Game Blog: C.R. Xavier at C.R. Prairie (Updated at 9:56 p.m.)

My daughter wants to be a cheerleader. At least that's what she says today. Looks like she's in the majority. A giant group of grade school girls participated in a cheer clinic at Cedar Rapids Prairie. They crowded the track at John Wall Field and lead cheers during the varsity warm-ups.Enough of the pleasantries. It's about time for battle. Kickoff for the varsity game should be about 7:27 p.m.Prairie won the toss and is kicking off, defending the North end zone. Three people in the pressbox and one junior high student in the stands had to explain to me that the Xavier fans WERE NOT sitting on the North side of the field. I failed geography, among other subjects.

GAME LOG STARTS HERE!!!! We're one minute from kickoff. Prairie is kicking off to Xavier.Xavier goes 3-and-out on three Pat Chizek runs. Prairie takes over on Xavier 38 after a tip punted goes for nine yards. Tanner Riley has wind at his back and makes a 52-yd FG, but a penalty for illegal procedure negates it. He comes up 5 yards short on the next try and Xavier takes over.Still 0-0 with 6 min. to play in first. Wind making big impacted, killing two Xavier punts allowing Prairie to start on Saints' 38 and 35. All Hawks have to show for it is two missed FGs.Punting into the wind out here is nearlt impossible. Three Xavier punts, which looked like they were kicked well go 9, 15 and 14 yards, respectively. It's allow Prairie to start in Xavier territory all three drives, including the 15 this current drive.Tanner Riley hits 25-yd FG to give Prairie a 3-0 lead with 25 seconds to play in first.Pat Chizek gets Xavier on the board with a 60-yard TD run. Chad Gilmer makes PAT and Xavier up 7-3 with 9:30 to go in 2nd. Poor tackling from Prairie and a nice juke that shook two defenders out of their shoes.After a Prairie 3-and-out, Andy Didio connects with nathan Even on a 49-yd. TD pass to make it, 14-3. with 7:17 to go in 2nd. It's paying to have the wind at your back, even if the first score was earned by the run.Got to play to the whistle boys. Chaz Boots hits Sam Joens on an rollout pass and while near the sideline Jones is hit, looks to be over but Jones keeps churning and then breaks free and rumbles 79 yards for a TD. PAT good and it's 14-10 Xavier with 4:02.We are at halftime. Xavier leads Prairie, 14-10.Xavier shooting themselves in the foot. One drive that backed them to the 1-yd line had three straight holding penalties. Prairie hasn't been able to take advantage except for the big pass play from Boots to Joens.The Hawks' Boots is 2-for-6 passing for 79 yards. Jacob VanWinkle has been solid with a straight dive play, rushing for 32 yards on four carries. Maybe running up the gut is how they need to attack Xavier.Andy Didio is 3 of 5 for 55 yards, including a 49-yard strike to Nathan Even. Pat Chizek is having a strong first half with 113 yards on 12 carries. The biggest stat so far is six penalties for 51 yards.First points of the second half come from a Gilmer 19-yd field goal. Xavier up 17-10 with 1:37 to go in the third. Set up by a 37-pass from Didio to Even and a 13-yd pass from Didio to jared Volz.Prairie moves the ball deep into Xavier territory but Xavier with an INT to thwart the threat. At the end of the third, Xavier leads, 17-10.Scoreless 4th and Xavier milks the last few minutes to hold on to 17-10 win.