Domination?

When you outgain your opponent by something close to 3 to 1, and rack up 22 first downs to their 5, you expect a blowout on the scoreboard. That isn't quite what happened at Brady Street Stadium on this third week of the high school football season, but Xavier still ran their winning streak to 29 straight with a 17-0 shutout of the previously undefeated Davenport Assumption Knights.

On a steamy, sultry night with the threat of thunderstorms looming, Xavier came out of the box looking to run all over the Knights. On the Saints' first possession they used 11 plays to move 73 yards, mostly on the ground, and scored on a 3-yard run from Jack Lux. It was 7-0, and it looked like more would be coming shortly.

Xavier's defense did its thing - holding Assumption to just 11 yards on the ground and 24 total in the first quarter - but the offense couldn't quite regain that opening swagger. Their next drive ended with a punt near midfield, and the drive after that saw a missed field goal from 39 yards out. The Knights, though, only crossed midfield once in the first half, and that was by a single yard.

After the missed field goal, Xavier held Assumption to a three-and-out, and then went back to what worked in the first quarter. Another 11-play drive, this one covering 55 yards and using the clock to near perfection, ended with one tick left in the half when Carter Diebold drilled another field goal try right through from 22 yards out. It was 10-0 at the half, but felt like it should have been plenty more.

The Saints would receive the second-half kickoff, and surely they'd pound it right in for more points, right? Well, no. On the third play, Tyler DuPont's off-target throw on the rollout was intercepted by Assumption. The Knights did get one first down on a pass interference penalty, but only got to the Xavier 36 before punting. Three plays after that - DuPont was intercepted again, on a deep throw near the Assumption 30. The Knights could do nothing against the Xavier defense that time, but on the Saints' next possession, Tyler Wilken fumbled the ball after a catch. Three straight turnovers on three possessions is enough to stifle any kind of momentum.

But then - turnabout can be fair play. After Assumption's best play of the night - a pass from Tyler Kulhanek to Simon Weitz on the far sideline, where Weitz evaded the first defender and spun downfield to the Xavier 40 - Kulhanek went to the well one time too often. His long pass down the middle of the field was overthrown and intercepted by Jaxon Rexroth, who saw the Saints defenders turn into blockers and clear the way for nice return all the way to the Assumption 38. On 3rd and 8, a quick give to fullback Nick Lemke up the middle burst into a 21-yard gain, and on the first play of the fourth quarter, DuPont kept the ball on the option to the left, cut upfield behind a block and dove into the end zone. That made it 17-0, Assumption would gain a total of 17 yards in the final quarter, and the Saints stayed unbeaten.

Plus the storms didn't arrive until just after the stadium cleared out, so that made it a win-win for everybody (well, except the Knights). Now Xavier gets an extra day to recover, with West Delaware coming to Saints Field next Friday for the final non-district game of the season. West Delaware surprisingly lost to Dubuque Wahlert the first week, but convincingly rolled over Marion last week. What kind of Hawks team do we have - the consistent 3A power with multiple district championships and playoff appearances, or the middling-record squad we saw last year? Who knows. We'll get a good idea next week.