Another Take on Xavier's Season

(Subtitled: Things I Think About While I'm Raking the Yard.)

The 2012 Xavier Saints (4A): Undefeated in the regular season. Running the continuous clock on opponents week in and week out. Rolled through the playoffs, and ended up leading the championship game most of the fourth quarter before finally falling to Ankeny.

The 2013 Xavier Saints (4A): Eight shutouts by the defense. Only one loss during the regular season, to a really good, quickly improving Washington team. Rolled through the playoffs, before being rather convincingly beaten by Dowling in the championship.

It's no surprise that many people thought that having this team play in Class 3A in 2014 would be a farce - that these 4A powerhouse players would slice through the smaller class like a hot knife through butter. So to have Xavier finish at 6-3, even winning their district (on a tiebreaker), might be a little disappointing for some fans.

Hold on. Let's take another look at things.

Two of those three losses were to defending state champions.

Xavier's only 3A loss, in their district, was by a single point, with Xavier missing an extra point and a field goal. The winners of that game ended up with the top offense in the district.

Xavier was tied with Regina in the fourth quarter. It took three big plays by the Regals to pull ahead by two touchdowns late.

Dowling won quite handily in the opening game. But ... the Maroons ran the continuous clock on every team they played this year except two: West Des Moines Valley, and Cedar Rapids Xavier. The Saints held Dowling to over 200 yards below their season per-game average for rushing. With the exception of their loss to Valley, Dowling scored 45 points or more on every opponent - except for the 24 they managed against Xavier (and 14 of those came on a short field after interceptions).

Not to lessen the achievements of Dowling, Western Dubuque and Iowa City Regina. All three of those teams outplayed Xavier, and deserved the wins they got on the field. But none of them were exactly blowouts. The Saints contended hard in all three of those losses, and had a chance in two of them.

So, just some things going through my head while raking on a windy day. Now we'll see how the Saints can handle 3A playoff competition.