Xavier heads to 3A needing to rebuild on defense

CEDAR RAPIDS - It was the best defense Cedar Rapids Xavier has had, perhaps the best defense it will have. And it has been completely gutted by graduation.

Only linebacker Nik Ekland returns from a unit that posted eight shutouts last season and was the main reason for a return trip to the Class 4A state championship game.

Ten of the top 11 tacklers are gone, as are the guys responsible for all eight of the team's interceptions. The departed include end Matt Nelson, now at Iowa, and tackle Daniel Vega, who signed with Wyoming but left the school this summer and appears to be headed to Iowa as a walk-on.

As scary as that is for everyone in Saints land to realize, it gets only worse when you consider the season-opening opponent. That's none other than West Des Moines Dowling and Hawkeye-bound quarterback Ryan Boyle.

He put six touchdowns (two passing, four rushing) on Xavier in last season's 44-13 title game win.

'It's just like facing any other quarterback,” insisted senior cornerback Camden Stovie. 'He was dominant in that game last year, but we've still got to read our keys. Basically, we're going to have to have some people step up. I'm not too concerned. I think we can do it.”

'He's really good, but doing this for over 20 years, we've coached against a bunch of Division I players,” Xavier Coach Duane Schulte said. 'I don't know if you can really ever stop him. You just try to play the game and win.”

All the other Metro schools shunned Xavier when it was determined last winter that Mississippi Valley Conference football was ending and this side of the state would join central and western Iowa in Class 4A district play. As a result, Xavier decided it would play at its enrollment classification (3A) for the first time.

In-town rivals (even nearby Cedar Rapids Kennedy) passed when it came to scheduling the Saints, but they relied on parochial brethren to build a non-district schedule. It's at Dowling in Week One, at Davenport Assumption in Week Two and hosts Iowa City Regina in Week Eight.

That latter game appears especially tantalizing considering Regina's four-consecutive Class 1A state championships and state-record 56-game win streak.

District opponents include perennial powerhouse Solon. Schulte has bristled when people have suggested to him Xavier will dominate its new class (a la Sioux City Heelan), saying that's disrespecting other 3A teams.

'We've never played 3A, so we don't know (how it will go),” Schulte said. 'We'll find out what happens. We really don't know. If I could predict the future and what happens, I wouldn't be in this profession, that's for sure. I'd be buying Powerball tickets.”

'3A is a good class, too,” said senior offensive lineman Jon Meskimen. 'There are going to be big players like we saw in 4A. There is good competition. We'll have to keep up our game like we did in 4A and not get too mentally complacent.”

Though inexperience abounds for the 2014 Saints on both sides of the football, the overall numbers in the program continue to be large. There are 71 varsity players, including a whopping 44 seniors, with very few guys expected to play both ways.

Those seniors, by the way, didn't lose a game as freshmen and lost just once as sophomores. They realize it is their turn to try and continue the strong tradition Schulte has built at the school.

'It's just like any other year,” Stovie said. 'People aren't going to expect us to come out and be as good as we were last year because we are missing so many guys. But you go back to our freshmen and sophomore years, we've all played together. We are all comfortable with each other. We'll get through this year just fine, will do just as big of things in 3A.”

Schulte won't name a starting quarterback yet, though his son, Bryce, a sophomore, is a strong possibility. Jay Kortemeyer and Ekland would seem to be important backs, with Joe Welch a possibility as one of the team's receivers.

Then there's that defense. Ekland will have to lead the way, but Schulte said he needs to concentrate on playing his position and no one else's.

'The thing with him is he's got to lead by effort and example,” Schulte said. 'But he can't try to do too much, either, because everybody has one job to do. If you try to cover for somebody else, then you leave an open space. That's going to screw us up, too. He's got to do whatever his job is and have everyone else do theirs.

'There are always new dynamics to a season. Each year creates new dynamics. Even last year, when we had so many guys back from our 2012 runner-up team, those were different dynamics than in 2012. Every year is different.”

What usually isn't different is success. This season promises to bring more of it.

Coach: Duane Schulte (17th year at Xavier/21st overall, 111-59 record/136-73 overall)

Last year: 12-2 (lost to West Des Moines Dowling in Class 4A state championship game)

Key returners: FB/LB Nic Ekland, L Louis Hasley, L Tim Otting, FB Jay Kortemeyer.

Key losses: DT Daniel Vega, DE Matt Nelson, RB Brendan Miller, OL Cole Turner, DB Miles Sullivan, QB Quinton Scholer, WR Bryce Grimm, DE Hunter Baldus.

Key to making playoffs: Continued improvement from a very inexperienced team. Don't get discouraged if first two non-district games don't go well.

Game to watch: How about the opener at West Des Moines Dowling, a rematch of last season's Class 4A state championship game? The October 17 game against four-time defending state champ Iowa City Regina is a tad intriguing. OK, greatly intriguing.

Schedule

Aug. 29 - at WDM Dowling

Sept. 5 - at Assumption

Sept. 12 - Solon

Sept. 19 - at DeWitt Cent

Sept. 26 - Maquoketa

Oct. 3 - Western Dubuque

Oct. 10 - at Dub. Wahlert

Oct. 17 - Iowa City Regina

Oct. 24 - Marion

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