s Potosi/Cassville football team responded in a big way last Friday night with a 50-21 victory at Cuba City.

In their second crossover contest against an opponent from the Southwest Wisconsin Activities League, the Chieftains asserted their dominance on the ground, rushing for 452 yards and six touchdown on 58 attempts. That’s an average of 7.8 yards per attempt.

Defensively, the Chieftains limited Cuba City to just 40 yards rushing on 13 attempts, but gave up 182 yards passing on 12-of-26 completions.

Asked if Friday night’s win at Cuba City was his team’s best performance of the year, coach Mark Siegert was quick with a response.

“Offensively for sure, defensively we still have some things to work out, in terms of giving up some big plays,” Siegert said.

Behind a strong performance from their offensive line and perimeter blockers, the tremendously talented trio of Eli Adams, Roman Friederick and Braden Fishnick created problems all night for the Cuban defense.

“We really pride ourselves on playing a physical brand of football,” said coach Siegert. “I know that there’s all sorts of different ways to do it now in terms of how offenses go, but this is who we are, and this is what we hang our hat on at the end of the day.”

Adams led the rushing attack with 152 yards and one touchdown on 15 carries, scoring from 12 yards out late in the second quarter.

Friederick had the most carries of 21, which he converted into 121 yards and three touchdowns, scoring from five, 14 and two yards out.

Fishnick also surpassed the 100-yard rushing mark with 133 yards and two touchdowns on 11 attempts, scoring from 38 and 51 yards out.

In all, the three combined for 406 rushing yards and six TDs on 47 of their team’s 58 rushing attempts.

Adams also had one reception for a 32-yard touchdown late in the first quarter, proving to be a threat in the passing attack as well.

Through the air, Fishnick completed 3-of-8 passing attempts for 72 yards, one touchdown and one interception. Jaxon Oyen had one reception for 37 yards, while Kadin Walsh had one catch for three.

To prove just how efficient the Potosi/Cassville offense was Friday night against the Cubans, of their 10 offensive possessions, seven ended with touchdowns, two on punts and one on an interception.

Cuba City used three big plays to score three touchdowns Friday night, two scores coming off passing plays of 31 and 67 yards, and the other coming off a 78-yard kick return early in the fourth quarter with Potosi/Cassville leading 50-14.

Leading the charge defensively for Potosi/Cassville was Isaiah Groom, who finished with 13 total tackles. He was followed by Roman Friederick with seven.

In some respects you could call last Friday night’s performance at Cuba City, somewhat of a coming-out party for the Chieftains.

Starting the season off with wins over Wauzeka-Steuben/Seneca and Ithaca, coach Siegert’s squad took a long look in the mirror following a loss to Darlington, and responded in impressive fashion against the Cubans.

“We really, really had to take a long look in the mirror in terms of things that we had to fix, and luckily they’re fixable,” Siegert said of the Darlington loss. We’re good enough, we just need to make sure we do it.”

“I love these guys, they’re awesome kids, and I knew that their response was going to be a positive one. I didn’t think they were going to let Darlington beat them two weeks in a row. They were very focused, as far as getting that taste out of their mouth and making sure that they got things on the right track again,” Siegert added.

“I think that early in the season you don’t really know who you are. You try to come up with some kind of a team identity because everyone is different. I think we really found out what our identity is going to be moving forward,” Siegert concluded.

The Chieftains begin play in the Six Rivers conference this week with a home game against visiting Benton/Scales Mound/Shullsburg (1-3). The tri-op team is coming off a 59-14 loss to Belleville.