Williamsburg creates its own breaks, snaps Xavier’s win streak, 21-20

CEDAR RAPIDS — When the Williamsburg Raiders listed their preseason goals, the consensus No. 1 pick was simple — a Class 3A state championship.

Ian Stumpff was an outlier.

“I put down, first, ‘Beat Xavier,’” he said.

“Because I knew if we could beat them, we’d be good enough to win a state championship later on.”

Makes sense. And the Raiders pulled it off.

Ranked No. 2 in 3A, Williamsburg denied 4A top-ranked Cedar Rapids Xavier on a 2-point conversion with 1:30 left and snapped the Saints’ 14-game win streak, 21-20, in a non-district football game Friday night at Saints Field.

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Photos: Williamsburg at Cedar Rapids Xavier

“They’re the defending 4A champs, and this is going to help us a lot with out confidence and energy,” Williamsburg’s Rayce Heitman said.

The Raiders (2-0) scored 21 consecutive points and took a 21-7 lead into the final 8 minutes.

Xavier (1-1) scored a touchdown — Adam Cook connected with Coleton Beasler-Weber on a 31-yard halfback pass — with 5:01 left, then added another on Ronan Thomas’ QB sneak with 90 seconds to go.

With his team owning the momentum, Xavier Coach Duane Schulte went for two points, and the win. But the Raiders forced an incompletion, recovered the onside kick and capped one of the biggest regular-season wins in school history.

“They’re a good football team,” Schulte said of the Raiders. “We made some mistakes, and you can’t do that against a team like that.”

Xavier led 7-0 at halftime. But a missed field goal, a muffed punt, an interception (and long return), a holding call that nullified a touchdown, and a long punt return combined to do in the Saints despite a 359-175 advantage in yards.

Williamsburg made its own breaks, and capitalized.

“We knew we could come here and win if we played our game,” Heitman said.

The muffed punt — recovered by the Raiders at the Xavier 17-yard line — led to the first touchdown, a 10-yard pass from Kellen Cockrell to Clayten Steckly.

Then it was a long punt return, which led to Cockrell’s 23-yard scoring strike to Braylon Wetjen that put the Raiders up 14-7.

Xavier appeared to be driving for the tying touchdown, marching to the 2, but Stumpff stepped in front of a pass in the flat and returned it 64 yards.

“If I stayed where I was supposed to be, I thought he might throw it in my area,” Stumpff said.

Cockrell hit Wetjen two plays later for a 24-yard score and a 21-7 lead. Then the Raiders held on.

“We have a brotherhood here,” said Cockrell, who passed for 159 yards and three TDs.

Xavier scored on its second drive, thanks to a short field provided by an interception by Lucas Frost at the Williamsburg 28.

A 19-yard pass from Thomas to Carter Hoffmann got the Saints inside the 10, then Thomas scored two plays later on a 1-yard quarterback sneak.

It remained 7-0 throughout the rest of the half.

Beasler-Weber finished 318 total yards, rushing 26 times for 203 and catching five passes for 115.

Xavier welcomes Clear Creek Amana next week; Xavier hosts Western Dubuque.

Williamsburg 21, Cedar Rapids Xavier 20

At Saints Field

TEAM STATISTICS

First downs: Wmsbg 9, CRX 17

Rushes-yards: Wmsbg 19-16, CRX 46-211

Passing yards: Wmsbg 159, CRX 148

Passing: Wmsbg 14-26-2, CRX 8-14-1

Total yards: Wmsbg 175, CRX 359

Fumbles-lost: Wmsbg 0-0, CRX 0-0

Punts-average: Wmsbg 6-42.2, CRX 6-35.0

Penalties-yards: Wmsbg 3-15, CRX 4-25

SCORING SUMMARY

Williamsburg 0 0 14 7 — 21

C.R. Xavier 7 0 0 13 — 20

CRX — Ronan Thomas 1 run (Brady Kruse kick)

Wmsbg — Clayten Steckly 10 pass from Kellen Cockrell (Logan Rethwisch kick)

Wmsbg — Braylon Wetjen 23 pass from Cockrell (Rethwisch kick)

Wmsbg — Wetjen 24 pass from Cockrell (Rethwisch kick)

CRX — Coleton Beasler-Weber 31 pass from Adam Cook (Kruse kick)

CRX — Thomas 2 run (pass failed)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing

Williamsburg — Nile Sinn 11-13, Cael Moore 1-4, Kellen Cockrell 3-1, Team 4-(minus 2). Xavier — Coleton Beasler-Weber 26-203, Carter Hoffmann 3-18, Noah Schimberg 2-16, Ronan Thomas 14-(minus 27).

Passing

Williamsburg — Cockrell 14-26-2-159. Xavier — Thomas 7-13-1-117, Adam Cook 1-1-0-31.

Receiving

Williamsburg — Clayten Steckly 6-64, Braylon Wetjen 5-61, Rayce Heitman 2-30, Derek Weisskopf 1-4. Xavier — Beasler-Weber 5-115, Hoffmann 2-27, Grant Helmle 1-6.

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com