Falling Behind

There's a double meaning in my title for this blog. First, the fact I've been falling behind in posting. That's on me (of course - who else would it be on?). With a trip out of state immediately following the Xavier-Waverly/Shell Rock game on the 7th, and the necessities of life piling up over the following week, well ... I didn't get to this.

So let's quickly go over the Waverly/Shell Rock game. It looked like perhaps Xavier's toughest game of the season, and almost certainly their toughest game in District 3. The Go-Hawks had the district's toughest defense (giving up fewer than 35 passing yards per game!) and a balanced offense featuring the district's leading passer in John Stensland and one of the leading rushers in Gabe Santioemma. Waverly/Shell Rock needed a win to keep hopes of a top-two finish in the district and a playoff spot.

So, naturally, the game turned out to be almost a carbon copy of Xavier's dominating win over the last-place Independence Mustangs the week before. Actually, Xavier set a record by allowing the fewest yards in a game ever (just 22 yards from the Go-Hawk offense, including -1 on the ground) as the Saints cruised to a 42-0 victory. Xavier's defense harassed Stensland all night, and stopped the ground game cold. Maliki Wilson, the state's leading rusher in Class 3A, ripped his way to a new career rushing mark and Bryce Schulte threw for nearly 100 yards.

On to the second meaning of my title. Xavier rolled into Friday's home game against a 2-5 Vinton/Shellsburg squad on a pretty high note; coming off two straight shutouts, the offense setting records, an undefeated season continuing with a playoff spot assured. The Vikings, on the other hand, were struggling with one of the district's poorest season performances - although they were coming off a shutout win of their own, a 39-0 blanking of poor Independence. It looked like another mismatch on the Saints' road to a deep playoff run.

Vinton/Shellsburg took the opening kickoff, and used their deceptive single-wing/wing-T offense to immediately rip off a 12-yard gain on the first play. On the fourth play, fullback Wes Edwards took a handoff up the middle, burst through the line, and found a wide-open field. He didn't stop until reaching the end zone 71 yards later. The Vikings went for two, and Xavier trailed 8-0. It's the first time the Saints had fallen behind (Aha! There it is!) an opponent since the third quarter of their game against Linn-Mar all the way back on September 2.

Okay, so, big play, big deal. Xavier would certainly respond, as they had scored on their opening possession of the game all seven times this season. They'd outscored opponents 122-6 in first quarters over the year, shutting out everyone except Iowa City Regina in the opener. So the Saints rolled out for their first possession and ... went three and out. On their second possession, they drove 47 yards, but missed a field goal try. On their third possession - hold on now, we're in the second quarter already? And still trailing 8-0?

The Saints realized they had their hands full. Vinton/Shellsburg, led by former Cedar Rapids Jefferson coach Jim Womochil, was prepared and fired up. While their offense slowed down a little after breaking the big-play TD run, defensively the Vikings were on top of nearly everything Xavier tried to run. Wilson was trapped at or behind the line of scrimmage multiple times. Screen passes to the slot receiver were stopped at the point of the catch. Option plays had a man on both Schulte and Wilson.

Finally, midway through the second quarter, Xavier got their heads in the game and buckled down. It started after the Vikings drove to the Saints 20-yard line after a personal foul penalty. Edwards ran for 5 to the 15, Tanner Davis ran for 1, Will Edwards was tackled for a loss of 1, then Blake Bohnsack's 4th down pass fell incomplete. Xavier took over on downs and started a 9-play, 85-yard drive. A clutch 15-yard pass from Schulte to Brett Burns on 3rd and 8 was a big play, then Schulte found his brother Quinn down the middle between two defenders, with a nice throw and a nice catch combining for a 37-yard TD. Wilson took the ball to try for the two-point conversion, but was stuffed. Xavier still trailed 8-6 with 3:15 left in the first half.

Still in the bank for Xavier's defense was their turnover ratio. Over the season the Saints had forced 16 turnovers, while turning the ball over only twice themselves. Nine of those 16 turnovers led directly to points, with the Saints getting 59 points from turnovers in the first seven games. So, here, with less than 3 minutes left in the half and trailing 8-6, it was the perfect time for Josh Gerke to nab Bohnsack's overthrown pass for an interception inside Vinton/Shellsburg territory.

A penalty on the return moved Xavier back to their 49, where Schulte found Schulte for 11 yards on 3rd and 10. A Wilson 15-yard run got into the red zone, and after another penalty, Schulte found Burns beating his defender for a 25-yard TD pass. The two-point conversion failed again, but Xavier had retaken the lead at 12-8 with 31 seconds to go in the half.

Remember that note about Xavier scoring on their opening possession every game but this one? Similarly, the Saints had scored on the opening drive of the second half every game but Linn-Mar. They took the kickoff, had a great return up to the 43, but found themselves facing a 4th and 1 at the Vinton/Shellsburg 48-yard line. Now fullback Erik Rodriguez stepped up. Rodriguez put the team on his back all night, with nice lead blocks and terrific efforts every time he touched the ball, whether it be on a screen pass reception or, as in this case, he gets the carry up the middle. This time he blasted his way for the first down ... kept his feet driving ... broke a couple of tackles and got loose ... split two more tacklers downfield ... headed for the pylon ... and dove for the end zone as he was caught from behind. The ball broke the plane as Rodriguez finished an incredible 48-yard run that put Xavier up 18-8.

Now the Xavier defense stepped up again, as well. A three-and-out for the Vikings set up Xavier at the Vinton/Shellsburg 38, where a play later Wilson ran away from everyone for a 34-yard score. The next Viking play was a fumble; their next possession another three and out. Late in the third quarter Will Edwards ripped off a 22-yard run, but that was followed by a loss of a yard, a sack, and an incompletion (Vinton/Shellsburg would complete zero passes on the night, save for their two-point conversion).

The Saints weren't doing much with the ball either, with a series of three-and-outs taking us into the fourth quarter. A terrible shanked punt by Ryan Jasper gave the Vikings the ball at midfield, where Will Edwards took off on another long run to the Xavier 15. On third and 10, Bohnsack looked for his tall tight end, Nate Struve, and fired a good pass about shoulder high. It bounced off Struve, though, high into the air and intercepted by Nolan Butkowski at the goal line. Butkowski ran it back to the 27.

And Xavier applied the coup-de-grace (can I put French into this blog? Doing it). An 11-play, 73-yard drive, eating up nearly all the rest of the quarter, featuring yet another "I'm not going down, y'all" 22-yard run from Rodriguez among five first downs on the drive, ended with a 2-yard scoring pass from Schulte to Schulte. It was 32-8 and that's how it would end.

You look at the final score, you think another smooth win for Xavier. You were there to watch, you think, that was a tough win that might have exposed some things for future opponents. The Saints still have some work to do, even at 8-0 with the district title in hand.