Trojans too much for Saints

IOWA CITY – Too fast. Too strong. Simply just too much.

Iowa City West put on show for its Homecoming crowd, tallying 413 yards and handling Cedar Rapids Xavier, 49-19, in a Mississippi Valley Conference Valley Division football game Friday night at Trojan Field.

The win extended Class 4A ninth-ranked West's win streak to three games and the Trojans are now 5-1.

“This is definitely a big statement game for us,” said West's Anthony Brown, who had a touchdown run and two sacks defensively. “We weren't looking for any other game for a Homecoming game. ... We were really looking for a big-time game.”

West grabbed control from the opening snap, driving 75 yards on nine plays on its opening possession. The Trojans kept Xavier off balance running a no-huddle offense, capping the series on a Richard Bryant 2-yard run.

The Trojans dominated most aspects of the game, especially at the line of scrimmage. West scored touchdowns on its first five possessions without giving up a touchdown until about midway through the fourth quarter. The Trojans racked up 169 yards on the ground and holding Xavier to a little more than 300 total yards.

“For us to come out against a program like Xavier and absolutely dominate the line of scrimmage is such a credit to our kids on both lines,” Sauser said. “We're very pleased with our kids and the effort they've given over the course of the year.”

West's standout QB Charles Rogers torched the Saints, throwing for three touchdowns and icing the game in the final minutes of the third quarter with a 68-yard TD run to give the Trojans a 42-6 lead. He had 244 passing yards, completing 11 of 15 attempts. He added 80 rushing yards.

“Charlie's a great athlete,” Sauser said. “He's really been on throwing the football over the course of the past few games.”

The Trojans capitalized on two Xavier miscues right before halftime to break the game wide open.

Xavier had a miscue on a punt, turning it over deep in its own territory that resulted in Rogers lofting a pass just over a leaping Xavier defender for a 23-yard TD to Dondre Alexander with 2:20 to play in the second quarter. The Saints drove into West territory on the next possession, but fumbled the ball away.

Rogers hit Mondo Williams on a slant pass down the middle of the field. Williams bounced off a couple Xavier defenders and was off to the races for a 63-yard touchdown for a 34-6 halftime lead.

Rogers hit Williams on a similar in the first quarter that resulted in a 37-yard TD in the opening quarter for a 14-3 West advantage. Williams finished with 152 receiving yards on three catches.

“When you're covering Mondo one-on-one with no safety help you're going to be in trouble,” Sauser said. “Charlie did a good job of throwing them in and Mondo did a great job of reading the coverage and finding the seam.”

The Trjans continued their scoring outburst that started on this very field three weeks ago. West has scored 162 points the last three weeks, following a lopsided loss to Iowa City High on Sept. 9. The team has rallied from the disappointment felt in the being blown out in the "Battle for the Boot."

“We always tell ourselves before the game we will never have the same feeling we had the City High game,” Brown said. “We try to come out and use that as our motivator. It worked out tonight.”

West added a score with just 15 seconds left when Bryant rushed in for his second score of the game. Sauser was asked about considering taking a knee late, since the game had long been in hand.

“I'll tell you this,” Sauser said, “I don't think anyone has ever taken a knee on us since I've been here.”

The Saints (3-3) got two fourth-quarter touchdown runs from Matt Hansen, who finished with 83 yards. Carter Valentine the MVC Valley division's leading rusher finished with 144. Chad Gilmer put Xavier on the board in the first half with a 35 and 42 yard field goal. West's athleticism was just too much, but that and the turnovers may not have been the difference in Xavier's third straight loss to a top-10 foe.

“I think they came ready to play tonight and we didn't,” Xavier Coach Duane Schulte said. "Plus, I just think they're better than us.”

TEAM STATISTICS

CR Xavier

IC West

First downs

17

15

Rushes-yards

51 - 253

30 - 169

Passing yards

56

244

Comp-Att-Int

5 - 6 - 0

11 - 16 - 0

Total yards

309

413

Fumbles-lost

4 - 1

0 - 0

Punts-average

1 - 36.0

2 - 37.5

Penalties-yards

3 - 27

3 - 25

Rushing:

 CR Xavier –

Carter Valentine 25-144 ,

Matt Hansen 12-83 ,

Zach Brown 1-24 ,

Jordan Weber 1-4 ,

Nick Hazelton 1-0 ,

Reggie Schulte 10--3 ,

Team 1-1

 IC West –

Charles Rogers 9-80 ,

Richard Bryant 12-41 ,

Anthony Brown 6-34 ,

Dondre Alexander 1-9 ,

Team 1-5

Passing:

 CR Xavier –

Schulte 5-6-0-56

 IC West –

Rogers 11-15-0-244 ,

Xavier May 0-1-0-0

Receiving:

 CR Xavier –

Weber 1-46 ,

Jordan Hoffman 1-9 ,

Corbin Woods 1-8 ,

Valentine 1-1 ,

Hansen 1--8

 IC West –

Mondo Williams 3-152 ,

Alexander 4-63 ,

Jeremy Morgan 4-29

CR Xavier

3

3

13

–

19

IC West

14

20

8

7

–

49

ICW - Bryant 2 run (Alex Troester)

CRX - FG Chad Gilmer 35

ICW - Williams 37 pass from Rogers (Troester kick)

CRX - FG Gilmer 42

ICW - Brown 4 run (kick blocked)

ICW - Alexander 23 pass from Rogers (Troester kick)

ICW - Williams 63 pass from Rogers (Troester kick)

ICW - Rogers 68 run (Bryant rush)

CRX - Hansen 2 run (Gilmer kick)

CRX - Hansen 4 run (pass failed)

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ICW - Bryant 1 run (Troester kick)