A Weird New World

Now that I've talked a little about the rest of the (former) MVC and the changes they face on the football field this fall, let's dive a bit in-depth with the Xavier Saints. Not only are they dropping from 4A to 3A ... not only are they facing a different kind of season with district play ... but they're seeing some new challenges. Like scheduling.

The Saints' drop to 3A directly resulted in an almost-complete loss of metro-area opponents. The other former MVC members basically told Xavier, "You guys want to play a 3A schedule? Great. Suit yourself. We want to play other 4A teams, so good luck with your schedule." Kennedy, Jefferson, Prairie, Linn-Mar, Washington: none of them sought to add Xavier for a non-district game. Cedar Falls, Iowa City High, Iowa City West: nope, no thank you, Saints. It's not a hard question to crack - what would any area 4A team have to gain by playing a 3A Xavier? No school from the MVC (save one) had been able to defeat the Saints in the past two seasons. If you beat Xavier, well, they're 3A. You were supposed to win. If you lose, hey, you guys lost to a 3A school! Haw haw! Even the notion of increased gates for in-city games wasn't enough to spur interest.

We'll see if things change once the hard feelings from Xavier and Wahlert leaving the MVC fade. But this season is what it is, and Xavier ended up with a pretty darn challenging schedule on their own. Admittedly, their district opponents by and large shouldn't strike a lot of fear into the Saints (although with only four starters coming back, Xavier is going to have some growing pains of their own this fall), but the non-district games are not only all-parochial, they are certainly a stout challenge for Coach Duane Schulte and his squad.

Start with the opener: A rematch of last year's state 4A championship game, with Xavier taking on Dowling Catholic of West Des Moines. Not only are the Maroons the defending state 4A champions, not only did they easily handle the Saints 44-13 last November, but they see All-Everything QB Ryan Boyle returning. Boyle led Dowling in both passing and rushing last season, with 1833 yards and 21 touchdowns through the air and 1332 yards and 24 touchdowns rushing. The Maroons also see some experience coming back on the defensive side, including Nick Wilson and Max Morris (10 sacks in 2013). It's an incredibly tough game for Xavier to start the season, plus it's on the road.

Following that game, it's a short week to a Thursday contest with Davenport Assumption the next week. The Knights and the Saints have never played, despite being parochial schools only about 80 miles apart. The Knights are also making the move to Class 3A, after a long history of a 4A schedule in the Mississippi Athletic Conference. Assumption has finished in the top 3 in the MAC every year but one since 2007, and has only missed the playoffs 3 times since 1989. This season, they do face a challenge of replacing most of the statistical leaders from their offense ... they'll come into 2014 with only two varsity pass attempts on the roster. A lot of the defensive side returns, including leading tackler Jake Poster as well as Joe Argo (9 sacks) and Chase Hager.

District play starts Week 3 with the Solon Spartans, so it doesn't get much easier for the Saints. Solon went 54-1 between 2007 and 2010 with four straight state championships. The Spartans are 28-7 over the past three seasons, including a loss in the state 3A semifinals last fall and playoff losses to the eventual state champion in both 2011 and 2012. Jacob Black returns as the team's leading passer and rusher, with 23 touchdowns on the ground and over 2500 yards combined passing and rushing. Brandon Kramer ran for nearly 1200 yards last year, and defenders Connor Ham and Logan Linderbaum return for a defense that allowed less than 150 yards rushing per game in 2013.

Week 4 the Saints go back on the road to face Central Clinton in DeWitt. The Sabers are coming off a 4-6 season in 2013, but featured a tremendous ground game averaging 284 yards per game. Unfortunately, a lot of those players have graduated.

The next district game sees the Maquoketa Cardinals coming to Saints Field. Maquoketa has made the playoffs five straight seasons, with playoff losses to the eventual state champion in both 2011 and 2012. The Cardinals finished 7-4 last year with an offense that threw the ball an amazing 209 times, averaging over 156 yards passing per game. Back for Maquoketa, however, is not their quarterback but running back Jacob Kloft, who ran for nearly 750 yards and 12 touchdowns.

Week 6 the Saints square off against Western Dubuque. The Bobcats won only 4 games in both 2012 and 2013, but do return leading passer Nolan Baumhover, who threw for 1278 yards and 11 scores. Luke Pothoff's 49 tackles are the most returning on defense, but that might be a good thing, as Western Dubuque gave up 315 yards per game last year, including over 240 ypg on the ground.

Finally Xavier finds a familiar opponent in Week 7, when they travel to Dubuque to take on the Wahlert Golden Eagles. Wahlert was the first MVC team to drop from 4A to 3A, starting the dominoes falling on the way to district play for 4A on the east side of the state. Wahlert has struggled in recent years with the MVC schedule, only winning 3 games since 2011 and not having a winning season since a 6-3 mark in 2007. The Golden Eagles had both one of the conference's worst offenses and worst defenses in 2013, so they welcome a 3A schedule in place of the MVC grind. Riley Hasken leads the way as a returning senior, with 754 yards rushing and 55 tackles in 2013.

In the penultimate week of the season, a potential media circus exists as Iowa City Regina comes to Xavier in a non-district clash of last year's 4A runner-up and 1A state champion. The Regals closed 2013 with a state record 56 game winning streak. The potential exists for Regina to travel up I-380 and take on Xavier with a 63-game winning streak alive - which I imagine would bring out media from all over the corridor to cover. Regina's numbers are amazing; 56 straight wins, an 88-5 record since 2007, four straight state championships (two in 2A, two in 1A), an offense that averaged over 405 yards per game last year. Drew Cook, son of Regals coach and former Hawkeye and NFL player Marv Cook, threw for 2563 yards and 22 touchdowns last year, adding 440 yards and 5 scores on the ground. He'll be back, along with leading tackler Justin Hunter, leading receiver Nick Phillips (54 catches, 7 TDs), and Jake Brinkman, who had six sacks to go along with his 536 yards rushing and 13 scores, plus 18 receptions, and touchdowns both receiving and via kickoff return.

Xavier's season wraps up with a district contest against metro foe Marion. The Indians had a strong run between 2007 and 2010 (32-4 in the regular season), but only had one playoff win in that span. Marion won 8 games in 2012, but finished just 4-6 last year. Leading rusher Kory Walsh returns, after gaining 448 yards and 5 touchdowns last year, while John Christensen, Dontavious Young and Nick Kramer add 550 yards rushing among them. Leading tackler Deshaun Quinn (6 sacks) will be back; he led a strong defense that allowed only 50.6 passing yards per game, and 212.1 total ypg.

So that's what Xavier faces in the 2014 season. Three tremendously tough opponents open the season, with defending state champion 4A Dowling and former 4A squad Assumption on the road the first two games, followed by area powerhouse Solon at Xavier in Week 3. After district games at DeWitt/Central Clinton, home vs. Maquoketa and Western Dubuque, and on the road at Dubuque Wahlert, the Saints will face another strong challenge when defending 1A state champion Iowa City Regina comes to Cedar Rapids. The season wraps up with Marion. The path to a finish in the top levels of the district is there for the taking, but what will Xavier do facing the 3A playoffs? A return engagement with Solon could be likely, or perhaps a rematch with Assumption? What about last year's state runners-up Washington? Or the perennial winners from Decorah? Could a championship match against Sioux City Heelan be in the cards?

A bunch of new opponents, a whole new system of playoff qualification, and a whole new world of 3A football. It's going to be different in 2014 ... will Xavier find the players to step in for last year's 4A runners-up and  step up to this challenge?