Top-ranked Xavier dominates 1st half, knocks off Benton Community, 31-21

CEDAR RAPIDS - Duane Schulte channeled his inner Dennis Green when asked where he thought his Cedar Rapids Xavier football team is one-third of the way through the season.

The black and white of it is the Saints are ranked No. 1 in Class 3A and 3-0 after a 31-21 home win Friday night over Benton Community.

'Like he used to say ‘We are who we thought we (were),'” Schulte said, mimicking the old Minnesota Vikings and Arizona Cardinals head coach and his well-known tirade to the media after a loss to the Chicago Bears. 'I just think we are who we are. We've got a lot of work to do to get better. But I've got to give our guys credit because they are working hard. We had one starter back from last year, and he's playing a different position.

'I love coaching these kids. They are trying to do everything we are asking them to do.”

Xavier opened district play by running out to a 24-0 lead and sort of hanging on. Benton Community (2-1, 0-1) rallied within 24-14 with 3:27 left, but fullback Joey Drahozal's 44-yard touchdown run on a 4th-and-1 play sealed the deal. Xavier got 102 yards rushing and three total TDs (one passing) from quarterback Quinn Schulte.

'The offensive line was getting a good surge in the first half,” Quinn Schulte said. 'We put together some drives there, our defense was able to get some stops. But we really need to be able to pick it up a little bit. Their offense was very good in the second half.”

Xavier outgained Benton in the first half, 234-41, but the Bobcats were able to use the pass to get within shouting distance. QB Spencer Touro threw for 162 yards and two scores, with Benton taking advantage of multiple pass-interference penalties as well.

Poor Xavier cornerback Gabe Lux had to defend at least a dozen long fade patterns in the game, doing a great job most of the way but also getting flagged a couple of times as Benton made its second-half push.

'Yeah, sometimes I did,” Lux said, when asked if he felt he was on an island. 'But their offense is great. Spencer Touro is a great quarterback, threw a bunch of great balls. (Koal Marshall) was a really good receiver. They had a lot of weapons, but it just worked out for us tonight.”

'The game just had a funny flow to it. At least for us,” Coach Schulte said. 'That first half, it seemed like we had good rhythm, good flow. Then I think we got a first down there somewhere in the third quarter, got a penalty called on us, that brought us back and just screwed up our rhythm and flow. We were being called for pass interference there up the ying-yang and that killed us. Just one of those weird games.”

Quinn Schulte had an 11-yard TD run five minutes in for the game's first points, then hit Drahozal out of the backfield for a 19-yard score early in the second. Schulte's 5-yard TD off an option run made it 21-0 at halftime.

A long return of the second-half kickoff by Justin Schneider set up Ben Conrad's 27-yard field goal to make it a 24-0 game. Benton put together a long drive capped by a 1-yard TD plunge from running back Matthew Davis, a two-point pass from Touro to Parker Nolan making it 24-8 early in the fourth quarter.

Marshall's 30-yard TD catch off of, what else, a fade pattern made it 24-14 with 3:27 to go, with Xavier stopping an important two-point attempt. After Drahozal's clinching touchdown run, Touro connected with Nathan Michels for a 17-yard touchdown for the final points.

l Comments: (319) 398-8259; jeff.johnson@thegazette.com