The Heart Of The Season

And now we move into the middle of the season and the start of district play. First, though, yet another perennial power in Class 3A:

WEST DELAWARE HAWKS

Friday, September 14

at West Delaware, Manchester

Broadcast on KMRY AM/FM (LIVE)

You should mark your calendars for this one, folks. Xavier's last non-district game of the season means a trip to Manchester to meet the Hawks of West Delaware, one of the most consistent 3A programs you'll find. The Hawks have a 10-year playoff streak going, winning 13 playoff games in that span. After going 6-3 in 2008, West Delaware hasn't had a year with more than 2 regular season losses since - that's a record of 75-15 (.833) over that period.

Doug Winkowitsch has been head coach for the Hawks since 2003, with a career record of 124-39 at West Delaware. And for this season, Winkowitsch gets a truckload of returning experience from last year's 7-2 squad. Nick Casey returns at quarterback, throwing for 1914 yards and 15 TDs last year. Caleb Kehrli was a monster at running back, with 1209 yards rushing and 18 TDs; Jordan Bries added 686 yards, and Mitch Mangold and Kale Rempe teamed for 163 more. They're all back this season. Mangold also caught 43 passes, along with 10 receptions from Logan Winn.

On the defensive side, Bries led the team in tackles last year along with 8 sacks; Winn and Ben Ridenour had 76 more tackles between them. Winn had 5 interceptions and Mangold 4. Casey is also the returning punter for the Hawks.

On paper, this looks like it could be the season's strongest challenge for Xavier; on the road, against a quality opponent, with a ton of returning talent. It's almost weird that these top 3A programs in the same general area of the state haven't met more than once before (a 27-17 Xavier victory in the first round of the 2016 playoffs); while there were several situations in the playoffs since 2014 when it looked like the Saints and the Hawks might get paired up, it ended up only happening once. Anyway, you should tune in on September 14 - I fully expect this to be a battle of 3-0 teams for the last week of non-district play.

MAQUOKETA CARDINALS

Friday, September 21

at Goodenow Field, Maquoketa

Broadcast on KMRY AM/FM (LIVE)

District play finally gets started with a trip through Grant Wood country to one of the most picturesque small-town football stadiums you'll ever see. The Cardinals have suffered some indignities in recent years. In 2015, Maquoketa went 6-3, taking second place behind Xavier in their district, and then won their first-round playoff game. That was pretty much the highlight of the recent past, as Maquoketa won just two other games since 2014 for a mark of 8-28 (.222) over those four years.

One thing the Cardinals do have going for them is a lot of returning experience, including quite a few juniors who got playing time as sophomores last year. Nicholas Ehrlinger threw for 619 yards to lead the team last season, rushing for another 120. Ryne Gruenwald was everywhere as a sophomore: he passed for 69 yards, led the team with 259 yards rushing, was the third-leading receiver with 6 catches, and had 2 interceptions. Another sophomore, Isaac Crist, ran for 159 yards, caught 5 passes, and was the third-leading tackler, with 27.5 tackles and two sacks. Liam Aunan and Aaron Bramer had 11 more pass receptions.

On defense, the top eleven tacklers from last year are all back, led by Abe Michael's 52.5 tackles. Zac Gavin and Taven Rich are also among the top four (with Crist).

Xavier has only played Maquoketa twice, as district foes in 2014-15, scoring over 40 points in both games to win them easily.

WAHLERT, DUBUQUE GOLDEN EAGLES

Friday, September 28

at Saints Field, Xavier High School, Cedar Rapids

Broadcast on KMRY AM/FM (LIVE)

Here's a familiar opponent for the Saints, a former MVC foe that dropped down to 3A in 2014 as well. Although Xavier didn't play Wahlert the past two seasons, they shared a district in 2014-15 in addition to their long association in the MVC. Xavier has an overall record of 9-3 against the Golden Eagles, and they've gone 6-0 since 2006. The Saints have outscored Wahlert 204-32 in their last five contests.

While Wahlert started seeing some real difficulties competing as a small parochial school in 4A prior to 2014, the move to 3A didn't change things much, with consecutive 3-6 seasons those first two years (although they did reach the playoffs both seasons, with quick first-round exits). In 2016-17, though, the Golden Eagles seem to have gotten their feet under them with back-to-back 5-4 seasons, making their regular-season mark 16-20 (.444) over the past four years.

Wahlert will be challenged a bit this year coming up with replacements for graduates, however. There are hardly any returning defenders coming back - last year's juniors had a grand total of 48 tackles last season. They'll also be missing over 1800 yards rushing, with Isaac Ripley the top returnee in the backfield with 118 yards (Isaac Walsh and Coby Adams had another 150 yards between them).

Their quarterback is returning, however, with Bryce Osterburger's 885 yards passing and 7 TDs bringing some experience. Danny McDermott was last year's leading receiver with 27 catches, but basically every other pass receiver from last season has moved on. Cameron Haugen shared kicking duties last year, but was 15 for 15 on extra point tries and made his only field goal attempt, a 31-yarder.

The Rest of the First Third

Continuing my look at Xavier's upcoming season opponents, with a bit of a nod towards how these opponents could help with RPI and playoff qualifying:

DECORAH VIKINGS

Friday, August 31

at Saints Field, Cedar Rapids Xavier High School

Broadcast on KMRY AM/FM (delayed after Kernels baseball)

There's a big change in the program at Decorah this year, and that's the fact that the Vikings have their first head coaching change in 25 years. Bill Post, an IHSAA Hall of Fame coach, has stepped away after recording a 188-71 (.726) head coaching record in 24 years at Decorah. When you add in assistant coaching time, Post had something over 40 years of experience - that's a lot of knowledge and leadership for a program that's been one of the most consistently solid in Class 3A.

New coach Pat Trewin isn't exactly new - he's been an assistant under Post for the past 22 years, so don't expect radical changes in philosophy or style. Of course, there's really no need for such changes when you consider Decorah's record. The Vikings won the state 3A title in 2012 with a perfect 14-0 mark. In the six years since kicking off that championship season, Decorah has a regular season mark of 39-15, with four playoff appearances. Saints fans no doubt remember the Vikings' playoff run in 2015; after finishing fourth in their district with a 4-5 mark, they then won two playoff games (including an upset of then-undefeated Xavier at Saints Field) and reached the quarterfinal round. Decorah also represented for Xavier's tough District 3 last year, reaching the playoffs as one of the state's two wild cards in 3A last year after a 7-2 regular season mark.

Trewin faces something of a rebuilding challenge this year, similar to what we saw in my last post with Iowa City Regina. Last year's starting quarterback Brannan Hogan has graduated, leaving Jace Johnson as the only player with any varsity passing attempts (2, although he did complete both). Top rusher Jake Muhlbauer is also gone, along with Dawson Holkesvik and pretty much every other Viking with a varsity pass reception.

Decorah does return some talent in the offensive backfield, with Kailer McCabe (445 yards, 5 TDs), Drake Shelton (227 yards, 2 TDs) and Clay Johansen (165 yards, 4 TDs) back for their senior seasons. Shelton and McCabe were also solid defensive contributors in 2017. On special teams, Cameron DeLong was 7 for 7 on extra point kicks and hit two field goals last season, including a 38-yarder.

The Vikings are always tough, well-coached, and play Xavier hard, and I don't expect anything different even after the retirement of Bill Post.

DAVENPORT ASSUMPTION KNIGHTS

Friday, September 7

at Saints Field, Cedar Rapids Xavier High School

Broadcast on KMRY AM/FM (LIVE unless the Kernels are in a playoff game that night)

Assumption is yet another program that is consistently good; much like Xavier, they were a smaller school contender in a 4A conference prior to 2014, and have continued with good success in 3A. The Knights have a playoff streak going back at least to 2007 (the IHSAA's website archives fall apart prior to that), although in those 11 playoff appearances they've only won five games, and 2015 was the only year they advanced past the first round.

Xavier and Assumption are familiar with each other - they've played the last four years (two years as non-district foes, then Xavier ended the Knights' season in the playoffs the last two seasons). Coach Wade King has been head coach since 2002, with a record of 119-49 (.708). Since 2012, Assumption has a regular season mark of 41-13, which is even two games better than Decorah in the same time span.

Again, graduation has hit the Knights pretty hard, with Brandon Schlichting's 158 yards passing leading the way for returning quarterbacks. Johnny Hua returns for his senior season after rushing for 339 yards last year, while three juniors combined for 98 yards rushing as sophomores. Nick Gotilla is the leading returning receiver, as he caught 13 passes last season.

Assumption should be frightfully sturdy on defense, though. Returning players accounted for 182 tackles last year, ranking from 3rd to 6th on the team tackle list. Anthony Valanis led the Knights with five sacks, while Seth Adrian, Adam Metivier, and Nathan Schlichting were also adding up defensive stats (Metivier had three interceptions, while Brandon Schlichting led the team with four).

So the first third of the season - Regina, Decorah, Assumption - features three quality, traditionally strong opponents who should provide a tough challenge to the Saints, while also likely rolling up good overall season records that will help that RPI. Next time we'll finish up the non-district schedule and get started on Xavier's drive for a fifth consecutive district title.

The Season Approaches ...

Once the calendar page turns to July, football fans' attention starts to turn toward ... well, football. NFL training camps aren't far away, college football teams will start their preseason workouts in a few weeks, and high school practices get going in less than a month. So, with the Xavier Saints getting ready to defend their Class 3A state title this fall, let's get noodling about the upcoming season.

I'll be taking a little look at each of Xavier's opponents this fall, with this post focusing on the Saints' first foe, the Iowa City Regina Regals. Remember, with the changes to playoff qualifying that were made by the state, there's a lot of importance placed on how well your opponents do with the rest of their schedules - the better record your opponents have, the better your RPI will look, and if you don't nab an automatic playoff spot by winning your district, RPI is very important. Xavier has done pretty well with scheduling their non-district games, with four programs that have very solid histories in the area of winning percentage (Regina, Decorah, Davenport Assumption, and West Delaware).

IOWA CITY REGINA REGALS

Friday, August 24

at Regina High School, Iowa City

Broadcast on KMRY AM/FM (delayed after Kernels baseball)

Regina has one of the outstanding high school football programs in all of Iowa. They've made it to eight consecutive state championship games - eight! They won the first six (two in 2A, four in 1A) before losing the title game the past two years. In the past ten seasons, going back to 2008, the Regals have lost as many as two regular season games exactly once. That happened last year, when Regina lost both non-district games (to 3A Xavier and to 2A Mount Vernon) before winning 10 straight games in Class 1A leading up to the state championship.

Coach Marv Cook took over the program in 2007, and since then he's put up a record of 134-12. That's basically a 12-1 record every year for 11 years, which is insane. Obviously, for Xavier's RPI concerns, Regina will be a big plus, regardless of the outcome of the game on August 24.

Xavier is 3-1 all time against the Regals. Drew Cook took over the game at Saints Field back in 2014 to lead Regina to an exciting 21-7 win, a game that was tied 7-all with less than 10 minutes to play; the Saints responded in 2015 with probably the most thrilling comeback ever in Xavier history. An interception in the end zone with about a minute left in a tie game led to a quick drive downfield, then a 35-yard field goal from Dallas Klein as time expired for the 38-35 victory. The Saints then won 35-26 in 2016 and 23-6 last season, never trailing in either game.

For 2018, Coach Cook faces quite a challenge after graduation sapped the squad of 2,008 yards rushing and 1,884 yards passing, as well as 7 of the team's top 8 tacklers. Ashton Cook looks like the frontrunner for quarterback after throwing for 640 yards as a freshman last year. Nick Milder and Kieler Brown combined for 282 yards rushing, while Alec Wick and Patrick Clark caught 56 passes between them. We've seen Regina reload again and again over the years, and I wouldn't expect any less from Coach Cook and his team this year - but there's also no doubt that numbers continue to shrink (not only for Regina, but for football teams across the state), and maintaining the standard of excellence we've seen for the past 11 years is going to truly be a challenge this season.