Yes, I am. Not that you could tell by the blog ... it appears I dropped off the face of the earth sometime between Xavier's victory over Vinton-Shellsburg and their season finale game against South Tama. Sorry about that ... there was plenty to talk about with the Saints' undefeated season and their playoff run up to the state 3A semifinal. And then that semifinal! Whew!
So okay. Xavier rolled over South Tama 32-8 to finish a 9-0 regular season, taking the District 3 title and a playoff spot. In the first round, they welcomed Davenport Assumption to Saints Field, and dispatched the Knights 52-20. In the quarterfinal round, it was a rematch against district foe Waverly-Shell Rock, third-place finishers in the district who got into the playoffs as one of the two at-large teams. The Go-Hawks upset West Delaware in the first round to advance, only to see a Xavier squad that had blown them out at Waverly earlier in the season, with a Saints defensive effort that set a school record for fewest yards allowed. This game wasn't quite that much of a mismatch, but Xavier did roll to a 38-14 win.
Then on to the Dome, against Pella. Very likely a matchup between the two top teams in 3A, but in the state semifinal. Xavier's defense absolutely shut down the Dutch running game (all but one play, a long TD run by QB Nick Finney), but weren't able to slow down the Pella passing game that much. Conversely, Pella's defense confounded Xavier QB Bryce Schulte into a spotty passing performance (only 46 yards on the night), but the offensive line and Maliki Wilson racked up massive yards on the ground for the Saints (385 yards rushing total, 249 by Wilson).
It was a back and forth game, with no one able to get ahead by more than 7 points. Pella led 21-17 at the half, but Xavier scored on the opening drive of the third quarter to take a 24-21 lead. Pella answered right away to go up 28-24, then two Saints drives in the fourth quarter ended in field goals to put Xavier up 30-28. A Josh Gerke interception of a Finney pass with just over a minute left looked like it could ice the game for Xavier, but the Saints were unable to pick up a first down and had to punt. The Dutch had 45 seconds and 56 yards between them and victory, and somehow ... the biggest play came on 3rd and 2 at the Xavier 48, with the clock running. Finney dropped back to throw, with a Xavier blitz coming at him hard. Two Saints rushers got to him as he threw the ball, seemingly just trying to get rid of it and avoid the sack. Instead Ryan Van Wyk made an incredible catch on the sideline at the 20 for a first down with about 9 seconds left. On the next play, Finney was able to connect with Drew Holterhaus in the end zone for a game-winning touchdown as the clock ran out.
The Saints set a ton of records on the season. I mentioned that school record for fewest yards allowed in a game at Waverly-Shell Rock (22); also Wilson set records for rushing yards in a game (291 vs. Regina), a season (2054) and a career (3327). Schulte set career marks for passing yards (4347), pass attempts (489), pass completions (287), total yards (5103), and total touchdowns (90). And he ended up with a total of 10 interceptions in three complete seasons as a starter (plus 6 attempts as a freshman)!
A lot of losses face the Saints as they head into the 2017 football season, with seniors like Schulte, Wilson, Gerke, Erik Rodriguez, Nolan Butkowski, Shane Scott, John Rocca, Ryan Jasper, Lucas Miller, Sam Meyers, Zach Barish, Max Johnson and others moving on. Will it mean a rebuilding year, with a new quarterback for the first time since 2013, not to mention a backfield that had been the same since 2015, and rejiggering most of the offensive line? Some good experience is coming back on defense, though. We'll go more into the outlook for the Saints come late summer.
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