Max Duggan’s kryptonite as a super high school senior: Cedar Rapids Xavier

Maybe Georgia should have called Cedar Rapids Xavier football defensive coordinator Jim O’Connell for tips on how to slow down TCU quarterback Max Duggan.

O’Connell laughed when he heard that suggestion. However, he and his 2018 Saints defensive players can say that they did what few college teams have done this season, which is slow Duggan down.

Xavier beat Duggan’s Council Bluffs Lewis Central team in a state Class 3A playoff battle of unbeatens in the semifinals, 37-13. It was the last high school game of Duggan’s career. The Saints defeated Western Dubuque the following week to win the 3A title.

Monday night, Duggan will quarterback underdog TCU against the Bulldogs of Georgia in a different championship game, that of the College Football Playoff. He’ll have people cheering him who once were his high school opponents.

“I want him to win,” O’Connell said.

“I’m a fan of his now for sure,” said Pat McGinn, who was a defensive back on that Xavier team. “I’m definitely rooting for him.”

Duggan wasn’t some sleeper who emerged once he got to college. He was offered a scholarship first by Iowa and Iowa State in 2016, then by a who’s who of college football, including Georgia, Ohio State, Notre Dame and Oregon.

He was a four-star prospect regarded as the third-best dual-threat quarterback in the class of 2019. He passed for 24 touchdowns and rushed for 25 in his senior year at Lewis Central.

“I remember him being super-competitive, fired up and ready to go,” McGinn said.

Duggan simply ran into a better team. He completed 11 of 18 passes for 147 yards and a touchdown against the Saints, and rushed 11 times for just 31 yards. He also had a receiving touchdown on a reverse pass.

But Xavier’s defense kept Duggan boxed in for much of the game, and left the rest to its own offense. Current Iowa defensive back Quinn Schulte rushed for 152 yards and three touchdowns, and Braden Stovie rushed for 94. The Saints scored a lot of points and ate a lot of clock.

“We just couldn’t get our defense off the field,” Lewis Central Coach Jim Duggan said after the game.

“Our goal was to not let him have the ball if we could,” said O’Connell.

The Saints got good use out of their scout team in the day leading up to the win over Lewis Central. Xavier’s coaches and players spoke highly of Max Duggan then, and still do.

“I knew he’d be successful,” O’Connell said. “You can tell that about certain kids. It was how he handled himself and how he threw the ball.

“But nobody knows the path they’ll take. TCU was a good school for him. They brought him along, and here he is.”

“I remember when we learned we were playing him I said he’s going on to win the Heisman,” said McGinn, who plays baseball at Indiana Tech in Fort Wayne. “It wasn’t until we started preparing for that game that we found out he was the real deal.

Duggan was the Heisman runner-up to USC quarterback Caleb Williams. Duggan has passed for 32 touchdowns and 3,546 yards this season for the 13-1 Horned Frogs, and has rushed for 461 yards and 8 scores.

“I think it’s awesome,” O’Connell said. “It’s incredible, the things he’s been able to do. It’s a great thing for an Iowa kid to be able to excel at that level.

“I would like to think maybe we helped him a little bit, because you learn from your disappointments. He’s sure done that.”

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