Saints stymie Cedar Falls, 14-0

CEDAR RAPIDS -- On a night in which the offense sputtered, the defense made a big play and the special teams provided the knockout blow.Class 4A fourth-ranked Cedar Rapids Xavier picked up its fifth shutout of the season, and the Saints scored twice in the fourth quarter to defeat Cedar Falls, 14-0, in an MVC Valley Division football game Friday night at Saints Field."It was just a tense, solid, good high school football game," said Xavier Coach Duane Schulte. "From the first quarter on, it seemed it would come down to who made a big play.The Saints (7-1 overall, 4-1 division) made two of them -- 0ne 0n defense, one on special teams.With the game still scoreless early in the fourth quarter, Logan Clarahan put a hit on Cedar Falls running back Eli Berregaard, forcing a fumble that Xavier's Andrew Khairallah recovered at the Tigers 33-yard line."The front line did a great job all night, and it allowed the linebackers to move," Clarahan said. "I guess I was in the right place at the right time to make a play."Eight plays later, the Saints were in the end zone and on the board.Quinton Scholer hit Matt Nelson on third-and-goal from the 4, and Nelson slithered into the end zone. Ryan Persick's PAT made it 7-0 with 8:07 to go.That would have been enough, but Wes Gardner tacked on an insurance touchdown, a 62-yard punt return after the Tigers (5-3, 3-3) were forced to punt for the ninth time of the game.Gardner gathered the kick at the Xavier 38, got a key block from Nic Ekland and sprinted down the left sideline untouched."The guys set up the perfect wall," Gardner said. "The play was going left all the way, and I was trying to get yardage as quick as I could."Xavier prevailed despite managing just 158 yards of total offense and punting nine times. As a reward, it stayed in a first-place tie with Cedar Rapids Washington (a 21-14 winner at Cedar Rapids Prairie) atop the Valley Division with one week to go.The Saints close the regular season next week at Linn-Mar.Berregaard rushed for 164 yards on 27 carries for the Tigers, but his lone fumble was costly. Until then, neither team penetrated the red zone.In the first half, Xavier had the ball six times and punted it away six times. Cedar Falls had six possessions -- five ended with punts, the sixth was ended by the half.There was one big play, a 41-yard run by Berregaard. But that ultimately did nothing but flip field position in Cedar Falls' favor for the rest of the half.Xavier's Brendan Miller rushed for 91 yards on 30 carries.

CR Xavier 14, Cedar Falls 0

AT SAINTS FIELD

TEAM STATISTICS

Cedar Falls

CR Xavier

First downs

11

7

Rushes-yards

34 - 188

38 - 99

Passing yards

30

59

Comp-Att-Int

6 - 26 - 0

7 - 15 - 0

Total yards

218

158

Fumbles-lost

1 - 1

1 - 1

Punts-average

9 - 33.6

9 - 30.6

Penalties-yards

4 - 29

3 - 28

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing:  Cedar Falls – Eli Berregaard 27-164 , Trey Hansen 4-12 , Denison Harrington 2-8 , Benjamin Fienup 1-4  CR Xavier – Brendan Miller 30-91 , Quinton Scholer 2-6 , Jay Kortemeyer 1-3 , Matt Sander 1-1 , Deniel Vega 1-0

Passing:  Cedar Falls – Hansen 6-26-0-30  CR Xavier – Scholer 7-15-0-59

Receiving:  Cedar Falls – Kyle Boomgarden 2-21 , Marquise Busch 2-4 , Matthew Fritz 1-11 , Tyler Schmidt 1-4  CR Xavier – Bryce Grimm 2-25 , Hunter Baldes 1-13 , Frank Hill 1-9 , Colin O'Connell 1-8 , Matt Nelson 1-4 , Wes Gardner 1-0

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Cedar Falls

–

CR Xavier

14

–

14

SCORING SUMMARY

CRX - Matt Nelson 4 pass from Quinton Scholer (Ryan Persick kick)

CRX - Wes Gardner 62 punt return (Persick kick