3A No. 1 Cedar Rapids Xavier sprints past 1A No. 3 Iowa City Regina, 44-7

IOWA CITY — Cedar Rapids Xavier continues to distance itself from a fellow parochial football power.

The defending Class 3A state champion Saints collided with 1A powerhouse Iowa City Regina for the fifth year in a row. After dropping the 2014 meeting, the Saints have posted four-consecutive victories in the series by bigger and bigger margins.

Xavier senior quarterback Quinn Schulte threw four touchdown passes and ran for two more scores as the top-ranked Saints drubbed No. 3 Regina, 44-7, in the season-opener for both schools Friday night at Regina High School.

'The O-line just got a good surge going early,' Schulte said. 'Our fullback Jonny Bell was doing a good job blocking and we were able to get some good runs and passes. Our receivers did a good job outside.'

It was evident early that Regina was going to lean on the left arm of 6-foot-4 sophomore quarterback Ashton Cook — the son of Regina Coach Marv Cook — which allowed the Xavier defense to unleash its pass rush.

'Our coaching staff really made a plan to go at it,' said Xavier senior D-lineman Kyle Krezek, who collected two first-half sacks. 'We made sure we started working on pass rush instead of run, and we just took care of business.'

A promising opening Regina drive reached Saints' territory, but Cook was intercepted by Xavier senior defensive back Bryson Bastian. The turnover sparked an offensive surge that resulted in touchdowns on each of the first five possessions for Xavier.

Schulte ran for first-quarter scores of one and four yards, which were sandwiched around a Bell blocked punt that went through the Regina end zone for a safety.

In the second quarter, Schulte took advantage of some big receiving targets with touchdown passes of 21 yards to 6-foot-4 senior Matt Jordebrek, 56 yards to 6-foot-3 senior Kyle Moeder and a nine-yard shovel pass to tailback Braden Stovie for a 37-0 halftime advantage.

Moeder — who caught just four passes last season as he worked his way back from a torn right meniscus — closed the Xavier scoring with a 39-yard TD reception midway through the third quarter and finished with a game-high 113 receiving yards.

'It was awesome,' Moeder said. 'All credit goes to my line right there. My line and my quarterback. If it wasn't for them, I wouldn't have scored any of those.'

Schulte tallied 180 passing yards and 69 more on the ground. His quarterback counterpart, Cook, was 19-of-28 passing for 169 yards and a late 10-yard score to senior Patrick Clark to avoid the shutout.

Regina sophomore receiver Alec Wick led the Regals (0-1) with eight receptions for 96 yards.

'I think we have a chance to be really good,' Marv Cook said. 'That's a special group of seniors, so we are excited about it.'

Regina will step up in class again next Friday with a game against 2A foe Anamosa, while Xavier (1-0) seeks its 15th win in a row with a home contest against Decorah.

'We've got to establish good fundamentals,' Xavier Coach Duane Schulte said. 'We're going to watch the film and see how we can get better at that and try to figure out what Decorah is all about. … They're always salty and they're always tough.'

AT IOWA CITY REGINA

Class 3A No. 1 Cedar Rapids Xavier 44, 1A No. 3 Iowa City Regina 7

C.R. Xavier 16 21 7 0—44

I.C. Regina 0 0 0 7—7

CRX —

Quinn Schulte 1 run (Ben Conrad kick)

CRX —

Safety, John Bell blocked punt through end zone

CRX —

Quinn Schulte 4 run (Ben Conrad kick)

CRX —

Matt Jordebrek 21 pass from Quinn Schulte (Ben Conrad kick)

CRX —

Kyle Moeder 56 pass from Quinn Schulte (Ben Conrad kick)

CRX —

Braden Stovie 9 pass from Quinn Schulte (Ben Conrad kick)

CRX —

Kyle Moeder 39 pass from Quinn Schulte (Ben Conrad kick)

ICR —

Patrick Clark 10 pass from Ashton Cook (Michael Dunn kick)

RUSHING — C.R. Xavier: Quinn Schulte 8-69, Braden Stovie 10-62, Jon Bell 1-2, Tyler Dupont 3-15, Patrick Chambers 4-24, Christian Klein 7-27; I.C. Regina:

Kieler Brown 6-3, Ashton Cook 6-(-9), Nick Milder 2-10, Luke Stein 1-6, Levi Quinlan 1-4.

PASSING — C.R. Xavier: Quinn Schulte 9-14-0-180, Tyler Dupont 0-0-0-0; I.C. Regina:

Ashton Cook 19-28-1-169, Scott Arndt 1-3-0-7.

RECEIVING — C.R. Xavier: Kyle Moeder 3-113, Matt Jordebrek 1-21, Nathan Skala 2-5, Derrick Skala 2-32, Braden Stovie 1-9; I.C. Regina:

Patrick Clark 5-36, Alec Wick 8-96; Scott Arndt 3-16, Nick Milder 2-11, Bryce Barnett 1-10, Levi Quinlan 1-7.

l Comments: douglas.miles@thegazette.com