It's Gotta End Sometime

The second-round playoff game outcome was certainly unexpected, but this was no fluke. The Decorah Vikings used their oversized offensive line and a lot of sorcery in the backfield to run over, through and past the Xavier Saints in their 30-21 upset victory. Decorah keeps on going after a 4-5 regular season finish, having now knocked off 8-1 Independence and 9-0 Xavier.

After last Wednesday's struggle with a tough, hard-nosed Waverly-Shell Rock team, you might expect Xavier to come out prepared for another battle. Instead, the Saints fumbled (and recovered) the opening kickoff, then fumbled (and lost) the ball on their first play. Decorah recovered in Saints territory and drove 29 yards in six plays to take a quick 7-0 lead. The Saints went rhree and out on the next possession, and the Vikings put together a 14-play drive capped by a 28-yard field goal to take a 10-0 first quarter lead.

The mention of driving is crucial. The Saints defense, which had been so good throughout the year, simply couldn't get the Vikings off the field. Decorah converted on 5 out of 8 third down plays in the first half, and on one of the three they didn't get, they converted on 4th down. So Xavier had 8 chances to stop drives, and could only do it twice.

The second quarter, though, did go Xavier's way. After finally forcing a three and out and getting great field position at the Decorah 45, Bryce Schulte evaded a pass rush, doubled back across the field, and threw a strike to a diving Blake Whitten right at the pylon to make it 10-7. Sean Murphy then intercepted Cole Steffen on Decorah's next possession, and Maliki Wilson led a nice Xavier drive down to the 9. There Schulte faked the quick throw/wide receiver screen (which the Saints have run a lot in recent games), then ran straight upfield on the quarterback draw for the score. Xavier took the lead 14-10.

But Decorah answered. On 2nd and 10 on their own 49, Steffen gave to Zach Lea on a quick fullback trap. It was the same type of play that worked well for Xavier this year, especially against Regina. It worked against the Saints this time, as Lea found no defenders on the left side of the field once he got past the line of scrimmage and ran 51 yards to put the Vikings back up 17-14. Xavier got another interception late with a shot to get back in the end zone, but a long Schulte throw was incomplete as the clock expired.

The third quarter was a struggle. Both teams traded possessions, unable to get much positive yardage going until Xavier took over at their 36. The Saints picked up a couple of first downs, then Wilson was stopped for a 1-yard gain on 3rd and 5 at the Decorah 28. Dallas Klein came in to try a 41-yard field goal on the first play of the final period - he had nailed a 40-yarder against Marion at the end of the first half - but while he had the distance here, the kick was just wide right.

Decorah went to the air. Steffen connected with Shawn Sindelar on a wide-open throw to the middle of the field, and Sindelar went for 40 yards. On the next play, Steffen found Garrett Wise sneaking out of the backfield down the right sideline, and he took it in from 36 yards out. Decorah was back up by 10, 24-14.

Now the Saints came back. Schulte found Whitten on two big first-down conversions to get to the 5, then Erik Rodriguez pounded the ball in from the 4. The lead was now just 24-21, with still over 8 minutes to play. Xavier had been in worse positions before (Solon, Regina) and had gotten big turnovers or defensive stops late as well (Assumption, Waverly-Shell Rock). Could the defense step up here again?

Decorah once again had the answer. The Vikings went on a 12-play, 73-yard drive, converting on a 4th and 4 to stay alive, and finished it with a 7-yard Steffen run. The extra point was blocked, but it was still a two-possession game at 30-21 with under 4 minutes left.

Xavier started with a reverse, then Schulte went to the air, moving the ball downfield, picking up four first downs and driving to the 21. A short pass to Wilson got 5, then two iincompletions (including a near-catch by Nick Stark, who had to turn around and leap for what might have been a touchdown if the pass was just a touch closer). Klein came out to try the 33-yard field goal to cut the lead to 6 - but Marshall Johnson came in hard from the left side and blocked the kick.

Xavier still had a couple of time outs with a chance to force a punt, but that Decorah offense just kept pushing. Wise's 5-yard carry on 3rd and 4 sealed the game.

An entertaining, competitive game, to be sure - but hardly anybody expected this outcome. Decorah had been outscored and outgained on the year, giving up over 300 yards per game. The Vikings had lost their first three (including to a couple of 2A programs), then won four in a row, then lost their final two regular-season matchups, including a 28-7 loss to a, frankly, bad Charles City team. They had no business winning their first round matchup against an Independence squad that had already beat them once, and had only lost a close game to powerhouse West Delaware. They certainly had no business, on paper, coming down to Saints Field and controlling the line of scrimmage and handing Xavier their first loss with a nine-point win.

But here we are. Decorah moves on, facing a rematch with that strong West Delaware team. Xavier's season ends, at Saints Field for the first time since 2010 (they dropped a first-round game to Kennedy that year, in what is still one of the oddest, most dumbfounding games I've seen Xavier play, losing a fumble late that allowed Kennedy to drive for the winning score). Since then their seasons have ended at Pleasant Valley in 2011, and then in the Dome the past three years. Alas, there will be no Dome trip for the Saints in 2015.

A lot to look forward to, though. Schulte will be back, with 20 TD passes this year and 34 for his career, to go with nearly 2700 passing yards. Wilson will also return after amassing 1200+ rushing yards and 14 total touchdowns. Three-fifths of the offensive line is back, and while they will need to replace most of the defense, that's been the case for the past three seasons. Dallas Klein will no longer be the kicker (a perfect 42 for 42 on extra points this year, and 14 field goals for his career) but Ryan Jasper did a nice job as punter as a junior. There's plenty to be excited about for 2016.

Survive And Advance

It certainly wasn't easy. In fact, it was darned difficult. But the Xavier Saints managed to stay undefeated and advance to the second round of the state 3A football playoffs with a hard-fought 14-7 win over Waverly-Shell Rock at cold, wet, windy Saints Field.

And so the playoff grind rolls on. Iowa has a rigorous or insane football playoff schedule, depending on who you ask. Winning teams end up playing four games in two weeks - the final regular season game on a Friday, the first round on the following Wednesday, the second round on the next Monday, and finally, just four days later, the quarterfinal round on that Friday. Four games, 15 days. For a violent, physical sport like football, the injuries really start to mount up under this regimen.

As far as the first round, Waverly-Shell Rock was going to be a tough first round opponent for some district champion somewhere - it just ended up being Xavier. I thought the GoHawks would probably get send to Webster City, with Xavier getting Fairfield, but the district finish situation in southwestern Iowa didn't go the way I thought and the state travel limitations kind of forced this matchup. Waverly-Shell Rock beat two 4A teams to start the season, then lost only to the three teams that finished above them in District 3. So for a fourth-place team, they were pretty good.

They showed that to the Saints, for sure. A bitter wind from the northwest swept across the field during the entire game, turning the football into a wet, hard rock that became almost impossible to catch with cold, stiff hands. The number of dropped passes had to be close to double digits. The usually reliable Xavier passing attack was limited to 24 yards on the night; not only by the weather, mind you, but by a top-notch Waverly-Shell Rock secondary that played tight coverage on the Saints receivers.

Xavier's defense was no slouch, either, holding the GoHawks to only one first down in the entire first half (that coming on the third play of the game). The Saints struggled as well, finally moving the ball some as the second quarter arrived. Bryce Schulte ran an option play - the same play that worked so well against Regina - and kept it over the right side. Then he kept running. And running. And shifting his hips, and cutting to the far side, and cutting back to the middle of the field. Schulte ended up carrying the ball 65 yards downfield (and probably 85 yards total zig-zag distance) for the game's opening touchdown.

Xavier held Waverly-Shell Rock, who then punted and pinned the Saints back at the 3 yard line. Going into the stiff wind, Xavier answered the challenge. Erik Rodriguez had a couple of big runs during an 11-play drive that covered the entire 97 yards. Sean Murphy finished it off with a 14-yard TD run, and the Saints led 14-0 at the half.

Things continued to go Xavier's way to start the third quarter. After being forced to punt, the GoHawk receiver muffed the ball at the 15 and the Saints recovered. Penalties (again, penalties! Thirteen of them on the night) kept Xavier from advancing much ... and then the GoHawks blocked Dallas Klein's field goal attempt.

That seemed to wake up Waverly-Shell Rock. Two possessions later, starting at their own 17, the GoHawks put together one of the most clutch drives you'll ever see. They converted on 4th and short. They converted on 4th and 15 with a 16-yard pass play. They drove inside the 10, then had a touchdown play called back by a penalty. They faced a 4th and goal from the 21 - and converted when Tanner Krueger lofted a fade pass to Cole Havlovic along the right side of the end zone. The drive took 17 plays and used up the end of the third quarter and about half of the fourth, and the GoHawks were back in it at 14-7.

With the help of (yet another) penalty, the energized Waverly-Shell Rock defense held Xavier to three and out. Back came the offense, moving back down the field, picking up four first downs on the way. Inside the 15 yard line, down by 7, threatening to tie or take the lead, looking to be the rare fourth seed that can knock off a district champion in the first round.

The Xavier defense stood up when they had to. First down, Jamiir Moore was taken down for a loss of 3. Second down, Krueger's pass was incomplete. Third down, another incompletion. Fourth down and 13, ball at the Xavier 14, about a minute and half left. Waverly-Shell Rock called their final timeout. Xavier's defensive coordinator Jim O'Connell dialed up a blitz. Krueger dropped back to throw, and linebacker Bryce Charipar came racing in untouched to sack the GoHawk quarterback back at the 23. That finally sealed the game for Xavier, keeping their record perfect at 9-0 while Waverly-Shell Rock ended at 6-4.

Xavier had to fight every inch to pull this one out, but in a weird night in Iowa, it wasn't the strangest first-round outcome. Sioux City Heelan, for example, last year's state runner-up, dropped their game to Boyden-Hull/Rock Valley. Ballard held on over a weak Algona team, winning by just a point. Harlan, winner of District 8, ended up losing to Creston, the fourth-place team in District 8, by 23 points. The 7-2 Washington Demons dropped a 17-14 decision to 5-5 Solon in overtime. When first round matchups usually aren't that competitive (twelve of the 16 winners in 4A scored over 40 points, and five were over 50), a lot of close games highlighted 3A. Xavier was fortunate to escape the upset.

And the quick rounds continue. It's just Monday for the next game, again vs a District 3 opponent, this time the Decorah Vikings. Decorah has a proud program, with some 15 appearances in the playoffs, five times in the title game and a state championship in 2012. The Vikings actually missed the playoffs last year, for the first time in a while, but returned this year and upset an 8-1 Independence team 14-0 to move on. Decorah has a tremendous rushing attack (over 2000 yards), but are frustrating inconsistent to categorize. They've rolled over some teams, and been rolled over by others. They've passed for 144 yards in a game, and they've averaged 47 yards passing in six others. They've given up rushing totals of 389 and 337 yards, and they've held teams to 57 and 90 yards on the ground. They beat this same tough Waverly-Shell Rock team by 3, and they lost to a rather woeful Charles City squad by three touchdowns. They're just weird.

Wrapping Up At 8-0

Xavier closed out their third perfect regular season last Friday with a damp, foggy 55-0 victory over an outmanned Marion squad. The Saints ended at 8-0 on the year, with the canceled opener vs. Dowling still remaining as an open spot on that record.

Marion fought hard, but with 6 or 8 injured starters on the sidelines looking on in street clothes, it was hardly a fair contest. The Saints were forced to punt on their first series, but recovered a fumble a couple of plays later and were off to the races. Bryce Schulte found Ryan Stulken and Nick Stark for touchdown passes, both of them ridiculously wide open. Maliki Wilson ran for two scores, giving him 12 rushing TDs on the year. Special teams got in on the fun, too, as Iman Juenger forced a fumble on the second-half-opening kickoff and Connor Vogl scooped up the ball and returned it for a touchdown. And then the scout team players added two second half scores, with a 4th-down pass from Spencer Dempewolf to Mike Fettkether and a TD run from Shane Scott.

Dallas Klein continued his late-season roll, with two field goals (one a 40-yarder) giving him three successful FG tries in a row (starting with his clutch 35-yarder to win the game at Regina), and seven more extra points. He's 38 for 38 on extra point kicks for the year.

This game could have been considered the ultimate trap game for Xavier. The Saints were coming off an exhausting, emotional come-from-behind win over previously undefeated Iowa City Regina a week prior, and knew they were heading for a home playoff game just five days later. The team didn't fall into that trap, however, with a solid performance all around.

And now the playoffs begin. Speculation about a possible opponent, at least in my view, was focused on the loser of the Fairfield-Clear Creek Amana game. Xavier, as a district champion, would be matched against a fourth-place team from another district. The loser of that game would finish fourth in District 5, while the way the other districts looked to finish it seemed to make sense for that first round game. Waverly-Shell Rock, the fourth-place team in District 3, was looking to be sent to D-2 champ Webster City; Creston, the fourth-place finisher in District 8, would probably go to D-7 winner Pella. Benton Community from D-6 would go to D-3 champ West Delaware, and the other central Iowa teams would be sorted amongst themselves.

Until ... the other results from Friday. Dallas Center-Grimes, which appeared to be heading for a 6-0 district championship in D-8, lost to Glenwood. This resulted in a three-way tie for the district at 5-1, and when it was all sorted out, Harlan got the crown. This meant the only possible matchup to fit the state's travel restrictions was Creston vs. Harlan, in a district rematch. That took Creston off the table for Pella, and the dominoes resulted in Fairfield being sent to Pella ... and now the only logical opponent for Xavier was Waverly-Shell Rock.

The Go Hawks finished fourth, true - but they still were 6-3 on the year. Their only three losses were to the teams that finished above them in District 3; in addition to a 22-point loss to unbeaten West Delaware, W-SR lost to Independence by just 7 points and Decorah by only 3. The Go Hawks also beat two 4A teams this year in Mason City and Waterloo West. They rode their defense mostly, giving up only 13 points and about 70 yards passing per game - take out the West Delaware loss and those numbers drop to 9 points and 58 yards passing. They have three backs with over 200 yards rushing, and quarterback Tanner Krueger has thrown for over 1100 yards.

Not to mention, field conditions are going to be a big factor tonight. Cedar Rapids has received over an inch and a half of rain over the past 36 hours - luckily, Saints Field hasn't been used for at least a week, so it's not torn up. While it drains well (it does have that crown, you know) that much rain is going to mean muddy, slippery conditions. Then add the wind - winds of around 30 miles an hour are expected this evening. Couple a wet, slick ball with high winds, and the kicking/passing games are going to be affected.

Just looking at the numbers and the overall performance this year, you have to expect Xavier should win and move on to the second round. You can't forget the possibility of an upset, though - Kennedy managed to knock off favored Xavier at Saints Field in the first round in 2010, I believe it was, when field conditions played a similar role. The Saints have to hope their size and confidence will add to the talent they display to overcome any drawbacks during the evening.

Up next; Playoff results and musings about the upcoming rounds.

One Final Thought About The Playoffs

The home stretch is here. Washington plays at Davenport Assumption tonight (Thursday) in a game that will decide the champion of District 5. Plenty of games tomorrow will help sort out the top four in districts across the state, and the eggheads in Boone will work late into the night setting up the first round of playoffs set to go next Wednesday.

So, of course, I decided to waste a lot of time and brainpower on thinking through how things might play out. If I was really good at this, I'd live in Vegas and wear about a dozen rings and a shirt open to my belt and hang out with showgirls and Sinatra impersonators. Yeah, I'd be a successful gambler, is what I'm saying.

Anyhoo - here's the dillyo for Class 3A leading into the final week of the season:

THE QUALIFIERS
Teams listed in bold are locked into the listed finish in their district. Teams in italics need help to get in. We actually already know 29 of the 32 playoff teams; there are seven teams fighting over the last three spots.

DISTRICT 1

1. Sergeant Bluff-Luton
2. Sioux City Heelan
3. Boyden-Hull/Rock Valley or Spencer
4. Spencer or Boyden-Hull/Rock Valley

Spencer has a shot to get third, if they beat Sergeant Bluff-Luton and BHRV loses to Denison-Schleswig. Probably not gonna happen.

DISTRICT 2

1. Webster City
2. Carroll
3. Algona, Greene County, Humboldt or Boone
4. Humboldt, Greene County, Boone, or Algona

A lot could happen for the final two spots here. Humboldt will most likely beat a woeful Perry team this week, while Greene County probably loses to Carroll and Boone almost certainly loses to Webster City. If that happens, Algona takes third and Humboldt fourth.

DISTRICT 3

1. West Delaware
2. Independence
3. Decorah
4. Waverly-Shell Rock

DISTRICT 4

1. Xavier
2. Maquoketa
3. Solon or Dubuque Wahlert
4. Dubuque Wahlert or Solon

Friday's Solon at Wahlert game is for third place in the district.

DISTRICT 5

1. Davenport Assumption or Washington
2. Washington or Davenport Assumption
3. Clear Creek-Amana or Fairfield
4. Fairfield or Clear Creek-Amana

Tonight's Washington-Assumption game is for first place, while tomorrow's Fairfield-CCA game is for third.

DISTRICT 6

1. Gilbert
2. Ballard 
3. Bondurant-Farrar
4. Benton Community

DISTRICT 7

1. Pella
2. Norwalk
3. Carlisle or Oskaloosa
4. Chariton or Knoxville or Carlisle

Likely wins by Carlisle, Norwalk and Pella would result in Carlisle taking third and Chariton fourth. Carlisle is in regardless. An upset by Oskaloosa over Carlisle puts Osky in play for 3rd; a Knoxville upset of Norwalk gives them a chance at 4th.

DISTRICT 8

1. Dallas Center-Grimes or Harlan or Glenwood
2. Harlan or Glenwood or Dallas Center-Grimes
3. Glenwood or Dallas Center-Grimes
4. Creston

We know the qualifiers, just not the order. Friday's Dallas Center-Grimes vs Glenwood game is big; a win by DCG gives them the title and puts Harlan into second. A Glenwood win, depending on the score, could result in about any outcome, depending on point differential.

Okay, I'm assuming Assumption beats Washington tonight. I think the Knights are a really good team, and this is their year to win the district. In other games that matter, I also predict wins by BHRV, Humboldt (plus Carroll and Webster City), Solon, CCA, Carlisle (and Norwalk), and Dallas Center-Grimes.

Here's my playoff predictions for next Wednesday. Keep in mind it's 4th place finishers at district champions, 3rd place at 2nd place, with a 125-mile travel restriction. If there aren't any other opponents within 125 miles, a team may end up playing someone from their district (again).

4v1

Spencer at Sergeant Bluff-Luton

Waverly-Shell Rock at Webster City

Benton Community at West Delaware

Fairfield at Xavier

Wahlert at Assumption

Humboldt at Gilbert

Creston at Pella

Chariton at Dallas Center-Grimes

3v2

BHRV at Heelan

Glenwood at Carroll

Decorah at Independence

CCA at Maquoketa

Solon at Washington

Algona at Ballard

Bondurant Farrar at Norwalk

Carlisle at Harlan

Now, if Washington beats Assumption tonight, that would mean only minor changes. Wahlert would then go to West Delaware, while Benton would travel to Washington and Solon would go to Assumption.

Should Fairfield beat CCA tomorrow, I think CCA then ends up going to Xavier. That result would shake up the 3v2 matchups, though, and I haven't felt up to digging that deep into there.

We shall see. With 29 teams already assured (and all the home teams except for District 8 set), there's not a whole lot of wiggle room with who can go where - but the state can still surprise me.

Well, That Was Something

Do you remember the Cardiac Kids of Xavier? The guys who needed four turnovers - two in the end zone - to hold on to a 7-point win over Davenport Assumption? The ones who came back from a two-touchdown deficit in the 4th quarter to take the lead over Solon, then sealed it with another interception inside the ten? Those guys?

Turned out they aren't gone. They just took a month off.

The Saints stormed back from a 35-7 halftime deficit to score 31 unanswered points - the final 3 on a Dallas Klein field goal as time expired - as Xavier knocked off defending 1A state champion and undefeated Iowa City Regina last Friday. This after four straight games of taking big leads by halftime and coasting to continuous-clock victories in District 4. That's partly why I didn't file a blog for the Dubuque Wahlert game two weeks ago; it was a near carbon copy of the games against Central DeWitt, Maquoketa and Western Dubuque.

(Does anybody even know what a carbon copy is any more? Is it going to just live on as a saying? If so, when will people not really know what it's supposed to mean?)

The Regals and Saints traded touchdowns on their first possessions, but after that, it was all Regina. Nick Phillips was unstoppable, dashing through the Saints for over 200 yards and 3 TDs in the first half. Phillips zipped through small cracks in the offensive line time after time, finding himself 12 yards downfield before the Saints seemed to react. Nathan Stenger was also proving extremely difficult to tackle, as he added a couple of scores on the ground himself. Meanwhile, the Saints were having trouble getting any offense going, as the Regina defense was very quick to react to Xavier's trusty counter plays, and Bryce Schulte (unlike his huge passing day against Regina last year) was misfiring on his throws.

The one bright spot, if there was any, was the fact that Stenger was having difficulty finding his receivers as well. He completed just one pass in the first half. Another event that loomed much larger about an hour after it happened was Emilio Tover's first field goal miss of the year. Tover had kicked 47 extra points and 5 field goals in the previous 7 games for Regina, only missing one extra point and with a long field goal of 39 yards. As the first half drew to a close, the Saints finally held the Regals out of the end zone (for the first time all game), forcing a field goal try from the 8 yard line. Tover, a left-footed kicker kicking from the right hash, actually missed the 25-yarder wide right. At the time, this seemed only to make the difference between 35-7 and 38-7 at the half - but those three points would be huge at the end of the game.

Xavier took the kickoff to start the second half and settled on a steady diet of Maliki Wilson. The junior running back finished the game with 33 carries (two fewer than the school record) and nearly 150 yards. While the Saints mixed in a few fullback dives and short passes, the Regina defense appeared to start bending. Xavier scored on the opening drive to make it 35-14. Mainly, observers thought, this would help the Saints' morale as they prepared for their final game in another week. Perhaps the defense could make another stand and help the morale on that side of the ball as well.

The defense did stop Regina, after one first down, and Xavier got the ball back. Schulte threw an interception on the next play, but the defense stood up again. Phillips and Stenger were being shut down. Stenger's throws, to open receivers many times, were off-target or dropped. Xavier also turned to the option play, which the Regals seemed unable to defend. The Saints scored again with about a minute left in the third quarter, and now it was just 35-21. That's only two touchdowns. Xavier has been down by two touchdowns in the fourth quarter before; this is familiar ground now.

Regina continued to struggle moving the ball, and the Saints continued to roll up yards on the ground. Schulte scored on an option keeper with about six minutes left; then, after a short punt returned to the Regina 33, he scored on another. With 3:22 to play, the Saints had come all the way back and, incredibly, tied the game.

Now Marv Cook and his men knew it was time to dig deep and find that intestinal fortitude to turn this collapse into a convincing win. Regina had not lost in regulation since the 2009 playoffs. Their only loss of any kind since then was an overtime loss to an inspired Solon team at the beginning of the 2014 season. The Regals were five-time defending state champions, running roughshod over Class 1A with multiple wins over Class 3A competition (including Xavier last year). A tie game in the fourth quarter? We can handle that.

Stenger started putting together a drive. He finally connected on a couple of big pass plays, and those (along with two big 15-yard penalties against Xavier) got the ball nearing field goal range. Still a big outside that, at the Xavier 21 with right about a minute left, Stenger dropped to pass, looking to put this game away with 6 points. He looked to the right, threw down the seam -

And Xavier's Blake Whitten stepped in front of the receiver at the goal line and picked it off. Just like the big interceptions at the end of the Assumption and Solon games, the Saints' defensive backfield came through when they needed it most. Whitten raced down the far sideline, nearly breaking it all the way before being brought down at the Xavier 42.

Still, 58 yards were between the Saints and victory, and less than 60 seconds were on the board. Xavier did still have two time outs, and that was huge. Schulte found Nick Stark along the sideline to pick up 13 yards into Regina territory. As the clock stood at 10 seconds with the ball at the Regal 48, Regina looked for a pass play that would get the Saints into field goal range.

Instead, Coach Schulte called the fullback dive, a quick-popping play that had worked for decent first-down yardage throughout the game. This time it broke big, as Sean Murphy raced down the middle of the field to the Regal 18. Immediately Xavier called time out with 3.3 seconds remaining. In came the field goal unit. Mike Fettkether made the snap, Whitten set the ball on the grass, and Klein booted it right down the middle as the scoreboard read all zeroes. The 35-yard kick was Klein's longest of his career, and just the third of this season (he'd had nine last year).

The Saints had come all the way back, keeping their record perfect at 8-0 and handing Regina a stunning loss.

All of this in a non-district battle that had no impact on postseason play. Yet, a thrilling, exciting, well-played battle between two strong, well-coached programs that was fun to watch and lasted the full 48 minutes.

Speaking of postseason; both these teams are in the state high school playoffs already. Xavier actually clinched the District 4 title the week before with their win over Wahlert; Regina could still end up in a three-way tie for their district, but that would take a loss to a 1A opponent (which actually hasn't happened ever since the Regals dropped to 1A in 2012). Xavier could wrap up an undefeated season with a win at Marion this week (8-0, true, but zero losses is zero losses). They will host a first-round game at Saints Field on Wednesday, October 28. Still some things could happen this week to change qualifiers around the edges, but I think Waverly-Shell Rock is a likely first-round opponent. The Go-Hawks will finish fourth in a tough District 3, and they'll prove to be a pretty darn good fourth-place team. Another possibility, should Fairfield knock off Clear Creek-Amana this week, is the CCA Clippers. That squad is from just down the road, and would prove an intriguing opponent should they match up against Xavier in the first round.

Catching Up

Yes, I know, I know ... it's been over a week since my last Xavier football post. Heck, the Saints play again tonight, and I'm just getting around to telling you about last week's game. Sorry.

I always had the notion (which was bolstered by the opinions of most other folks) that once our kids moved away and we became "empty nesters," we'd have all sorts of extra free time. No more high school sporting events to go to, no more rehearsals or practices, no more trips to show choir contests, or choral concerts, or college visits ... it would just be me and my wife, filling all this extra free time with spa visits and long vacations and languid hangouts on our deck.

So why does it seem like we have less free time now than we had when our children were here and in school? It makes no sense - it's not that we're doing all sorts of activities (heck, I would love to be involved in a theatre production more than once a year, but that's the most I can seem to handle) but work and errands and everyday life just has seemed to expand to take up all the available hours in a day. It's weird. It's not bad, things are great (we did find time to take in the Beatles tribute band The Fab Four last night, which was a lot of fun), but it's just really unexpected. I mean, there are a ton of movies coming out that I really, really want to see - and I don't know when I'm going to squeeze out the time to see them. Maybe "The Martian" on Sunday or Monday evening. Cross your fingers.

Okay, on to the Saints. Once again Xavier went to the big play - one short pass from Bryce Schulte to Blake Whitten turned into a 75-yard touchdown, and a medium-length throw to a wide-open Maliki Wilson resulted in a 61-yard TD - and they rolled over Western Dubuque 35-12. With the win Xavier clinched a berth in the Class 3A playoffs, with the opening round Wednesday October 28.

Western Dubuque had upset the Saints last season, using a well-crafted defensive gameplan to stymie Xavier's offense (the Saints had zero pass completions and their only score came on a fumble recovery). The Bobcats were struggling much more coming into this game, with their only win a 10-point victory over Class 2A Dyersville Beckman. But coach Justin Penner drew up another tough, gutsy defensive game plan that again slowed Xavier's ground game to a crawl in the first half.

The Saints were much more successful through the air, however. Schulte ended up with 4 touchdown passes, giving him 14 through five games (equaling his TD pass total through all 13 games last year) and racked up 206 yards passing. The Saints used field position and the passing game (mostly) to roll to a 28-0 halftime lead, extending it to 35-0 halfway through the third quarter. Xavier was able to pick up 180 yards rushing, eventually, but had to fight for any of those first-half yards. Western Dubuque, meanwhile, had an excellent scoring chance just before halftime, driving inside the 5 thanks to a couple of 15-yard penalties on Xavier, but Dylan Gotto's last-second pass was too high for his receiver in the end zone.

So after the tight 14-7 win over Davenport Assumption and the thrilling 22-19 comeback vs. Solon, the Saints have been on an offensive roll, beating Central DeWitt 42-6 and leading Maquoketa by 42 points and Western Dubuque by 35 before allowing late scores in both those games. Things are looking pretty good as Xavier heads down the home stretch and into the playoffs.

Tonight's game has some newsworthy points: it's homecoming, just as it was last season when Western Dubuque came in and left with an unexpected victory; it's against a former MVC foe in Dubuque Wahlert; and perhaps most newsworthy, if Xavier wins, they wrap up the District 4 title here in Week 7 (only the winner of tonight's Solon-Maquoketa game could catch the Saints, and since Xavier has already beaten both of them, the title would be in the bag). District champions get some real benefits come playoff time - they are guaranteed home games for the first two rounds, and a district champion can't be paired against another district champion until the third round.

As for Wahlert, the Golden Eagles come in with the top rushing game in District 4 at 173.5 yards per game (Xavier is just behind at 167.0), with Mason Flynn, Lyle Klein and Kelan Dickson combining for nearly 900 yards. They also boast the district's second-best passing defense, only allowing 95 yards per game through the air. The reason for that, though, is nobody throws on Wahlert because they're rolling over them on the ground. The Golden Eagles allow nearly 240 yards per game rushing, which is really not good. Even with their good numbers in passing defense, Wahlert has only the 4th-best overall defense in the district. Another big issue has been injuries - Wahlert is down to their fourth quarterback, sophomore Chris Ripley.

Xavier should have an excellent opportunity for a big win tonight, then wrap up their district schedule in two weeks at winless Marion. The way seems clear for 6-0 district record and their second straight District 4 title. Attention among many, of course, will start turning to Iowa City once we reach the fourth quarter tonight, as Xavier travels down I-380 to face defending Class 1A champion and undefeated Iowa City Regina. At the start of last season, minds were contemplating the clash of Xavier and Regina with the Regals' state-record winning streak on the line, but Solon knocked off Regina in the 2014 opener and Western Dubuque's win over Xavier took some luster off that game (it was still quite a game, tied in the fourth quarter with Xavier shutting down the Regals' top back, until he broke free for a long touchdown run and Regina scored twice late for the win). This year, though, it looks very likely both Xavier and Regina will be unbeaten when they face off in their non-district battle next Friday. Should be fun!

First things first, though.

The Big Play Speedburners Strike Again

We all knew coming into the season that Xavier had an abundance of speed. Sean Murphy and Nick Stark, for example, had proved in 2014 that they were hard to catch in the open field. Maliki Wilson had a great year at tailback on the sophomore squad, and he was ready to move up to varsity. Couple that with a pretty smart, experienced junior quarterback in Bryce Schulte, and you figured the Saints were going to be able to move the ball downfield pretty well.

We're four games into the 2015 season. Here's a couple of numbers for you. The Saints have scored 17 touchdowns so far. The average length of scoring plays?

It's 34.6 yards.

That's freakin' unbelievable. Putting up 17 touchdowns in 4 games is good, but not outrageously high scoring ... but averaging nearly 35 yards on each touchdown play? That's ridiculous. It does make you wonder, can Xavier continue to count on the big plays throughout the rest of the season and playoffs, or are we living in a fools' paradise, as they say on the Swiffer commercial?

Let's move on to last Friday night's contest at Maquoketa. Going into the game, we had a matchup between the two teams at the top of Class 3A District 4 - both Xavier and Maquoketa were 2-0 in the district, with Xavier at 3-0 overall and the Cardinals at 3-1. Maquoketa had a rough go of things in 2014, with an extremely young team loaded with sophomores and juniors finding their way. At least in the early going this year, those now-juniors and now-seniors looked to have figured it out. Their only loss was to powerhouse West Delaware, and they were coming off a stirring comeback win over Dubuque Wahlert - after falling behind with 35 seconds left, Jacob Kloft returned the kickoff all the way for the winning touchdown. The Cardinals' resurgent season took a step back, though, with the 42-13 loss to Xavier on Friday.

The tone of the game was set on the second play. The snap went over the head of Maquoketa quarterback Justin Snyder, and the loose ball was recovered by Xavier's Nolan Armstrong at the 16. On the next play, Wilson carried over the right side and into the end zone, and the Saints were up less than a minute into the game.

Let's not forget to praise Xavier's defense in this early season run. Coach Jim O'Connell has his guys playing typical lights-out Xavier defense, flying to the ball and doing a fine job of shutting things down. This game wasn't much different, as the Cardinals managed only 4 first downs in the entire first half (including one by penalty and one on the next-to-last play of the half). After the D stopped Maquoketa on two three-and-outs, the Saints offense shifted into high gear.

Xavier scored on all but one possession of the first half. A 15-yard run by Wilson made it 14-0. Schulte fired a deep pass to Stark as he ran past his defender across midfield, and he pulled away for the 72-yard TD just before the first quarter ended. On the second play of the second quarter, Wilson started on a sweep left. It was plugged up by Maquoketa, so he reversed his field all the way to the right sideline, picking up some blocks (including a nice one from Schulte), then spinning past the final defender for a 65-yard TD run. The next time the Saints had the ball, Schulte threw a high lob over two leaping Maquoketa defenders that fell into the hands of Nolan Butkowski for a 20-yard scoring pass. And to cap off the first half, Wilson's 56-yard run got Xavier rolling, and his 16-yard touchdown made it 42-0. That run put Wilson right around 200 yards rushing with 4 touchdowns ... in the first half. The four scores tied a Xavier school record. For a game, not just a half.

With the continuous clock running and the scout teamers in the game, the second half went by quickly. Maquoketa finally got on the board early in the fourth quarter, taking advantage of a long punt return by Kloft into the red zone, with a 17-yard pass from Snyder to Lincoln Aunan for the score. The Cardinals' woes didn't stop, though. Cam Thede, likely the best kicker in District 4 (he hadn't missed an extra point and was 6 of 7 on field goals, including a 43-yarder), kicked the extra-point try directly into the line of blockers ahead of him. Maquoketa got another touchdown on a pass from Aunan to Andy Ahrens to stop the continuous clock, but there were only 36 seconds left.

A couple of notes about Goodenow Field - I thought it was charming. And I mean all the positive and negative things that can go along with such an adjective. Visitor seating was small, the press box was cramped, parking was catch-as-catch-can, the high school locker rooms were three-quarters of a mile away so the teams had to bus back and forth ... but it was still a neat atmosphere. The field itself was in fantastic shape. Even though there wasn't much for bleachers, a hillside wrapped around the west side of the field, allowing grass seating for the Xavier student section, along with others. The city water tower loomed over the west side, as well, and you could see the middle school building just about a half-block away (obviously that was the original high school building, so the location of the football field made sense at that time). Energetic music played loudly during pregame warmups, making it almost a college-type atmosphere. And the Maquoketa team ran down the northwest hillside, through an archway labeled "Alumni Alley," to take the field as they were introduced. I thought it was a pretty neat, for a small-town environment. Different than what Xavier players and fans are used to back in the 4A days, but this is 3A football. Charming. That's a good description.

With Maquoketa dispatched, it appears Xavier has a pretty good hold at the top of District 4 - although I think I said the same thing last season, when Western Dubuque came to Saints Field and left with a 7-6 victory (a really odd game, though - Schulte did not complete a pass in the rain, Xavier's only touchdown came from the defense, and a bad snap cost them the extra point and the game, it turned out). Western Dubuque is struggling mightily this season, however, and while the Saints can't afford to overlook anybody, it seems this year's Xavier team is capable of handling the Bobcats in Epworth this coming Friday. After that it's Wahlert for homecoming (the Golden Eagles were neck and neck with Maquoketa, then came from behind to defeat Western Dubuque last week), the non-district match with Iowa City Regina, and then a Marion squad that's really, really searching to get anything going. So, again, I said this last year and turned out to be wrong, but at this point it appears Xavier is in the driver's seat for the District 4 title. It also may be shaping up for a possible matchup of 6-0 Xavier against 7-0 Regina in Iowa City on October 16, which would be a huge, huge game here in eastern Iowa. Or is it yooge? Is that how we're saying it these days?

Playoff Thoughts at the Halfway Point

We're just past halfway through the 2015 high school football regular season. With a month of games yet to play, doesn't it seem like a great time to predict everything that's going to happen with 16- and 17-year old high school students playing contests of skill (and luck) in the entire state over the next four games? And then figure on what will happen with playoff matchups? Why, certainly! What could go wrong?

It's a way too early guess at how things might shake out. Only a guess, though ... I'm far too certain of my own fallibility to ever try and gamble at sports. Or much of anything else, really.

But, hey ... let's go! Records are district-only; playoff qualifiers are in bold; ties are broken by my best guess.


DISTRICT 1                                                                
     Sergeant Bluff-Luton                   6-0              
     Bishop Heelan, Sioux City           5-1                          
     Boyden-Hull-Rock Valley            4-2                  
     Spencer                                          3-3                              
     Storm Lake                                     2-4                            
     Le Mars                                          1-5
     Denison-Schleswig                         0-6


DISTRICT 2                                                                      
     Webster City                                6-0                          
     Carroll                                          4-2                          
     Algona                                           4-2                        
     Greene County                             3-3                  
     Boone                                             2-4                    
     Humboldt                                       2-4                        
     Perry                                               0-6                        


DISTRICT 3                                                                      
     West Delaware                             6-0                          
     Independence                               5-1                          
     Crestwood                                     4-2                        
     Decorah                                         3-3                              
     Waverly-Shell Rock                       2-4                          
     Vinton-Shellsburg                          1-5                              
     Charles City                                    0-6                          


DISTRICT 4                                                                        
     Xavier                                            6-0                              
     Solon                                              5-1                                
     Maquoketa                                    4-2                          
     Dubuque Wahlert                         3-3                                
     Western Dubuque                           2-4                                
     Central DeWitt                               1-5                              
     Marion                                            0-6                                


DISTRICT 5
     Davenport Assumption               6-0
     Washington                                  5-1
     Clear Creek-Amana                    4-2
     Keokuk                                          3-3
     Fairfield                                         2-4
     Mt. Pleasant                                   1-5
     Ft. Madison                                    0-6

DISTRICT 6
     Bondurant-Farrar                       6-0
     Gilbert                                           5-1
     Ballard                                          4-2
     Grinnell                                         3-3
     Benton Community                        2-4
     Nevada                                           1-5
     Newton                                           0-6

DISTRICT 7
     Pella                                              6-0
     Norwalk                                        5-1
     Carlisle                                         4-2
     Chariton                                       2-4
     Oskaloosa                                      2-4
     Knoxville                                       2-4
     Saydel                                            0-6

DISTRICT 8

    Glenwood                                       5-1
    Dallas Center-Grimes                   5-1
    Harlan                                            5-1
    Creston                                           3-3
    Winterset                                         2-4
    ADM                                               1-5
     Atlantic                                           0-6

PLAYOFF PAIRINGS

A few things to remember: in the first round, travel is limited to 125 miles. While the state will attempt to avoid rematches, especially within districts, sometimes there just isn't any alternative. The first round is 4th place at 1st place and 3rd place at 2nd place.

In the second round, while the 125-mile limit does not apply, the state will still try to keep travel reasonable and avoid rematches to the extent possible. Also, district champions are not allowed to face each other in the second round. Home teams are determined by highest district finish - ties are broken by alphabetical order, this year.

By the quarterfinals, all bets are off. The state will just try to set pairings that make some geographic sense.

Here we go, along with my wild-eyed shots in the dark at who might win in the first two rounds:

FIRST ROUND

     Greene County at Sergeant Bluff-Luton

     Spencer at Webster City

     Dubuque Wahlert at West Delaware

     Decorah at Xavier

     Keokuk at Davenport Assumption          (district rematch: it's either this, or Decorah goes to West Delaware with Keokuk at Xavier and Wahlert at Assumption. Since D-3 already has to have a rematch in the 2-3 game, I went this way)

    Grinnell at Pella

    Chariton at Bondurant-Farrar

    Creston at Glenwood                               (district rematch: Glenwood is far away from everybody)

    Boyden-Hull-Rock Valley at Sioux City Heelan    (district rematch)

    Carlisle at Carroll

    Crestwood at Independence                    (district rematch: Crestwood is far away, too)

    Clear Creek-Amana at Solon

    Maquoketa at Washington

    Algona at Gilbert

    Harlan at Norwalk                                  (this would be a fantastic first-round matchup)

    Ballard at Dallas Center-Grimes

SECOND ROUND (with my wacky predicted first-round winners)

    Harlan at Sergeant Bluff-Luton

    Carlisle at Webster City

    Washington at West Delaware

    Independence at Xavier

    Solon at Davenport Assumption

    Gilbert at Pella

    Dallas Center-Grimes at Bondurant-Farrar

    Sioux City Heelan at Glenwood

QUARTERFINALS

     Sioux City Heelan at Sergeant Bluff-Luton

     Carlisle at Dallas Center-Grimes

     West Delaware at Davenport Assumption

     Xavier at Pella

That is a standout assortment of quarterfinal games, right there, that is.

And that's what I have for you here, after Week 5 of the 2015 season. More updates will be coming as conditions warrant - and they will! Nothing ever goes to plan, you know.

A Little Rain Never Hurt Nobody

This season has been one of the most bizarre weather-wise I can remember. Going all the way back to my own playing days, in the 1980s (actually early '70s if you include middle school), I can remember just one JV game that was delayed and then canceled. And that was due to sleet, not lightning! We were all excited and ready to play in that stuff, but the grownups told us no.

Anyhow, I can't recall severe weather and lightning having this much impact on a season in, well, forever. I've been attending Xavier games since 2006. I've sat through torrential rain (Iowa City, 2008), bitter cold (Prairie at Xavier, 2006, and at Prairie in 2009, among others) and blistering heat (many times, including at Assumption last year and Assumption at Xavier this year ... what is it with Assumption?). But in all that time, there have been no delays because of lightning until 2013. That particular delay, at Dubuque in Week One, was ridiculous anyway, as the thunderstorm was 30 miles away well into Illinois and moving away. But then, we had another thunderstorm delay at last year's opening game in West Des Moines. That was it. Two delays in nine years, both in August. (There was also a game at Xavier in 2013, I think, that moved the kickoff up to 5:00 to beat a late-night storm system, so we had that, too.)

Here's what's happened in 2015. A long-lived storm system that kept throwing lightning bolts at 15 to 20 minute intervals ended up canceling the season opener (although you can also lay a lot of the blame for cancellation at the grave of the MVC and the feet of district football - in the MVC days, you were going to get all nine of your games in somehow because they all counted for playoff purposes. Not so with non-district games). The next week, as mentioned, one of the hottest days of the year. For the third game, at Solon, conditions were near perfect, nice and cool. Then last Friday. The forecast was for generally heavy rain and possible thunderstorms moving into eastern Iowa by mid-afternoon, and continuing through the evening. Some meteorologists (*cough* KCRG *cough*) said most of the weather would stay south of Interstate 80, but it was seen as a pretty good bet that the weather would be bad Friday afternoon and evening.

That is indeed what happened. In fact, the first of the thunderstorms moved into Cedar Rapids around 2:00, a little ahead of schedule. Naturally, the move by several area schools was to move up the kickoff time, to earlier than 7:15. I could guess that wasn't going to help with the weather already here, but the advantage was if things improved in the late afternoon/early evening, the varsity could get underway maybe a little early and get the game in even with any possible delays during play.

That ended up working well in Cedar Rapids. Game starts at Xavier, Kingston Stadium and Marion got pushed back to nearly 6:00, after some lightning just before 5:00, but those games were completed without additional delays. Iowa City and the Quad Cities area weren't quite so lucky, with games in Iowa City and Pleasant Valley not finishing up until nearly midnight thanks to lightning during the evening hours.

At Saints Field, what both Xavier and Central-DeWitt had to cope with was torrential rain. Sheets of rain. Buckets of rain. It would occasionally let up, and nearly stop, but the torrents always came back. Typically this type of weather favors a running game, and Central-DeWitt's flexbone offense is nothing if not a running attack. Xavier had pretty good success with Maliki Wilson in their first two games (over 100 yards each week), but they hadn't shown many options other than that.

So of course, we ended up with a school record-tying five touchdown passes and over 200 yards through the air by Bryce Schulte as the Saints rolled to a 42-6 win. Naturally. It turned out the Sabers were not only a good rushing team, but also pretty good at shutting down the run, as the Saints struggled to get much offense going early. Xavier scored on their opening drive, with a nice pass from Schulte to a leaping Blake Whitten in the corner of the end zone, but they didn't get another first down until 3:24 was left in the half. The Sabers weren't doing much better against a sturdy Xavier defense, amassing -1 yards of total offense in the first quarter. Central-DeWitt had just three plays that went more than 3 yards in the entire first half, and managed just three first downs (and one of those was a touchdown).

Special teams and turnovers can be backbreakers in bad weather games. The Sabers looked to gain an advantage there midway through the second quarter, when they blocked a Ryan Jasper punt and recovered at the 3. Two plays later quarterback TJ Sikkema drove his way in from the 1 on the QB keeper, but Xavier still led 7-6 after the extra point try snap went through the holder's hands. Schulte and the Xavier offense got things going a possession later. After a great Nick Stark punt return to the Central-DeWitt 27, on the next play Schulte and Stark got together for the touchdown pass, with Stark going down the right sideline and diving for the pylon. Xavier forced a Saber punt, then got rolling from their 23 behind Wilson, who picked up 44 yards on four carries to the Central-DeWitt 33. With about 19 seconds left, Schulte found Stark again for the score, Stark's fifth TD catch of the year, and the Saints had a 21-6 halftime lead.

Even with the miserable conditions, it was clear that the Saber pass defenders were not able to keep up with Xavier's receivers. As long as Schulte could get the wet ball to his target, the passing attack was going to go the Saints' way. And that it did. After both teams traded drives in the third quarter, Xavier started out on their 40 after stopping Central-DeWitt on a 4th and 7. Schulte threw to Sean Murphy in the right flat. Murphy spun his way past the first tackler, then put a move on the second. He motored his way past a third, then picked up some blockers as he raced the rest of the way for the 60-yard touchdown. Schulte still wasn't finished. On the second play of the next possession, he found Whitten on a skinny post down the right seam. Whitten juggled the ball initially, then tucked it away, and found the middle of the field wide open. He turned on the jets, crossing to the left sideline and outrunning Sikkema for an 84-yard touchdown play to put Xavier ahead 35-6 with about a minute left in the third. The fifth TD pass of the game for Schulte tied the school record, held by his brother Reggie, who threw five in a 2012 playoff game against Iowa City High.

That was just about it. Central-DeWitt ran only five plays after that, one a fumble at their 30 that set up another Xavier touchdown (a 19-yard run by Spencer Dempewolf), then Xavier ate up almost the entire fourth quarter with a 12-play drive, all runs, that ended with a turnover on downs at the Saber 9 as the clock ran out.

A solid performance by Xavier, particularly by the defense, who held the Sabers to under 100 yards of total offense and allowed just one pass completion. The running game had problems getting going with Central-DeWitt selling out to stop Wilson, but Schulte's ability to complete 8 out of 10 in terrible conditions was key (he actually completed one of those other two to his intended receiver, but he came down out of bounds). I had thought coming in that this was going to be a rebuilding year for Central-DeWitt, and it kind of looks like that is correct. They do have some good size on the lines, especially on defense, but not a lot of speed.

On to next week at Maquoketa, and hopefully better weather conditions (particularly as the KMRY broadcast team very well might have to be sitting outside at Goodenow Field. That pressbox is tiny). The Cardinals postponed their game to Saturday afternoon because of the weather, and ended up winning a thriller against Dubuque Wahlert. The Golden Eagles scored with 35 seconds left to take a 14-10 lead, but Jacob Kloft returned the kickoff all the way for a touchdown to give Maquoketa the 17-14 win. Xavier and Maquoketa currently sit atop the District 4 standings, both at 2-0 (Xavier is 3-0 overall, Maquoketa 3-1). Just like I didn't think this would be a good year for Central-DeWitt, Maquoketa is fulfilling my expectations of a real bounceback after last year's disaster. Almost everybody who played for the Cardinals in 2014 is back, with experience under their belts and a growing sense of confidence. This game Friday is shaping up to be a nice midseason district battle for the lead.

After next week's games, I'll take an early look at how Class 3A is shaping up statewide. So you can look forward to that! It might even be pumpkin-spiced!

Oh My Gosh and Holy Moly

As Sting said in the timeless classic De Do Do Do De Da Da, words are hard to find. But don't think me unkind if I try to come up with some to describe a terrifically entertaining high school football game between Xavier and Solon last Friday night.

(I could mention Katy Perry here, with last Friday night and all, but I shall resist.)

Going into the game, most observers expected a pretty good battle. Solon has been a longtime powerhouse in eastern Iowa football, winning four straight state championships between 2007 and 2010 while going 54-1 in that period. The Spartans haven't exactly struggled since moving up to Class 3A in 2010, finishing second or better in their district each year and never winning fewer than 8 games. Kevin Miller had won 143 games in 13 years as head coach. That's a ton (Xavier's Duane Schulte had 124 wins with the Saints in his 18th season coming into this game).

Being the two prohibitive District 4 favorites going in, the winner of this matchup was going to take a strong step forward towards the district title. Western Dubuque, who finished third last year while defeating Xavier 7-6, ended up losing to Maquoketa on Friday. Central-DeWitt is 0-3 after dropping their game at Dubuque Wahlert. Marion is also 0-3, losing in the final seconds to Class 2A Cascade. Maquoketa is looking stronger after last year's terrible season, and Wahlert seems to be okay ... but it's hard at this point to identify a solid challenger to either Solon or Xavier. So naturally, the first week of district play puts those two strong programs together.

If you saw Xavier's first contest against Davenport Assumption, you saw a lot of yardage being given up on kickoff returns. That ended up a harbinger of things to come, as Graeson Dall took the opening kick at his own 16 and went pretty much untouched down the field for an 84-yard touchdown return. Right off the bat, the Saints found themselves behind - again, similar to the week before, when Assumption needed only 5 plays to drive the field and score a touchdown. This was just marginally faster.

The Saints responded. Maliki Wilson ripped off a 21-yard run to start off the opening series, and nine plays later Bryce Schulte tossed an 8-yard scoring pass to Nick Stark. It was all tied up with 7:16 to go in the first quarter. Early in the second, after an exchange of possessions, Solon found themselves in an awkward position - 4th and 7 at the Xavier 34. Too far out to try a field goal, too close to count on much of a punt. Coach Miller sent the Spartans out in punt formation anyway, but did you know Solon's punter, Brandan Childs, is also one of their quarterbacks? We knew it up in the booth. I bet the Xavier coaches knew it. The Xavier defense, though, apparently forgot. Childs took the snap and threw downfield to Matt Roeder, who got behind his defender and scored fairly easily to put Solon up 13-7. Childs, however, missed the extra point try.

Through the second quarter we go. Xavier intercepted Blayze Griffis at the 14, but five plays later the Saints fumbled the ball back to Solon at the Spartan 26. Only one first down was to be had by either team after that play, however, and we reached the half still 13-7 Solon.

Wilson opened the second half for Xavier with yet another 21-yard run (he actually averaged 13 yards a carry for the six times he was given the ball to start a possession, which is sort of a weird stat but actually kind of meaningful). The Saints, though, couldn't keep things going and ended up punting to Solon. The Spartans started at their 39, and in the mirror image of the lightning-strike opening kickoff return, ground together a 13-play drive on their first possession of the second half. Solon converted on fourth down twice in this drive, once with a 5-yard pass on 4th and 3, then again with a big diving catch by Nate Christensen for a 24-yard gain on ... 4th and 24. That set up a 3-yard Dall TD run with 3:28 left in the third. Solon's two-point try was no good (Xavier has not allowed a successful two-point attempt since at least 2013), and their lead was 19-7.

Xavier responded by throwing an interception - just Schulte's second since last year's opening game. But one possession later, the Saints found what they needed. Starting at their 15, Xavier put together a 10-play drive, converting three 3rd downs along the way (including one big pass interference call), which was capped by Wilson's tough 12-yard run past and through several Solon tacklers. That made it a five-point game at 19-14. The teams traded possessions - Xavier's defense looking strong, holding Solon to 1 total yard over two series - but the Saints were only able to get one first down.

Then with just about three minutes left to play, Childs' punt was downed at the Xavier 7. Schulte's first-down pass was incomplete. On second down, Schulte quickly threw a backwards pass to the left sideline, where Nolan Butkowski was split wide. Butkowski grabbed the lateral, turned, and heaved the ball downfield to an open Blake Whitten at the Xavier 42. On the next play, Schulte was stopped for no gain. Then, the real "Wow" moment. Schulte dropped back, looked down the middle of the field for Stark. Stark got a step on his man running the post pattern. The ball was lofted perfectly, the Solon defender reaching for it but missing as he fell to the turf, then the ball settled into Stark's hands and he raced the rest of the way for the 58-yard touchdown to put Xavier ahead for the first time.

Coach Schulte wasn't done with his shenanigans. On the two-point try, the snap went directly to Wilson in the wildcat formation. He ran to his left, then handed the ball to Sean Murphy on the reverse. Murphy looked like he wanted to throw, then saw some space near the right pylon and turned on the speed. At the last minute, though, he pulled up and tossed the ball to Schulte in the end zone for the conversion. That put Xavier up by 3, 22-19, with 2:03 left to play.

Now it was Solon's turn to respond. The Spartans had not picked up a first down since their opening drive of the third quarter, picking up a total of 4 positive yards in three offensive possessions. That changed right away. Griffis hit Halston Durr for 12, then again for 6. Xavier was flagged for pass interference. Childs ripped off a fine 13-yard run, then Griffis to Christensen for 3. The ball was at the Xavier 21, there was still just over a minute left to play, and the lead was only three.

Once again, let's hearken back to the week before. Xavier's defense stepped up big in the first quarter (an end-zone interception kept Assumption from going up by two scores early), and in the fourth (an interception at the 5 ended one scoring attempt, and Caleb Billick's fumble recovery sealed the game at the end). For the second game in a row, the Saints defense got the key turnover at the key moment. Griffis went back to pass, facing a ferocious rush by Bryce Charipar. He tossed the ball down the right seam to a receiver inside the 10, but Billick (again!) got to the ball, juggling it before tucking it away for the interception at the 9, causing me to interject "Oh my gosh!" and even a "holy moly!" on the radio airwaves. Xavier only had to run out the final seconds for the win.

This was a real gut check for Xavier, facing a strong, determined Solon squad looking for payback for last year's 28-0 loss. The Saints fell behind early, fought back once, then fell behind by 12 points in the second half. They were able to find their way to two fourth-quarter scores and complete the comeback. Likewise, this has to really hurt for the Spartans. They had Xavier down, they were certainly slowing down the Saint offensive attack, and they had big players making big plays (Dall on the kick return, Childs and Roeder out of punt formation, Griffis and Christensen on 4th and 24). It still didn't end up being enough.

Again, it's very likely these two teams will end up at the top of District 4 come the end of October. I do think Maquoketa is much improved over last year, but I don't know if they can match up with either of these schools. Dubuque Wahlert is doing their thing, but I have similar doubts about that matchup. Of course, eating words is something I have experience with ... at about this time last season, nobody was predicting a Western Dubuque win at Saints Field. All these contests have to be played out on the field, not on paper, and funny bounces can happen. What Xavier and Solon did show, however, was what a game between two highly motivated, competitive, proud, solid programs can look like. And it was a humdinger.

Class 3A Nondistrict Musings

We are through the first two weeks of the 2015 season, and Class 3A has completed the exclusively nondistrict part of the schedule (everybody plays just nondistrict games the first two weeks; from week three on, district play is in effect - although with 7 teams per district, one of those 7 will have a nondistrict game each week). What conclusions can we draw from the first two weeks?

The obvious thing to me is, District 3 looks like a powerhouse. Their teams went 10-4 in nondistrict play, including two wins over 4A teams and a win over last years' 2A champion. Everybody but Decorah, in fact, went 10-2 in that district (Crestwood lost to New Hampton and Vinton-Shellsburg lost to South Tama). It is true a lot of those wins came against 2A competition, but you can't deny two 4A victories and the win over North Fayette Valley as showing some real strength in that district.

Both districts 7 and 8 also went 10-4, but several of those decisions were against each other (Dallas Center-Grimes played Pella and Carlisle, Winterset played Oskaloosa and Norwalk, Creston played Norwalk). So that makes it tougher to judge, I think. Pella, in District 7, is the odds-on favorite to repeat as state champion, but they did lose one of their key players to an ACL injury. That probably won't be enough to slow them down much. In District 8, Harlan (after a down year last year) is 2-0 and has given up only 7 points in two games, both against other 3A teams.

A couple of the poorest-performing districts are in eastern Iowa. District 5 has only 3 nondistrict victories, while District 4 only has 4. The two districts combined went 1-5 against 4A teams, and only 3-7 versus 2A competition. In District 5, Fort Madison did defeat a 4A Burlington ... but they also lost to a 1A team in West Burlington Notre Dame. Clear Creek-Amana, near the top of the district last year, lost to two 2A opponents. In District 4, Maquoketa rang up 53 points on 2A Cascade, but then gave up 45 to West Delaware. Central-DeWitt, who just missed the playoffs last year, has been outscored 81-24 in two games. Western Dubuque had to rally late to come back and defeat 2A Dyersville Beckman, after getting steamrolled by West Delaware in week one.

So, I just thought this was interesting, to take a quick look at how 3A did in the nondistrict. None of these results matter for playoff consideration or anything like that ... district games are going to be the key from here on out. We'll see if teams change their outlook now that they play their district foes.

The Night Was Moist

"Sultry! The night was sultry!"

All apologies to Throw Momma From The Train, but that description just so aptly fits the midsummer night conditions at Saints Field Friday, as the Saints finally got the season going and got in the win column with a 14-7 decision over Davenport Assumption.

I suppose it's just not a Xavier-Assumption matchup without oppressive weather. Last year in Davenport, on a Thursday night, the teams played on one of the hottest days of the year (then a cold front came through overnight and all the Friday night games featured fans/coaches wearing jackets ... I was so jealous). This year, same thing, one of the hottest days of the year. Plus, Xavier was likely going to be pretty rusty, since they hadn't gotten to play their opener. Assumption had rallied for three scores late in their first game against Bettendorf to lose by just 7, so they were on an upward trend.

Both of those topics held true at the kickoff. Elijah Williams ran the opening kick back 46 yards across midfield, and Joe Argo sliced and diced his way straight through the Saints defense. Argo scored on an 8-yard run that looked really easy, and the Knights led Xavier 7-0 just five plays in. On the second offensive play for Xavier, the Saints fumbled the ball away at their own 21, but Argo's pass was intercepted by Blake Whitten on the very next play to give the ball back to Xavier.

Note that. Turnovers are probably one of the big takeaways (get it?) from this game for the Saints. Assumption had multiple scoring threats both early and late in this game, and the Saints defense was able to force a key turnover four times. Whitten's pick was the first. The second (and one of the biggest) came on the Knight's next possession. Assumption started at their 17 after a punt, then ran the ball right at and around the Saints all the way to the Xavier 15. Finally the Saints defense made a couple of stops, forcing a 3rd and long. Argo looked to his favorite receiver, 6 foot 3 Will Ontiveros, down the right sideline in the end zone. It appeared to be an obvious score, but Nick Stark caught up to the ball and made a fantastic interception in the end zone to prevent the touchdown.

Now the Xavier offense woke up. Maliki Wilson dashed for 10 and the Saints' first first-down. Bryce Schulte threw to Wilson for 23 yards, getting the ball into Knight territory. And then Stark again, getting behind his defender with his speed, Schulte able to get the pass to him for the 47-yard TD strike. It was all tied up at 7 with 2:11 to go in the first quarter.

Then things got bogged down in the humidity. Xavier got a couple of first downs in the second quarter, but also lost the ball on a dopey fumble (Saint players didn't seem to realize the ball was on the ground, and Assumption lineman Daniel Tjaden picked it up ran it 36 yards to the Xavier 43). Assumption also got a couple of first downs, but was stopped on 4th and 1 at the 15 following that fumble return.

The second half started with a tremendous 52-yard return by Sean Murphy, but the Saints couldn't make anything out of that. Xavier, in fact, couldn't make a first down at all in the third quarter (you can thank false start penalties for a lot of that - the Saints ended up with 10 penalties on the night), while Assumption wasn't much better.

A spark appeared early in the fourth. Starting at their 25, Wilson ripped off a 10-yard run on the first play of the drive. Two plays after that, Schulte stood behind excellent protection and found Whitten wide open in the middle of the field at the Assumption 41. Wilson had another 15-yard carry to get close to the red zone. Then the Saints came out in an unusual formation - nobody split wide, an extra blocker on the left end of the line (so, four guys left of the center, three right - eight big blockers all packed together in front of the standard I formation). Wilson got the give over the left side, and jumped in frustration as Xavier was whistled for yet another false start penalty.

So they lined up and did the exact same play again. This time Wilson charged over the left side for 17, down to the 10. On the next play, same look, only Wilson took it over the right side for the 10-yard touchdown run. Xavier got their first lead of the season, 14-7, with 6:42 left in the game.

Now the Saints defense was asked to hang on. The Knights did not make it easy. After another great kickoff return by Williams, out to the Assumption 46, Argo ran and passed his way downfield. A clutch 3rd and 9 completion to Caleb Wachal got the Knights to Xavier's 14. On third down - remember the key turnovers I mentioned earlier? - Argo faked a run and tried a Tim Tebow jump pass. Nobody saw the intended receiver, but Whitten was there again, diving to the turf to intercept the ball at the 5 yard line.

It still wasn't quite over. Xavier was able to get only one first down after that, and Assumption used their time outs to force a punt with just over a minute left, regaining the ball right at the 50. On the third play, two Knight running backs criss-crossed in front of Argo to hide who was actually getting the ball. The answer was no one, as the handoff was muffed and the football fumbled to the ground. Caleb Billick fell on it for Xavier, and the game was finally in hand.

So a rough start for Xavier, with obvious fits and starts for a team getting its feet under it a week late. Wilson was fantastic, carrying the ball for 135 yards and a touchdown, while Schulte looked good completing 9 of 14 passes for 119 yards and a score. The Saint defense was a little shaky, giving up 132 yards rushing to Argo and 214 yards on the ground overall, but they were able to force three important turnovers inside their own 21 to turn away scoring threats.

Next week district play gets started, and the Saints travel to Solon to take on an impressive Spartan team. Solon lost a tough one to Iowa City Regina to start the year, then overcame a slow start to defeat Mount Vernon 35-14 this week. Solon is itching to get Xavier back for their shutout loss last year, and the Saints are going to need to get some improvement fast to counter the Spartans and get on top in District 4. Should be a real good one.

Initial District 4 Thoughts

Just some quick thoughts after the initial week of District 4 results. I have to say, it was fortunate college football hadn't started yet, what with all the Saturday high school games finished/made up because of Friday's wacky weather.

* Still can't say anything about Xavier, since we haven't seen them on the field against any competition. I think they're going to be pretty good this year, but the jury is still out (heck, the jury hasn't heard any evidence yet). Both the freshmen and sophomore teams beat Dowling, so they've got that going for them, which is nice.
This week: The Saints face Davenport Assumption, who lost to Bettendorf 35-28. If the Knights stay healthier than they did in 2014, they should be challenging for the District 5 title.

* Solon lost to Regina 21-13. Not a bad loss by any means, against a 1A powerhouse (and longtime Solon rival) that's lost just one game in, what, five years? The somewhat surprising thing here was how sloppy this game was. Both teams turned the ball over with abandon, which you wouldn't expect. Although, not only the first game out of the box, but they were also just a minute from kicking off Friday before the lightning forced them to postpone until Saturday. So it was weird for all concerned. Solon is going to be all right. They're good.
This week: Solon takes on Mt. Vernon, who beat Marion by three touchdowns.

* Western Dubuque got pounded by West Delaware 50-12. West Delaware is a really, really good football team, with a lot of talent back from last year's quarterfinal squad, so it's not surprising they won. But scoring 50 points and just obliterating the Bobcats, that's a little surprising. I think Western Dubuque lost a lot of good players from last year's team that beat Xavier, so they may not be quite up to their performance from 2014.
This week: The Bobcats are at 2A Dyersville Beckman, who won their opener.

* Dubuque Wahlert lost to Dubuque Senior 21-6. Senior is expected to do well in Class 4A this year, and people think Wahlert might be improved, too. I'm not sure I'm sold on Wahlert getting a lot better (they have to install both a new quarterback and new running backs from last year), but it's hard to tell from one game against a 4A opponent. Seems like they did okay, although I'm sure the Golden Eagles were hoping for better.
This week: Wahlert faces another metro 4A squad in Dubuque Hempstead, who were upset by Muscatine.

* Central-DeWitt was pasted by Clinton 40-10. This was a game the Sabers won last year, which got a lot of people's attention, beating a 4A school. Not so this year. I don't know what Clinton's prospects are in 4A, but I was wondering about Central-DeWitt's year with all the good players that graduated last spring. I guess a loss isn't terribly surprising, but a 30-point loss is kind of concerning.
This week: The Sabers host Benton Community, who dropped a 14-13 decision to Vinton-Shellsburg (interesting point here: Benton Community will travel through Cedar Rapids, past Xavier, to play at DeWitt in a nondistrict game. Why isn't Benton playing Xavier? They're only 14 miles apart, for crying out loud).

* Maquoketa got their season off to a great start with a 53-0 shutout of Cascade. Cascade is a 2A school, so there's that, but running up 50-plus points on anybody is impressive. As I've said several times, the Cardinals have a lot of guys back from last year. If that experience can couple with improved performance, Maquoketa might have a shot at making the playoffs once again.
This week: Maquoketa gets a much tougher test traveling to West Delaware, in a matchup of teams that both put up 50 points in Week 1. I think WD is going to be far better than Cascade was, though.

* Marion lost their opener to Mt. Vernon 37-14. This is troubling in a couple of aspects: Mt. Vernon is a 2A squad; and this was the only game Marion won last season. Dropping this one in 2015 is not a sign of good things to come for the Indians.
This week: Marion takes on Washington (Iowa) (not [Cedar Rapids] Washington). While they lost to state champion Pella last week, the Demons have playoff wins the past couple of seasons. Marion will have their hands full.

Friday Night Lightning

Well, I guess I know now what areas of western Iowa have gone through over the past couple of Augusts. We've had weather/lightning delays with Xavier football before - heck, we've had them the past two seasons in the opening game - but we've never had a complete cancellation like we had this past Friday night.

The forecast was for pretty widespread rain and scattered thunderstorms, although 1) the NWS seemed to indicate the conditions weren't all that great for thunderstorms and 2) the local meteorologists were saying Friday morning that most of the rain/action would be north of Cedar Rapids, along Highway 20, and that things would be letting up by evening.

Wrong, wrong, wrong. While we had steady, light rain most of the day, it had stopped by mid-afternoon and the sky actually looked pretty good. Right about 5:00, though, the skies got really dark and the rain started. And then it got heavy. Then it let up for a while, but got heavy again. Then it really poured. No lightning, though, so the sophomore game played on.

Then, with just under 10 minutes to go in the sophomore game (right around 6:30, I think), a bolt of lightning. The game was stopped, the stadium was cleared, and we settled in to wait out the required 30-minute delay. Which was extended when another lightning bolt was seen about 20 minutes later. And extended again for more lightning 15 minutes after that. Repeat ad infinitum ... just occasional lightning (and basically torrents of rain - north of Highway 20, riiiiiiiiight) spaced far enough apart to keep officials from getting things started up again.

So, Xavier and Dowling never got going, and will never get going. In one of the side effects of district play, you have a situation where you had a non-district game, with opponents from different parts of the state and long travel times, facing a potential rescheduling requiring long travel again within the next couple of days (since the next 8 weeks are already taken up with other games). Even though the state athletic association says suspended/postponed games must be completed, the only penalty for not doing so is losing out on points for playoff qualification. Hey, guess what? We don't use points for playoff qualification anymore. All that matters is district records and district finish, and since this was a non-district game with zero district implications .... canceled. Xavier and Dowling are going to have only 8 games this season.

It's unfortunate for everybody - the players lose a chance to get their season started and play some football, the coaches lose a chance to evaluate where they stand and how the guys are performing, and the fans lose out on watching what could have been a pretty darn good game. But, there was absolutely no way a game was getting played in Cedar Rapids on Friday night. There was still occasional lightning after 10 pm, which means even if they had been able to start the game by then, it would have been stopped. Now you're pushing the end the game past midnight, with one team and fan contingent still looking at a 2-hour drive back to Des Moines.

So, phooey on the start of the 2015 season. Pretty much all the other games around eastern Iowa either never started or got stopped during play, and will be completed on Saturday. But Xavier and Dowling just have an empty space where this game result would be. (Or a Blank Space if you're a Taylor Swift fan, I suppose.)

Onward to next week, and Davenport Assumption coming to Saints Field. The Knights are expected to be very good this year, among the favorites in District 5. They dropped their first game to 4A power Bettendorf on Friday 35-28, although Assumption's final TD came with only seconds left to play. Still, Assumption brings back a lot of talent from 2014, when they were hit hard by injuries, and it should be a good test of both the Knights and the Saints this coming Friday.