The 2018 football season kicked off Friday night, or should we say, late Friday afternoon. With the weather forecasters trumpeting fears of violent weather coming in the early evening hours, schools across eastern Iowa panicked and moved their varsity contests to an earlier time, either canceling or postponing the sophomore/freshman/JV games. For Iowa City Regina vs Xavier, the AD at Regina decided to move kickoff all the way up to 5:00 pm (the originally scheduled freshman game start time) and simply canceled the freshman game altogether.
(At least in Cedar Rapids, the predicted bad weather - torrential rain and plenty of lightning - did indeed roll through Friday night. Closer to 11:00 Friday night, but okay ...)
Anyway, yes, I'm kind of whining about the weather screwing with schedules (not to mention the freshmen getting a game taken away from them), but once the game kicked off - my goodness, it looks like Xavier is picking up right where they left off after winning last year's Class 3A state title. The Saints romped all over the Regals, scoring on their first five possessions and adding a punt-block safety as well, ending with a 44-7 victory.
Quinn Schulte was terrific at quarterback for Xavier. He ran for the first two scores, then threw four TD passes after that to account for all six of the Saints touchdowns. I had him with 67 yards on the ground and 9 of 14 passing for 177 yards, in just over a half of football. Braden Stovie had a couple of exciting runs from the tailback position, with about 63 yards and a TD catch. Kyle Moeder brought some thrills, too, catching a pair of scoring passes (56 and 39 yards) where he simply outran the Regal defenders to the end zone.
And the Saints defense was all it had been cracked up to be. While Regina QB Ashton Cook came out throwing and moved the ball well on the first series of the game, Xavier adjusted to the nonstop passing attack and started putting some pressure on the Regal sophomore. Kyle Krezek ended up with a couple of sacks on the night, and Bryson Bastian picked off an overthrow on the first possession that set up the Saints for their opening score. Ethan Hurkett, Tanner Wright, and Jon Bell were actively harrassing Regal ballcarriers all evening, with Bell getting a block of Regina's first punt attempt that resulted in a safety.
Regina has a pretty decent team: Cook is a good quarterback, and is going to grow quite a bit over the next three seasons; Alec Wick, Patrick Clark, and Scott Arndt are tall, accomplished receivers; and they've got some decent size on the lines. The Regals were able to make three sustained drives against the Saints defense (admittedly, the final 11-play, 84-yard scoring drive was against Xavier's scout defense). However, they only crossed midfield three times - once on their opening drive (with Bastian's interception coming on the next play), again on the last play of the first half (already trailing 37-0) and finally in the fourth quarter on their scoring drive.
Let's give some credit to the Xavier scout team, by the way. The offense ended the game with an 11-play, 70-yard drive, with the clock running out as the Saints were on the 2 (again, admittedly, the Regina scout team was in on defense). Patrick Chambers, Christian Klein, and Tyler DuPont picked up good yards on the ground. And Xavier's scout defense forced the Regina first-team offense to use 8 minutes of game time and 11 plays to drive for their score, aided by a couple of pass interference calls (one justified, one I really don't know about, as the ball was about 12 feet over the receiver's head).
Anyway, a solid, dominating performance by Xavier to open the season. It made four straight victories over Regina in five years (in fact, Regina's victory in 2014 was the last time Xavier had lost a regular-season game) and 28 consecutive regular-season wins. Next week Decorah comes to Saints Field, bringing a Viking team that dropped the top-rated Class 2A team, Waukon.
Saturday, August 25, 2018
Tuesday, August 14, 2018
Wrapping Up The Year
The last three games of Xavier's regular season feature a recent 4A playoff team (which is also the only 3A team that's ever handed Xavier a regular season defeat), a team that just moved up to 3A two years ago that has never faced Xavier, and a rising metro squad that's just missed the playoffs the last two years.
Western Dubuque returns to 3A after two seasons as a 4A school; in fact, if the state had left 4A with 48 members instead of cutting that class to 42, they'd probably still be there. It's not like they struggled with the big schools, with winning records both seasons and even a district title and playoff berth in 2016. But Xavier fans probably still associate the Bobcats with one specific game, the 2014 homecoming contest at Saints Field, Xavier's first year in 3A - the weird, rainy game where Bryce Schulte didn't complete a single pass and somehow Western Dubuque came away with a 7-6 win. To this day that remains the only regular season defeat by a 3A school that Xavier has ever suffered (they also have losses to 1A Regina and playoff losses to Pella and Decorah, but still ...).
Now Western Dubuque moves back to 3A and back into Xavier's district. The Bobcats have a solid 21-15 regular season mark over the past four years (.583) with playoff appearances in 2014 and 2016. Coach Justin Penner took over as head coach in 2014 after five years at Carroll Kuemper and four seasons at Mason City - and he'll have a bit of a rebuilding job on offense this year.
Drake George will be back as the team's leading receiver (57 catches and 12 TDs last year), but there's not a lot of other statistical returnees. Sam Goodman was 3 for 9 passing; Ben DeSollar ran for 152 yards and Ben Bryant added 89 more; other returning players caught only three more passes.
On defense things look more experienced. Three of the top four tacklers are back, led by Jason Simon-Rassler (59.5 tackles, 3 sacks), DeSollar and Zack Butcher. Butcher also led the team with three interceptions and was the punter last year, averaging over 31 yards a kick.
Xavier is 1-1 against the Bobcats, with a 35-12 win in Epworth in 2015 evening the mark after that one-point loss the year before.
A new opponent for the Saints, Center Point-Urbana is a longtime 2A program that got moved up to 3A in 2016 - but even though they're just a few minutes apart on I-380, the two schools were put in different districts (don't get me started on how the IHSAA draws their district lines). CPU has been, well, let's say mediocre in recent seasons: after a 6-3 record and a playoff game in 2014, they haven't won more than 4 games in a season since, going 16-20 over the past four years (.444).
The Stormin' Pointers do bring back some experience from last year's 4-5 squad, led by quarterback Caleb Andrews, who passed for 999 yards and ran for 85 more. Alex Wade led the team in rushing as a sophomore, with 506 yards, and Devin Smith ran for 122. Maverick Gatrost (there's a guy for the All-Name team) was the top receiver with 22 catches, while Wade had 17.
Three of last year's top six tacklers return, with Brandon Moore, Max Chesmore, and Gatrost combining for 133 tackles (Gatrost had four sacks). Two of last year's juniors have kicking experience - Logan Peterson was 10 for 13 on extra points, while Tristan Miller was 4 out of 5. Gatrost was last year's punter, averaging nearly 34 yards per kick.
Xavier has never faced CPU on the football field, and while it will be a short trip up the interstate in mid-October, it will be a fresh experience all around.
Marion is a team on the move, and the move is up. The Indians went 1-17 in 2014-15, leaving longtime coach Tony Perkins (at 104-59) one game short of the school coaching record held by Les Hipple. Perkins retired after 2015, with Tim Lovell taking over. Lovell led the team to a 5-4 record in 2016 and then just missed the playoffs with a 6-3 mark last year (making Marion 12-24 over the past four seasons, or .333).
Marion has a real star coming back this year in Trevor Paulsen. Paulsen threw for 1448 yards and 19 TDs last year. He also rushed for 322 yards and 6 more scores, and was the team's punter. While leading rusher Chris Mohwinkle has graduated, JuCorey Higgins and Patrick Bleadorn return with their combined 573 yards rushing (along with Paulsen) providing some oomph in the ground game. The Indians do lose 82 receptions to graduation, with four returning players having a total of 18 catches between them.
Some solid players are back on the defensive side, including Nicholas Cole and Nate Miller (who had four sacks each) along with Dalton Cannon, Connor Whalen, and Higgins. Carson Gorton got a bit of time kicking extra points as a sophomore last season, making 9 of 13.
Xavier easily handled Marion in 2014-15, with wins of 37-6 and 55-0, but those were very different Marion football teams than what we've seen the past two years. I expect Coach Lovell will have his team ready to fight on their home field to close out the season, and it's quite possible that there might be a playoff spot on the line for the Indians as well.
WESTERN DUBUQUE BOBCATS
Friday, October 5
at Saints Field, Xavier High School, Cedar Rapids
Broadcast on KMRY AM/FM (LIVE)
Western Dubuque returns to 3A after two seasons as a 4A school; in fact, if the state had left 4A with 48 members instead of cutting that class to 42, they'd probably still be there. It's not like they struggled with the big schools, with winning records both seasons and even a district title and playoff berth in 2016. But Xavier fans probably still associate the Bobcats with one specific game, the 2014 homecoming contest at Saints Field, Xavier's first year in 3A - the weird, rainy game where Bryce Schulte didn't complete a single pass and somehow Western Dubuque came away with a 7-6 win. To this day that remains the only regular season defeat by a 3A school that Xavier has ever suffered (they also have losses to 1A Regina and playoff losses to Pella and Decorah, but still ...).
Now Western Dubuque moves back to 3A and back into Xavier's district. The Bobcats have a solid 21-15 regular season mark over the past four years (.583) with playoff appearances in 2014 and 2016. Coach Justin Penner took over as head coach in 2014 after five years at Carroll Kuemper and four seasons at Mason City - and he'll have a bit of a rebuilding job on offense this year.
Drake George will be back as the team's leading receiver (57 catches and 12 TDs last year), but there's not a lot of other statistical returnees. Sam Goodman was 3 for 9 passing; Ben DeSollar ran for 152 yards and Ben Bryant added 89 more; other returning players caught only three more passes.
On defense things look more experienced. Three of the top four tacklers are back, led by Jason Simon-Rassler (59.5 tackles, 3 sacks), DeSollar and Zack Butcher. Butcher also led the team with three interceptions and was the punter last year, averaging over 31 yards a kick.
Xavier is 1-1 against the Bobcats, with a 35-12 win in Epworth in 2015 evening the mark after that one-point loss the year before.
CENTER POINT-URBANA STORMIN' POINTERS
Friday, October 12
at Center Point
Broadcast on KMRY AM/FM (LIVE)
A new opponent for the Saints, Center Point-Urbana is a longtime 2A program that got moved up to 3A in 2016 - but even though they're just a few minutes apart on I-380, the two schools were put in different districts (don't get me started on how the IHSAA draws their district lines). CPU has been, well, let's say mediocre in recent seasons: after a 6-3 record and a playoff game in 2014, they haven't won more than 4 games in a season since, going 16-20 over the past four years (.444).
The Stormin' Pointers do bring back some experience from last year's 4-5 squad, led by quarterback Caleb Andrews, who passed for 999 yards and ran for 85 more. Alex Wade led the team in rushing as a sophomore, with 506 yards, and Devin Smith ran for 122. Maverick Gatrost (there's a guy for the All-Name team) was the top receiver with 22 catches, while Wade had 17.
Three of last year's top six tacklers return, with Brandon Moore, Max Chesmore, and Gatrost combining for 133 tackles (Gatrost had four sacks). Two of last year's juniors have kicking experience - Logan Peterson was 10 for 13 on extra points, while Tristan Miller was 4 out of 5. Gatrost was last year's punter, averaging nearly 34 yards per kick.
Xavier has never faced CPU on the football field, and while it will be a short trip up the interstate in mid-October, it will be a fresh experience all around.
MARION INDIANS
Friday, October 19
at Thomas Park, Marion
Broadcast on KMRY AM/FM (LIVE)
Marion is a team on the move, and the move is up. The Indians went 1-17 in 2014-15, leaving longtime coach Tony Perkins (at 104-59) one game short of the school coaching record held by Les Hipple. Perkins retired after 2015, with Tim Lovell taking over. Lovell led the team to a 5-4 record in 2016 and then just missed the playoffs with a 6-3 mark last year (making Marion 12-24 over the past four seasons, or .333).
Marion has a real star coming back this year in Trevor Paulsen. Paulsen threw for 1448 yards and 19 TDs last year. He also rushed for 322 yards and 6 more scores, and was the team's punter. While leading rusher Chris Mohwinkle has graduated, JuCorey Higgins and Patrick Bleadorn return with their combined 573 yards rushing (along with Paulsen) providing some oomph in the ground game. The Indians do lose 82 receptions to graduation, with four returning players having a total of 18 catches between them.
Some solid players are back on the defensive side, including Nicholas Cole and Nate Miller (who had four sacks each) along with Dalton Cannon, Connor Whalen, and Higgins. Carson Gorton got a bit of time kicking extra points as a sophomore last season, making 9 of 13.
Xavier easily handled Marion in 2014-15, with wins of 37-6 and 55-0, but those were very different Marion football teams than what we've seen the past two years. I expect Coach Lovell will have his team ready to fight on their home field to close out the season, and it's quite possible that there might be a playoff spot on the line for the Indians as well.
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