Well, the Iowa State game is a disgrace, and the Arizona State-Notre Dame game is a blowout, so ... guess I will update my blog on a great Xavier quarterfinal win last night.
First off, Xavier came into this game severely hurt. Starting fullback and linebacker Nic Ekland broke his leg in the Waverly-Shell Rock game last Monday. Starting tailback Jay Kortemeyer also was hurt, and out for the rest of the year. Kortemeyer was the team's leading rusher, with over 1000 yards on the season. Ekland was a fearsome tackler, a ferocious blocker, and had scored four times in the two playoff games (including a school-record 97-yard run against Charles City). These were huge losses.
And, Coach Schulte and his staff had only three days to get the team prepared and get a game plan in, to get ready for a West Delaware squad that averaged well over 400 yards per game on offense. The Hawks featured the duo of Coy Roussell and Brent Lammers, who had accounted for 2300-some yards and 31 touchdowns on the ground, while Lammers had also thrown for 1100 yards and 11 more TDs. West Delaware had lost once all season - a 10-0 decision to Independence in a game where neither Lammers nor Roussell were able to play, a game where Independence barely mounted 100 yards of total offense, a game where the only touchdown came on a turnover.
In all seriousness, I would not have been surprised if this game turned out to be the end of the road for Xavier. Those key injuries, this truly tough opponent in West Delaware ... it could easily have been a Saints loss, and nobody would have felt cheated for the way the season ended.
Instead, Xavier gutted out a tremendous tough, gritty, hard-hittingly physical win, taking the quarterfinal 27-17 and moving on to the semifinals in the UNI Dome next week. Xavier took command early, which is so important in these closely matched games. After holding the Hawks to a three and out to start the game, the Saints took over in great field position at the West Delaware 46. Coach Schulte said go for it on first down, and Bryce Schulte found Matt Downey wheeling out of the backfield for the lightning-strike touchdown on Xavier's first play. After again forcing a West Delaware punt, Schulte went deep again on the very first play and just barely overthrew his receiver, on what likely would have been another score. Schulte later found Joe Welch for a 42-yard gain on that drive, then added a nice 22-yard run on his own. Xavier tallied another touchdown on that drive, taking a 14-0 first quarter lead.
Xavier forced a fumble on the next WD possession (the 10th turnover for Xavier in the past four games), but couldn't do anything with it. Things settled down some after that, as West Delaware started to click better on offense and slow the Saints down more on defense. The Hawks rolled on an 11-play drive to reach inside the Xavier 20, but the Saints stopped Lammers for a loss on 4th down. West Delaware then got an iffy kick catch-interference penalty to start inside the Xavier 40, but again were stopped on 4th down at the 8. Then came the first of two true gut-check drives by the Saints. Starting at the 8, Xavier drove all the way to the West Delaware 15 in 8 plays. The Saints tried three straight passes into the end zone, one of them off-target, the other two just barely knocked away by Hawk defenders. Dallas Klein then booted a 32-yard field goal, tying his longest of the season, to give Xavier a 17-0 lead. West Delaware quickly got back to the Xavier 21 with seconds left, but Lammers was sacked twice to end the half.
The third quarter saw momentum shift in about as dramatic a fashion as you'll ever see. Xavier punted after a three-and-out, forcing West Delaware to start at their 8. The Hawks quickly got out of the hole, but saw themselves with a 4th and 9 at the 35. On the punt, the Saints were flagged for running into the punter, which gave West Delaware a 4th and 4 at the 39. Then Lammers used a hard count and pulled the Saints defensive line offside for a free first down. Roussell rambled for 45 yards on the next play, and Lammers finished with a 10-yard TD run to get WD on the board.
Two plays later, Schulte fumbled on the option fake-handoff (just the third turnover by Xavier in the past nine games), and West Delaware jumped on the ball at the Xavier 10. Three plays later Lammers threw to Trent Curley for the score, and suddenly it was just 17-14 Xavier. The huge West Delaware crowd was roaring, while the Xavier fans were getting quietly nervous. The teams exchanged three-and-outs, but the field position was creeping ever closer to the West Delaware end zone. The Hawks had to punt from their own three, and a good return coupled with a personal foul penalty on West Delaware set Xavier up at the 21. Three plays later Schulte carried in from the four and the Saints had breathing room again, up 24-14.
The Hawks responded with a 58-yard pass play from Lammers to Curley, and on the second play of the fourth quarter West Delaware tried their first field goal of the entire season. Alex Reetz booted it through from 34 yards out, and it was back to a 7-point game. Xavier was stopped on another three and out, and West Delaware put together another decent drive with Roussell carrying the load. The fourth down try was stopped at the Xavier 36.
Now came gut-check drive number two. With about 7 minutes to play, and protecting a 7-point lead, Xavier moved the ball steadily down the field. Sean Murphy, replacing Kortemeyer, bore almost all the load on the drive, converting twice on third downs and picking up four first downs total as the Saints moved the ball down to the 9. Klein finally finished off the 12-play drive with a 25-yard field goal, giving Xavier a 27-27 lead with under 2 minutes to play.
West Delaware tried to respond. The Hawks converted on a 4th-down throw thanks to another iffy pass-interference call, then converted another 4th-down play on a 29-yard pass from Lammers to Curley. Lammers was sacked on the next play, though, and that's when the clock ran out.
What a great performance by the Saints, stepping up to respond to season-ending injuries to two of their captains. What a tough performance by the Hawks, with a defensive line raising havoc throughout the contest, and Lammers getting knocked out of the game not once, but twice, and coming back both times on a hobbled ankle, trying to will his team to the end zone.
So the Saints move on. Their next opponent will be Pella, the number one team in Class 3A all season long. The Little Dutch are the only undefeated team left in 3A, and have rolled over pretty much all their opponents all season long. They have outscored their competition by an average 47-8 score, topped 50 points five times, and have yet to allow over 14 points to any team. Pella will be a stern test for the Saints, and sets up what looks like a dandy semifinal matchup on Thursday.
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