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.