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!
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