Cedar Rapids Xavier wins Class 4A state football championship convincingly, 31-6, over Pella

CEDAR FALLS - Dave Gearhart has an appointment with a local barber Monday. It’s 13 weeks in the making.

The longtime Cedar Rapids Xavier football statistician doesn’t get his hair cut during the season, just right before it begins and then right after it’s over. Superstitions and everything.

By the way, “longtime” doesn’t even really begin to describe Gearhart, considering this was his 53rd season crunching numbers for Xavier and parochial forerunner Cedar Rapids LaSalle. The guy has totaled passing, rushing, receiving yards and the like for over a half-century, seen his share of great football teams and a ton of wins.

“That’s why I get frustrated when I watch Iowa play,” Gearhart light-heartedly said.

There was no frustration with this Xavier team. None at all.

Just 13 straight wins and a state championship.

Carter Hoffman ran for 207 yards and three first-half touchdowns as the Saints went wire to wire number one, knocking off Pella in Thursday’s Class 4A title game, 31-6, at the UNI-Dome. It’s the fifth state football championship for Xavier, its second in four years.

“I think these guys came into the season, us coaches did, too, not wanting any drama,” said Xavier Coach Duane Schulte. “We weren’t going to accept any drama, we were just going to accept everybody having one goal. That goal really was to get better every day. If you do that, then maybe you can win a state championship.

“We didn’t preach to them starting off about winning a state championship. We preached to them to be good teammates, care about each other, don’t have drama and get better every day. Then good things can happen.”

Xavier rallied from 14 points down to outlast Newton in last week’s semifinals, 31-24. You kind of had a feeling that might have been the title game, even though Pella (11-2) beat Newton in the regular season by two points.

Turns out it was, as Xavier dominated the line of scrimmage, particularly offensively. Hoffmann was able to run by and through Pella defenders all night, accruing 160 yards rushing on 20 carries in the first half alone.

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That included a 5-yard touchdown run in the first quarter and TD runs of 37 and 4 yards, respectively, in the second. Xavier piled up 15 first downs to Pella’s four in the opening half and had a yardage advantage of 237-76.

“That just kind of happened,” Hoffmann said of his 34 carries. “We just went with how the game was, didn’t plan on this. It felt a lot less than 34 ... I just knew I had to keep going, knew I had to keep picking up first downs. My line did a great job the whole time.”

“Just kind of riding the horse that got us here,” Schulte said.

Xavier’s defense also did a nice job limiting back Emmanuel Diers, Pella’s top offensive threat. Diers had over 2,000 yards rushing and receiving coming into the game and finished with 157 combined yards, 47 coming on one carry.

He didn’t get loose much other than that and had to earn his yards. Pella had first-and-goal at the Xavier 10 in the third quarter but turned it over on downs, and reached the Saints 17 in the fourth quarter but did not score.

A long touchdown pass with under four minutes left broke the shutout. Xavier was ahead at the time, 31-0, as Cash Parks hit Ryan Kelly with a 33-yard TD pass in the third quarter and Ty Weiss kicked a 22-yard field goal in the fourth.

“I just think overall our guys were a little more settled down tonight,” Schulte said. “Not that they weren’t focused last week, but I think they were just a little more set in what they had to do. They executed.”

“Last two years, we weren’t really happy with how we finished,” said Xavier linebacker Jack Schimberg, of 2023 and 2024 seasons that ended in the playoff quarterfinals. “But that was in the backs of our minds this whole time this year. This was our goal the entire year. Whenever something went wrong, we never let up.”

Schimberg is a wonderful story of perseverance. He blew out separate knees his sophomore and junior seasons. But he stayed healthy this season and won a championship.

“It’s all worth it,” he said. “Especially staying healthy for the first time in three years, it’s a good feeling obviously. I’ve got to do it for my guys.”

Schulte has been the head coach all five of Xavier’s championships. Though retirement isn’t too far around the corner, surely he’ll come back and coach next season.

The large number of important players coming back means Xavier almost definitely will be No. 1 in 4A at the start of 2026.

“This means a lot,” Schulte said, through tears. “I’ve had a lot of good players, I’ve had a lot of good assistant coaches. And a great family.”

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Cedar Rapids Xavier 31, Pella 6

(At UNI-Dome)

Pella 0 0 0 6- 6

C.R. Xavier 7 14 7 3-31

Team Statistics

First Downs - Pella 10, Xavier 25. Rushes-Yards - Pella 22-101, Xavier 48-279. Passing - Pella 10-21-1-164, Xavier 11-16-0-143. Total Yards - Pella 265, Xavier 422. Punts-Average - Pella 5-31.6, Xavier 2-38.0. Penalties-Yards - Pella 3-15, Xavier 1-5. Fumbles-Lost - Pella 1-0, Xavier 0-0.

Individual Statistics

Pella - Rushing: Emmanuel Diers 18-107, Tyson Roose 1-11, Michael Manning 3-(minus) 17. Passing: Michael Manning 10-20-1-164, Emmanuel Diers 0-1-0-0. Receiving: Logan VanDenBroek 1-74, Emmanuel Diers 4-50, Austin Schulte 2-26, Blake DeHeus 1-5, Hunter Brummel 1-5, Harrison Mullens 1-4.

Xavier - Rushing: Carter Hoffmann 34-207, Ryan Kelly 5-43, Dustin Cook 4-23, Cash Parks 1-8, Dawson Doyle 1-1, Team 3-(minus) 3. Passing: Cash Parks 11-16-0-143. Receiving: Ryan Kelly 2-35, Ty Weiss 1-33, A.J. Evans 4-29, Sam Leuck 2-28, Dustin Cook 1-15, Carter Hoffmann 1-3.

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