Hard to believe we are already into the back half of the 2018 high school football season, but here we are, heading to Week 6. The weather is certainly making us feel the chill of fall, after a scorching hot Thursday football Friday revealed a cool, crisp, nearly perfect autumn evening - perfect for another fall tradition, Xavier rolling over their district foes on the gridiron.
The Saints scored their 18th straight win (a new school record) and ran their all-time Class 3A district record to 26-1 with a convincing 41-0 win over Maquoketa. It was also Xavier's 32nd consecutive regular-season win, stretching all the way back to a loss to Iowa City Regina in 2014. The Saints never really had that much trouble with the Cardinals, scoring on their first four possessions and adding an interception return TD by Bryson Bastian to lead 28-0 at the end of the first quarter and 35-0 at halftime. Meanwhile, Maquoketa started the game with a decent drive but managed only two more first downs the rest of the first half.
With a continuous clock in the entire second half, there wasn't much time to move the ball, and the Cardinals got only two first downs in that half as well. Xavier's Ben Conrad kicked two field goals, including a school-record-tying 48 yarder, and that lifted the Saints past 40 points for the fifth time in five games. Xavier has now had the continuous clock running in all five games this year, three times for the entire second half and once for the entire fourth quarter - that's 90:13 of game time running with a continuous clock (over 75% of all their second-half time this year). I don't imagine anybody keeps records for an esoteric stat like that, but I do know the 2012 Saints had 104:38 of continuous clock during that season. That's over nine games. This year's team is closing in on that through five. Amazing.
Chances are the Saints will blow past that 104:38 time this week when Dubuque Wahlert comes to town. Wahlert, like Maquoketa, is winless on the season, and hasn't really competed in any of their games. The Golden Eagles are hapless on the ground, rushing for less than 25 yards a game, and have given up a monstrous 426 yards per game on defense. The one slightly bright spot for Wahlert is their passing game, as Bryce Osterberger has been tossing the football around to a bunch of receivers for nearly 200 yards per game, but they've still been outscored 232-60 on the season. I really don't think Xavier will have much trouble controlling both sides of the ball.
Things do get more interesting after that. Western Dubuque, perhaps the strongest contender for Xavier in District 4, faces the Saints on October 5. The 4-1 Bobcats are that "1" in Xavier's 26-1 district record, spoiling the Saints' homecoming back in 2014 with a 7-6 win - and guess what, October 5 will be homecoming for the Saints again. Hmm .. That game will go a long way towards determining this year's district title, I think. Anyway, the regular season winds down for Xavier with road games at Center Point-Urbana and at Marion, two teams who still have playoff hopes if things break their way over the last four games. Marion, for one, is battle-tested, having lost excruciatingly close games against West Delaware and Clear Creek-Amana and holding on to win a wild one against CPU last week.
So, another notch in Xavier's cap, and a struggling Wahlert team coming up this Friday. Stay tuned, though ...
Wednesday, September 26, 2018
Monday, September 17, 2018
Wrapping Up Non-District ... In Style!
Before the 2018 season started, a savvy observer could look at Xavier's schedule and point toward September 14 as a real test of where last year's state champions would stand. The Saints were set to go on the road to West Delaware, a place they had never played, to take on a sturdy 3A program with a 10-year playoff streak that was returning a 1200-yard rusher, a very good quarterback, and had some real size and strength on both sides of the line. Indeed, going into the game we were looking at a matchup of two undefeated squads with serious playoff expectations.
(Yes, West Delaware's 3-0 record came partly from a forfeit from the week before, when Mt. Vernon's coach made the principled and upright admission that his team had inadvertently used a player for more quarters than was allowed in their last-second win over the Hawks. It still stands, though, that West Delaware has excellent players in an excellent program that intended to give the Saints everything they had.)
And for a rather tough 15 game minutes on Friday night, Xavier and West Delaware were slugging it out toe-to-toe, with only a blocked extra point keeping the game from being tied. By the time the Hawks got four more first downs, though, Xavier had tallied four touchdowns and a field goal to pull away on their way to a 45-12 win. The Saints remain undefeated, with their 17th consecutive win tying a school mark set in the state championship year of 2006.
The game was scoreless until very late in the first quarter, when Nate Skala finally got a chance at a punt return and raced all the way inside the West Delaware 20. A penalty on the Hawks moved the ball to the 8, and Quinn Schulte ran it in on the next play to go up 7-0. After that, Saints mistakes coupled with a fired-up Hawk team started to turn the tide a bit. Xavier had a possible touchdown on a long pass-and-run from Schulte to Braden Stovie taken off the board by a penalty; then on the very next play Schulte threw one of the worst passes of his career off-target, where it was intercepted by West Delaware.
The interception return set the Hawks up at Xavier's 35, and another penalty moved the ball inside the 20. Xavier's defense stood up strong inside the 10, forcing a third-down play. West Delaware's Nick Casey did a nice job of faking handoffs to two running backs criss-crossing in the backfield, then threw to a wide-open Logan Winn for the tying touchdown. Wait a minute - there would be no tie, as Xavier blocked the extra point attempt (Jim Ecker tells me it was Pat McGinn on the block) and Xavier held on to a 7-6 lead.
Xavier's defense ended up stopping the Hawks on 4th down on their next possession, taking over near midfield. A few plays later Schulte makes an outstanding run, taking the time to set up blocks downfield and looking for space, going 33 yards down to the 1. He carried the ball in on the next play to put the Saints up 14-6. Xavier forced a three-and-out after than, and when Casey's punt didn't make it all the way out of bounds, Schulte was back there to field it and return it all the way to West Delaware's 39-yard line. The offense gets to the 6 before being stopped on 4th down, and Ben Conrad boots his fourth field goal of the year to give Xavier a 17-6 halftime lead.
Then comes the third quarter. Xavier received the kickoff, with a nice return setting them up at the 44. The Saints move steadily downfield, every play on the ground (against a defense that had been much better against the run than the pass this season). Schulte runs in his third TD of the game on a 1-yard sneak to make it 24-6. The Saints allow one first down on the Hawks' next drive, but then force a short punt, muffed and recovered at their 42. On the first play, Schulte drops back and looks deep down the middle to a streaking Kyle Moeder, who outraced his defender, gathered in the bomb, and sped the rest of the way for a 58-yard score. Now it's 31-6. West Delaware gets only one first down again, and Xavier stuffs the Hawks on 4th and short at the WD 41. Again, on the next play, Stovie runs off-tackle to the right, evades tacklers, makes a fancy stutter-step move, runs between two other defenders, and is eventually hit at the 2 and carried into the end zone by West Delaware tacklers. Three consecutive Xavier plays have ended in touchdowns, with 21 points scored in less than four minutes of game time. It's 38-6 with almost 6 minutes left in the third quarter, and the Hawks are trying to figure out what hit them.
Xavier adds another touchdown on a 38-yard run by Stovie in the fourth quarter before West Delaware finally puts together a nine-play drive to score with just under three minutes left. But that's all she wrote. What looked like a tough test going in, and even through the first quarter, ends in another 40-point game for the Saints and another convincing victory.
A couple of points - Xavier had a lot of penalties on the night. If there's one thing that's hurt good Xavier teams over the years, it's 15-yard penalties at inopportune times (and in most cases, those 15-yard penalties are easily avoidable, the odd pass-interference call notwithstanding). In the first three weeks of the season, we hadn't seen that as a factor, but it certainly was there this past week. The other point is the mistakes - Schulte's poor throw for an interception, a muffed punt that was lost, a couple of passes to open receivers just off the mark. Take those things away and you're looking at an even more dominant victory. I'll also just mention, going into the game I thought Xavier would probably need to use the passing game to get going, as West Delaware had proved rather weak at defending the pass while being very tough on the ground. It turns out the 58-yard TD bomb from Schulte to Moeder was just about the only passing yards Xavier would get on the night, while the ground game piled up a ton of yardage. I think this does show the Saints' offensive line is continuing to play at a very high level.
Now we go into district play. Remember, district champions are guaranteed playoff spots in October, while anyone who does not win their district has to compete with the rest of Class 3A for one of the remaining seven (or fewer, considering possible district ties) spots. So it's a pretty big deal to win the whole thing. Xavier has won their district each of their four seasons in 3A (winning by a tiebreaker in 2014, outright and undefeated the other three years) and are in pretty good shape to repeat again this year. Maquoketa and Dubuque Wahlert are the first two district games, and neither has won a game yet. The next test for the Saints will be October 5 against Western Dubuque, a team putting gaudy numbers up on offense until dropping a 7-6 decision to North Scott last week. And the end of the district schedule continues to be a challenge, with a pretty good Center Point-Urbana team and finally Marion (both of those on the road).
(Yes, West Delaware's 3-0 record came partly from a forfeit from the week before, when Mt. Vernon's coach made the principled and upright admission that his team had inadvertently used a player for more quarters than was allowed in their last-second win over the Hawks. It still stands, though, that West Delaware has excellent players in an excellent program that intended to give the Saints everything they had.)
And for a rather tough 15 game minutes on Friday night, Xavier and West Delaware were slugging it out toe-to-toe, with only a blocked extra point keeping the game from being tied. By the time the Hawks got four more first downs, though, Xavier had tallied four touchdowns and a field goal to pull away on their way to a 45-12 win. The Saints remain undefeated, with their 17th consecutive win tying a school mark set in the state championship year of 2006.
The game was scoreless until very late in the first quarter, when Nate Skala finally got a chance at a punt return and raced all the way inside the West Delaware 20. A penalty on the Hawks moved the ball to the 8, and Quinn Schulte ran it in on the next play to go up 7-0. After that, Saints mistakes coupled with a fired-up Hawk team started to turn the tide a bit. Xavier had a possible touchdown on a long pass-and-run from Schulte to Braden Stovie taken off the board by a penalty; then on the very next play Schulte threw one of the worst passes of his career off-target, where it was intercepted by West Delaware.
The interception return set the Hawks up at Xavier's 35, and another penalty moved the ball inside the 20. Xavier's defense stood up strong inside the 10, forcing a third-down play. West Delaware's Nick Casey did a nice job of faking handoffs to two running backs criss-crossing in the backfield, then threw to a wide-open Logan Winn for the tying touchdown. Wait a minute - there would be no tie, as Xavier blocked the extra point attempt (Jim Ecker tells me it was Pat McGinn on the block) and Xavier held on to a 7-6 lead.
Xavier's defense ended up stopping the Hawks on 4th down on their next possession, taking over near midfield. A few plays later Schulte makes an outstanding run, taking the time to set up blocks downfield and looking for space, going 33 yards down to the 1. He carried the ball in on the next play to put the Saints up 14-6. Xavier forced a three-and-out after than, and when Casey's punt didn't make it all the way out of bounds, Schulte was back there to field it and return it all the way to West Delaware's 39-yard line. The offense gets to the 6 before being stopped on 4th down, and Ben Conrad boots his fourth field goal of the year to give Xavier a 17-6 halftime lead.
Then comes the third quarter. Xavier received the kickoff, with a nice return setting them up at the 44. The Saints move steadily downfield, every play on the ground (against a defense that had been much better against the run than the pass this season). Schulte runs in his third TD of the game on a 1-yard sneak to make it 24-6. The Saints allow one first down on the Hawks' next drive, but then force a short punt, muffed and recovered at their 42. On the first play, Schulte drops back and looks deep down the middle to a streaking Kyle Moeder, who outraced his defender, gathered in the bomb, and sped the rest of the way for a 58-yard score. Now it's 31-6. West Delaware gets only one first down again, and Xavier stuffs the Hawks on 4th and short at the WD 41. Again, on the next play, Stovie runs off-tackle to the right, evades tacklers, makes a fancy stutter-step move, runs between two other defenders, and is eventually hit at the 2 and carried into the end zone by West Delaware tacklers. Three consecutive Xavier plays have ended in touchdowns, with 21 points scored in less than four minutes of game time. It's 38-6 with almost 6 minutes left in the third quarter, and the Hawks are trying to figure out what hit them.
Xavier adds another touchdown on a 38-yard run by Stovie in the fourth quarter before West Delaware finally puts together a nine-play drive to score with just under three minutes left. But that's all she wrote. What looked like a tough test going in, and even through the first quarter, ends in another 40-point game for the Saints and another convincing victory.
A couple of points - Xavier had a lot of penalties on the night. If there's one thing that's hurt good Xavier teams over the years, it's 15-yard penalties at inopportune times (and in most cases, those 15-yard penalties are easily avoidable, the odd pass-interference call notwithstanding). In the first three weeks of the season, we hadn't seen that as a factor, but it certainly was there this past week. The other point is the mistakes - Schulte's poor throw for an interception, a muffed punt that was lost, a couple of passes to open receivers just off the mark. Take those things away and you're looking at an even more dominant victory. I'll also just mention, going into the game I thought Xavier would probably need to use the passing game to get going, as West Delaware had proved rather weak at defending the pass while being very tough on the ground. It turns out the 58-yard TD bomb from Schulte to Moeder was just about the only passing yards Xavier would get on the night, while the ground game piled up a ton of yardage. I think this does show the Saints' offensive line is continuing to play at a very high level.
Now we go into district play. Remember, district champions are guaranteed playoff spots in October, while anyone who does not win their district has to compete with the rest of Class 3A for one of the remaining seven (or fewer, considering possible district ties) spots. So it's a pretty big deal to win the whole thing. Xavier has won their district each of their four seasons in 3A (winning by a tiebreaker in 2014, outright and undefeated the other three years) and are in pretty good shape to repeat again this year. Maquoketa and Dubuque Wahlert are the first two district games, and neither has won a game yet. The next test for the Saints will be October 5 against Western Dubuque, a team putting gaudy numbers up on offense until dropping a 7-6 decision to North Scott last week. And the end of the district schedule continues to be a challenge, with a pretty good Center Point-Urbana team and finally Marion (both of those on the road).
Thursday, September 13, 2018
Thirty-Three and a Third (Percent)
One-third of the way through the 2018 season already, and the Xavier Saints look, well, like the defending state champions. Quinn Schulte and Braden Stovie ran for just about 110 yards apiece and the defense picked up their first shutout of the year as the Saints blanked Davenport Assumption 48-0 last Friday.
Let's talk a bit about that defense. They've allowed 7 points to Iowa City Regina, then 3 to Decorah before the shutout of Assumption - if that trend persists, they'll start allowing negative points, if that's possible. Jon Bell has credit for 4 sacks and Kyle Krezek has 3, opponents have gotten a total of 57 yards passing over the past two weeks, the Saints are allowing only about 63 yards per game on the ground, the linebackers (particularly juniors Ethan Hurkett and Jakob Forslund) are playing great, we've already seen two blocked punts this year ... Coach O'Connell has these guys playing at a really high level.
But really, Xavier is running on all cylinders so far this year. The Saints have scored 40-plus points in all three games, against pretty good competition (even though all three teams Xavier defeated are currently 1-2, Regina is a top 1A team, Decorah is really pretty good with plenty of size and talent, and Assumption has always played tough against good opponents). The continuous clock has run for the entire second half of two games and the entire fourth quarter of the other. Add to that, as I mentioned, that they've allowed only 10 points, and the first third of the season has been pretty much everything you'd want so far. Heck, one of the sore points of good Xavier teams over the years has been penalties, but even that hasn't been an issue so far this season. Even the scout team offense has shined, putting together solid, consistent, long drives in the fourth quarter of all three games and finishing two of those drives with touchdowns (the other one ended inside the 5 as the clock ran out).
But a test is certainly coming this week. West Delaware boasts a ton of offensive weapons, from a huge 300-pound sophomore lineman blasting open running lanes to a quarterback (Nick Casey) who's already thrown 80 passes for almost 500 yards to one of the top running backs in the state (Caleb Kehrli). Kehrli has run for just about 1800 yards in his last 14 games, averaging 5.9 yards per carry with 100 carries already in three games this season (that's no small sample size!). West Delaware and coach Jim Winkowitsch have a terrific 3A program in Manchester, one that's been to the playoffs for 10 years in a row, and this offense has been unstoppable so far.
Defensively, though, the Hawks do appear to have a weak link - they've given up a ton of passing yards. You can't really put that on teams trying to catch up through the air, either, as Marion led West Delaware pretty much the entire game two weeks ago until the Hawks pulled it out at the end, and Mt. Vernon stayed step-for-step with WD last Friday with the lead changing hands three times over the past 3 minutes or so.
(A bit of an aside: while Mt. Vernon pulled out that game at the end in a thrilling finish, it turns out one of their players participated in more quarters of football than he was allowed to last week, playing in both JV and varsity contests. Mt. Vernon's head coach self-reported the situation, which by rule results in a forfeit to West Delaware - that means the Hawks are officially 3-0 going into this week's Xavier game.)
So it's up to Schulte and the Saints receivers to make a mark this Friday. The offensive line has been outstanding at both run and pass blocking so far - they'll need to keep that up with WD's Jordan Bries accounting for 5 sacks already this year. The receivers, by the way, have generally shown up big this season - Kyle Moeder had two big TD catches against Regina, and Matt Jordebrek added two more against Decorah - but there were some drops and missed opportunities last Friday. West Delaware probably isn't going to be very forgiving of Xavier mistakes.
As the season has started to take shape over the first third, Xavier has certainly solidified their expectations as the favorite in District 4. This week is probably the Saints' toughest test so far this season - once district play starts on September 21 Xavier begins with Maquoketa and Dubuque Wahlert, two struggling programs that have yet to find a win, but October 5 will be another big test as Western Dubuque comes to Saints Field. Apparently it's the WD teams that are looking to challenge Xavier in 2018.
Mentioning district titles and playoffs - the official RPIs are posted on the IHSAA website. They don't mean anything after just three games, but it's a chance to see how those numbers are shaping up. Remember, if you win your district, it doesn't matter what your RPI is, you're in the playoffs. That number is going to come into play for the at-large, non-district-champion playoff qualifiers, of which there could be as many as seven. So it's interesting at this point, but doesn't really mean that much.
Let's see what Xavier does on the road at a pretty darn good opponent this week, then we'll get started on the district games after that.
Let's talk a bit about that defense. They've allowed 7 points to Iowa City Regina, then 3 to Decorah before the shutout of Assumption - if that trend persists, they'll start allowing negative points, if that's possible. Jon Bell has credit for 4 sacks and Kyle Krezek has 3, opponents have gotten a total of 57 yards passing over the past two weeks, the Saints are allowing only about 63 yards per game on the ground, the linebackers (particularly juniors Ethan Hurkett and Jakob Forslund) are playing great, we've already seen two blocked punts this year ... Coach O'Connell has these guys playing at a really high level.
But really, Xavier is running on all cylinders so far this year. The Saints have scored 40-plus points in all three games, against pretty good competition (even though all three teams Xavier defeated are currently 1-2, Regina is a top 1A team, Decorah is really pretty good with plenty of size and talent, and Assumption has always played tough against good opponents). The continuous clock has run for the entire second half of two games and the entire fourth quarter of the other. Add to that, as I mentioned, that they've allowed only 10 points, and the first third of the season has been pretty much everything you'd want so far. Heck, one of the sore points of good Xavier teams over the years has been penalties, but even that hasn't been an issue so far this season. Even the scout team offense has shined, putting together solid, consistent, long drives in the fourth quarter of all three games and finishing two of those drives with touchdowns (the other one ended inside the 5 as the clock ran out).
But a test is certainly coming this week. West Delaware boasts a ton of offensive weapons, from a huge 300-pound sophomore lineman blasting open running lanes to a quarterback (Nick Casey) who's already thrown 80 passes for almost 500 yards to one of the top running backs in the state (Caleb Kehrli). Kehrli has run for just about 1800 yards in his last 14 games, averaging 5.9 yards per carry with 100 carries already in three games this season (that's no small sample size!). West Delaware and coach Jim Winkowitsch have a terrific 3A program in Manchester, one that's been to the playoffs for 10 years in a row, and this offense has been unstoppable so far.
Defensively, though, the Hawks do appear to have a weak link - they've given up a ton of passing yards. You can't really put that on teams trying to catch up through the air, either, as Marion led West Delaware pretty much the entire game two weeks ago until the Hawks pulled it out at the end, and Mt. Vernon stayed step-for-step with WD last Friday with the lead changing hands three times over the past 3 minutes or so.
(A bit of an aside: while Mt. Vernon pulled out that game at the end in a thrilling finish, it turns out one of their players participated in more quarters of football than he was allowed to last week, playing in both JV and varsity contests. Mt. Vernon's head coach self-reported the situation, which by rule results in a forfeit to West Delaware - that means the Hawks are officially 3-0 going into this week's Xavier game.)
So it's up to Schulte and the Saints receivers to make a mark this Friday. The offensive line has been outstanding at both run and pass blocking so far - they'll need to keep that up with WD's Jordan Bries accounting for 5 sacks already this year. The receivers, by the way, have generally shown up big this season - Kyle Moeder had two big TD catches against Regina, and Matt Jordebrek added two more against Decorah - but there were some drops and missed opportunities last Friday. West Delaware probably isn't going to be very forgiving of Xavier mistakes.
As the season has started to take shape over the first third, Xavier has certainly solidified their expectations as the favorite in District 4. This week is probably the Saints' toughest test so far this season - once district play starts on September 21 Xavier begins with Maquoketa and Dubuque Wahlert, two struggling programs that have yet to find a win, but October 5 will be another big test as Western Dubuque comes to Saints Field. Apparently it's the WD teams that are looking to challenge Xavier in 2018.
Mentioning district titles and playoffs - the official RPIs are posted on the IHSAA website. They don't mean anything after just three games, but it's a chance to see how those numbers are shaping up. Remember, if you win your district, it doesn't matter what your RPI is, you're in the playoffs. That number is going to come into play for the at-large, non-district-champion playoff qualifiers, of which there could be as many as seven. So it's interesting at this point, but doesn't really mean that much.
Let's see what Xavier does on the road at a pretty darn good opponent this week, then we'll get started on the district games after that.
Wednesday, September 5, 2018
One If By Land, Two If By .. Punt Return?
The Decorah Vikings reached the 2004 Class 3A state championship, facing the Harlan Cyclones in the title game. The Vikings found themselves outmatched that day in Cedar Falls, dropping a 42-7 decision. For 13 years after that, Decorah proved to be one of the top programs in the state, never losing a game by anything like five touchdowns.
Until last Friday in Cedar Rapids. The Xavier Saints ran over, around, and through the Vikings, striking by land, air, and special teams, as Xavier rolled to a SIX-touchdown win, 45-3. Braden Stovie ran for 198 yards, converting 3rd-down plays over and over again, while Quinn Schulte passed for 138 yards and 3 TDs.
The game started like many expected, looking like a defensive slugfest in the first quarter. Decorah has some huge dudes along the line of scrimmage, and with senior leadership everywhere on the field, the Vikings looked determined to show they weren't afraid of the defending state champions. The Vikings were coming off a solid 24-20 win over Waukon, the defending Class 2A state champions, so they were full of confidence. Each team traded a possession early, then Xavier's Wyatt Johnson blocked a Cameron DeLong punt after a bad snap, giving the Saints decent field position. Unfortunately, soon after that Nate Skala fumbled after catching a Schulte pass, and the Vikings took advantage, driving into Saints' territory and setting up DeLong for a 35-yard field goal, driven by a strong south breeze. Decorah led 3-0.
Xavier responded. Boy, did they respond - a 14-play, 80-yard drive, every play on the ground, with Stovie and Schulte running seven times each. Schulte finished that drive with a 6-yard scoring run to put Xavier in the lead, and they never gave it up again. It was almost like the Vikings were hit by the hammer of Thor, over and over again - Decorah went three-and-out; Skala and the Xavier punt return team struck with a 69-yard return, down to the 17, where Schulte tossed a scoring pass to Matt Jordebrek. (That wasn't the last we'd see from the punt return team, by the way). Another Viking three-and-out was followed by a five-play drive; incompletion, incompletion, 15-yard Stovie run, a gorgeous 50-yard pass to Jordebrek, followed by a 5-yard TD pass to Jordebrek again.
Decorah's one bright spot in this onslaught came after that score, when Kailer McCabe took the kickoff return, blasted through the Saints kickoff team, and dashed down the far sideline with Aaron Larson in hot pursuit. It looked like it might be a touchdown return ... until McCabe lost the handle on the ball and dropped it out of bounds at the Xavier 40. The Saints held tough, even after a pass interference penalty, and all the promise of the big kick return ended with a missed field goal attempt, short and to the right. On the ensuing possession, Stovie took the handoff on a sweep after being lined up in the slot, dashing down the field with three Vikings on his heels, finally dragged down at the five by Drake Shelton after a 69-yard run. It was Decorah's turn to hold tough here, and Ben Conrad nailed a 27-yard field goal to make it 24-3 at halftime.
The second half was more of the same. Even after a Stovie fumble on the first series of the half, Decorah could get only one first down in the third quarter. Meanwhile the Saints put together another 80-yard drive, with a perfectly placed 33-yard pass from Schulte to Derrick Skala setting up a 10-yard TD throw to Nate Skala. After another Viking three-and-out, the punt return team rose to the occasion again, clearing the field and opening the way for Nate Skala to go 65 yards for the touchdown as the third quarter expired. It was 38-3, and the continuous clock would run for the rest of the game. Decorah was able to drive into Xavier territory on their next possession, but the drive ended when Jace Johnson picked up only a yard on fourth and two. Then the Saints scout team offense, just as they did against Regina the week before, put together a nice series and rolled deep into the opponent's territory, keeping the ball for eleven plays behind Patrick Chambers and Christian Klein (plus a 5-yard pass from Tyler DuPont to Drew DuPont). Klein slammed into the end zone from the 2 with 44 seconds left, and it was 45-3 - Decorah's worst defeat in over 14 years.
While we've gone over the tremendous success of Xavier's offense and special teams during this game, the defense came to play as well. Decorah rushed for 142 yards, resulting in total team offense of ... 142 yards. The Vikings had zero pass completions on the night, and just seven first downs, scoring their only points after a Xavier turnover and coming up with nothing after a huge kickoff return into Saints territory. So, yeah, things are meshing pretty well for this Xavier team in their first two games.
This week comes Davenport Assumption, who lost to Rock Island Alleman in week one before shutting out Dubuque Wahlert 37-0 last week. The Knights are another good, solid football program, perennial playoff contenders in Class 3A led by coach Wade King (who has won 120 games since 2002). In recent years Assumption's player numbers have been dropping; from what I saw they had just 22 varsity players dressed the first week and only 24 against Wahlert - but the guys on the field are good, tough, athletic football players, and they've always given Xavier a tough game.
Until last Friday in Cedar Rapids. The Xavier Saints ran over, around, and through the Vikings, striking by land, air, and special teams, as Xavier rolled to a SIX-touchdown win, 45-3. Braden Stovie ran for 198 yards, converting 3rd-down plays over and over again, while Quinn Schulte passed for 138 yards and 3 TDs.
The game started like many expected, looking like a defensive slugfest in the first quarter. Decorah has some huge dudes along the line of scrimmage, and with senior leadership everywhere on the field, the Vikings looked determined to show they weren't afraid of the defending state champions. The Vikings were coming off a solid 24-20 win over Waukon, the defending Class 2A state champions, so they were full of confidence. Each team traded a possession early, then Xavier's Wyatt Johnson blocked a Cameron DeLong punt after a bad snap, giving the Saints decent field position. Unfortunately, soon after that Nate Skala fumbled after catching a Schulte pass, and the Vikings took advantage, driving into Saints' territory and setting up DeLong for a 35-yard field goal, driven by a strong south breeze. Decorah led 3-0.
Xavier responded. Boy, did they respond - a 14-play, 80-yard drive, every play on the ground, with Stovie and Schulte running seven times each. Schulte finished that drive with a 6-yard scoring run to put Xavier in the lead, and they never gave it up again. It was almost like the Vikings were hit by the hammer of Thor, over and over again - Decorah went three-and-out; Skala and the Xavier punt return team struck with a 69-yard return, down to the 17, where Schulte tossed a scoring pass to Matt Jordebrek. (That wasn't the last we'd see from the punt return team, by the way). Another Viking three-and-out was followed by a five-play drive; incompletion, incompletion, 15-yard Stovie run, a gorgeous 50-yard pass to Jordebrek, followed by a 5-yard TD pass to Jordebrek again.
Decorah's one bright spot in this onslaught came after that score, when Kailer McCabe took the kickoff return, blasted through the Saints kickoff team, and dashed down the far sideline with Aaron Larson in hot pursuit. It looked like it might be a touchdown return ... until McCabe lost the handle on the ball and dropped it out of bounds at the Xavier 40. The Saints held tough, even after a pass interference penalty, and all the promise of the big kick return ended with a missed field goal attempt, short and to the right. On the ensuing possession, Stovie took the handoff on a sweep after being lined up in the slot, dashing down the field with three Vikings on his heels, finally dragged down at the five by Drake Shelton after a 69-yard run. It was Decorah's turn to hold tough here, and Ben Conrad nailed a 27-yard field goal to make it 24-3 at halftime.
The second half was more of the same. Even after a Stovie fumble on the first series of the half, Decorah could get only one first down in the third quarter. Meanwhile the Saints put together another 80-yard drive, with a perfectly placed 33-yard pass from Schulte to Derrick Skala setting up a 10-yard TD throw to Nate Skala. After another Viking three-and-out, the punt return team rose to the occasion again, clearing the field and opening the way for Nate Skala to go 65 yards for the touchdown as the third quarter expired. It was 38-3, and the continuous clock would run for the rest of the game. Decorah was able to drive into Xavier territory on their next possession, but the drive ended when Jace Johnson picked up only a yard on fourth and two. Then the Saints scout team offense, just as they did against Regina the week before, put together a nice series and rolled deep into the opponent's territory, keeping the ball for eleven plays behind Patrick Chambers and Christian Klein (plus a 5-yard pass from Tyler DuPont to Drew DuPont). Klein slammed into the end zone from the 2 with 44 seconds left, and it was 45-3 - Decorah's worst defeat in over 14 years.
While we've gone over the tremendous success of Xavier's offense and special teams during this game, the defense came to play as well. Decorah rushed for 142 yards, resulting in total team offense of ... 142 yards. The Vikings had zero pass completions on the night, and just seven first downs, scoring their only points after a Xavier turnover and coming up with nothing after a huge kickoff return into Saints territory. So, yeah, things are meshing pretty well for this Xavier team in their first two games.
This week comes Davenport Assumption, who lost to Rock Island Alleman in week one before shutting out Dubuque Wahlert 37-0 last week. The Knights are another good, solid football program, perennial playoff contenders in Class 3A led by coach Wade King (who has won 120 games since 2002). In recent years Assumption's player numbers have been dropping; from what I saw they had just 22 varsity players dressed the first week and only 24 against Wahlert - but the guys on the field are good, tough, athletic football players, and they've always given Xavier a tough game.
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