Yes, I know. It's Thursday. Almost an entire week since Xavier got to 4-0 with a 35-7 win over district opponent Charles City. What can I say? This week got away from me. What with buying a new (well, new to us, anyway) car on Tuesday after test driving it on Monday, and setting up two interviews on Wednesday and Thursday, and then actually, you know, going to work every day ... there's only so much time.
Anyhoo, here we are. The Saints rolled up nearly 400 yards of offense and sacked Comet QB Drew Mitchell five times as they rolled over Charles City. Once again, Xavier got off to a hot start, scoring touchdowns on their first three possessions to take a 20-0 lead after one quarter. Maliki Wilson picked up his 9th rushing TD of the year on a 43-yard run, while Bryce Schulte had scoring passes to Brett Burns and Nolan Butkowski, while the offense pretty much moved the ball at will. The Saints have outscored opponents 62-6 in the first quarter this year, giving up their only points to Iowa City Regina in the opening game.
Xavier picked up another score in the 2nd quarter, when Schulte threw to his wide-open brother Quinn for a 36-yard TD. The Saints then put together a 12-play, 73-yard drive on their first possession of the second half, going up 35-0 on Schulte's 4th TD pass of the game and starting the continuous clock. By this point Xavier's drives had ended TD-TD-TD-punt-TD-kneeldown-TD. Charles City's drives? Punt-punt-punt-punt-punt-turnover on downs, and then two plays after falling behind 35-0 they fumbled. It's tough to come back from 35 down on anybody, but it's really tough against a team like Xavier that was hitting on all cylinders.
Now, the Comets did get some things going. Mitchell was the most prolific quarterback in District 3 coming in - in fact, Charles City had attempted the 4th most passes in the state in Class 3A. The ground game went nowhere, thanks to the Saints' prowling linebackers, but Mitchell ended up throwing for 172 yards, and a 3rd quarter TD that turned off the continuous clock. That came against Xavier's scout team, but it was still a great deep pass down the right sideline to Jaden Foster, who took it the rest of the way for an 83-yard score. With 1:40 left in the 3rd, it was 35-7.
Not much happened in the remaining 13:40, though. Xavier got two first downs on their next three possessions, while Charles City got just one the rest of the game.
This week, it's a trip to Decorah for the Saints. Decorah beat Xavier soundly last November in the second round of the playoffs, right on Xavier's home field. I can't say "revenge" is really something the Saints team thinks about, but there's no doubt they haven't forgotten that game. The Vikings were expected to be one of the top District 3 contenders, but over the first four games they've only really proven they can't put teams away. After losing to a very good 2A squad in North Fayette Valley, Decorah trailed late against Crestwood before putting up a late touchdown to win 13-12. They did pretty much the same thing the next week against Vinton-Shellsburg, giving up a late score to trail 6-0 but then coming back to score in the last minute to win 7-6. Last week the Vikings had a fourth-quarter lead on Benton, but the lead changed hands a few times in the last 12 minutes before going to overtime. Benton intercepted a Decorah pass to end that possession, then kicked a field goal to beat the Vikings in OT.
Decorah really isn't standing out in anything so far, they just seem ... mediocre. Offensively they rank around 6th in the district, defensively they're 5th against the run, against the pass, and overall. Their defense is salty, and they have some really large folks on their lines, which is just what you expect out of a Decorah team. Xavier, meanwhile, has one of the most potent rushing offenses in the state, with a capable yet not flashy passing game. Defensively, the Saints rank 6th in the district overall and against the pass, but have moved up to the 2nd stingiest defense on the ground.
It's a long trip, and that can have an effect, but as we say - it's a much nicer bus trip home when you win. After this Decorah game, the Saints host Independence for homecoming; Independence finally scored their first touchdown of the season last week, but are a rather low-energy 0-4. The big game shaping up is October 7, when Xavier goes to Waverly-Shell Rock. That looks like it could be the deciding game for the district title, depending on how WSR-Decorah plays out next week.
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