Most people probably didn’t know that Mineral Point’s football game Friday against Dodgeville was the 150th meeting between the two teams, and in this game, the Pointers doubled up on the Dodgers winning it 28-14 to kickoff the season in a home game at Ron Murphy Field. With the win, Mineral Point leads the all-time series 85-58-7.
The Pointers received the opening kickoff, but the Dodger defense stifled the Pointers on their first possession forcing a punt. The Dodgers took over at midfield and looked good driving the ball down to the two-yard line. But a third-down false start moved the Dodgers back five yards. They could not recover, as quarterback Karter McGraw’s touchdown pass was tipped and intercepted in the end zone to end the threat.
There was no scoring in the first quarter, but in the second, the Pointers broke through. Facing second-and-11 from the Dodgeville 20- yard line, quarterback Liam Carey rolled right and found Memphis Burkhalter open in the right corner of the end zone for a touchdown. Carey added the extra point to give Mineral Point a 7-0 lead.
After Dodgeville’s next drive stalled, their punt pinned Mineral Point at its own 1-yard line. Three big plays later, the Pointers led 14-0. Carey first connected with Cowan Bishell for 30 yards to get out of trouble. On the next play, Mineral Point went deep to Elliot Kite on a pass from Bishell, who used several moves to turn the catch into an apparent 70-yard touchdown. A penalty after the catch brought the ball back to the Dodgeville 15, but Carey found Kite alone in the right corner of the end zone on the next snap. The extra point made it 14-0 at halftime.
Carey completed 14 passes for 161 yards and two touchdowns, with Kite catching five of those passes for 106 yards and a touchdown.
There was no scoring in the third quarter, but a Mineral Point pass play put the Pointers in position to score seconds into the fourth quarter. Carey found Tyler Ingwell in the flats, and he was able to advance the ball about 30 yards deep into Dodger territory. Fifteen seconds into the fourth quarter, Carey handed it off to Mason Scullion, and he did the rest, stretching out the defense until he saw a hole and he cut it in for a touchdown and Carey’s extra point made it 21-0. Scullion led the Pointers rushing with eight attempts and gaining 44 yards on the night. “Our offense has some pretty good weapons and a solid gritty group up front leading the way, was great to see Mason Scullion get a touchdown in his first football game. We recruited him this offseason and I think you will hear his name often,” said Mineral Point Head Coach Chad Whitford.
But it was Mineral Point’s defense that scored the next Pointer touchdown. On Dodgeville’s next drive, Mineral Point’s Sawyer Dannenberg forced a fumble with a hit on Griffin Busch. Kite scooped up the loose ball and returned it untouched 35 yards for a touchdown, stretching the lead to 28-0.
The Dodgers were able to score twice after that. Dodger freshman Finley Olson scored his first Dodger touchdown on a three-yard run, and after Carey’s pass was intercepted later in the quarter by Harper Olson and his return set up another short run by Finley Olson for touchdown. Sawyer Vosberg caught a pass from McGraw for a two-point conversion making the final score 28-14. Olson led the Dodgers on the ground with 68 yards on 18 carries.
“Over the years this has been a great back and forth rivalry. Two teams separated by about 8 miles right down HWY151. It’s always a great way to start the season with the battle for 151 game with Dodgeville. Dodgeville took us off the schedule for a few years and it’s good to have this back again,” Whitford said following the game.
“Liam (Carey) had a great game. We started playing him some as a freshman and over the last couple seasons he has really grown into the quarterback position and leader for our program,” said Whitford.
“Clayton Yanna coming back from injury and getting back in the swing of things is good for the Pointers too, he is a load and will cause tacklers some problems when he’s running downhill. Coach Mitchell always has a great game plan for the Offense and good split between run and pass. Kite, Bishell, Pautz, Burkhalter and the freshman Ingwell will cause a lot of problems for defensive backs this year,” he said.
“Defensively we knew we had to shut down the Dodgers run game. The Wing T can give you problems with all the misdirection if you’re not disciplined. We started out a bit slow as expected in the first game but eventually settled in. One of the late touchdowns was set up off of the turnover. Sawyer with the big hit and forced fumble leading to a defensive touchdown was a huge play. He is a tough kid to run the ball towards. Standing behind him at middle linebacker is his brother Jake who is all over the field, he has a nose for the ball. Reid Dochnahl had a game. Lineman do not get a lot of publicity, He was a big reason the Dodgers couldn’t run up the middle.”
Jake Dannenberg totaled 13 tackles, Reid Dochnahl 12 and Sawyer Dannenberg 10 to lead the Pointers defensively. Dochnahl also recorded a sack.
“Obviously, 28-14 is not the result we wanted, especially in a rivalry game against Mineral Point,” said Dodgeville Head Coach Matt Staver. “But overall, I thought our kids competed hard and showed some real growth from where we were a year ago. We were physical at times, we moved the ball, and defensively we put ourselves in position to get stops. The frustrating part is that we hurt ourselves with penalties and turnovers, and against a good program like Mineral Point, those mistakes are hard to overcome. We are in year two of building our system and our culture, and Friday night showed both the progress we’ve made and the areas we still have to clean up.”
The rivalry includes several notable streaks. Mineral Point has won the last nine meetings, though the teams did not play from 2022 to 2024 after Dodgeville removed the game from its schedule. Dodgeville also lost 10 straight games to the Pointers from 1989 to 1998, while the Dodgers’ longest unbeaten run in the series came from 1949 to 1955, when they went 10-0-1.
From 1919 to 1953, Dodgeville and Mineral Point typically met twice each season, except in 1947, when they played once. The teams did not meet from 1901 to 1918. Mineral Point won the first two games in 1893 by scores of 24-10 and 21-0, and Dodgeville earned its first win over the Pointers in 1894, 24-0.
