Cedar Rapids Xavier rolls past Winterset to reach Class 4A football championship game

CEDAR FALLS — Everyone needs a good kicker. Everyone needs a good kicker-tight end.

Everyone needs a good defense.

Cedar Rapids Xavier had all of them and more Thursday night. Trysten Vasquez kicked four field goals, caught a touchdown pass, and the Saints slowed dynamic running back Dawson Forgy in a 40-14 win over Winterset in a Class 4A state playoff semifinal at the UNI-Dome.

Second-ranked Xavier (11-1) will play No. 3 Lewis Central (10-2) in next week’s title tilt. It’s the sixth championship appearance for the school, its first since back-to-back 3A championships in 2017 and 2018.

Xavier also won the 2006 Class 4A title.

“This means a lot, especially with this group. Just really good kids. I couldn’t be happier for them,” an emotional Xavier Coach Duane Schulte said. “Overall, I thought our kids played hard. Coaches never really know what to say immediately after a game because it’s such a blur. You’ve got to watch film. Like we said to them earlier this week, you’re going to play hard, you’ve got big hearts. That’s how they played tonight.”

» Photo gallery: Cedar Rapids Xavier vs. Winterset in state football semifinals

The Saints scored 30 unanswered points in this one between the second and fourth quarters. They actually trailed, 7-3, after Forgy had a 76-yard touchdown run down the right sideline late in the first.

But the senior back, who came into this game with over 2,100 yards rushing and a 4A-leading 37 touchdowns, did not get off much outside of that run when the game was still in the balance. He finished with 145 yards on 15 carries, accounting for both of No. 7 Winterset’s TDs.

“We just made some adjustments,” said Xavier linebacker Christian Stanek. “Detain, get outside on those down blocks. We just listened to our coaches, made those adjustments ... We felt pretty ready for what they were giving us.”

Xavier took the lead for good on a 30-yard TD pass from quarterback Alex Neal to Vasquez with just under three minutes to go in the first half, got another Neal touchdown pass right before the half (an 8-yarder to Josef Lemker) and rolled in the second half.

Vasquez, a left-footer, came into this game 41 for 42 on extra points, 11 for 15 in field goals and 27 kickoff touchbacks. He was perfect here, nailing field goals of 29, 30, 31 and 38 yards, connecting on all three of his extra points and consistently pinning Winterset’s offense with touchbacks.

Quite a nice secret weapon. And the dude had never been a kicker before this season.

“Last year, I was on the scout team, got to stand on the sidelines,” Vasquez said. “This year, we’re missing a lot of our former starters, have new players out there. So I decided I might as well try out for kicker. I’ve played soccer before, it’s just like kicking a (soccer) ball. I was able to impress the coaches, kick off and got to start at tight end. I think last year having good role models to watch helped me improve myself, this being my first time in this position.”

“We’ve had a lot of really good kickers over the years, and a lot of them are soccer players. He’s a soccer player,” Schulte said. “He’s got the gumption to play football, too.”

Neal had a fine all-around game, completing 10 of 12 passes for 155 yards and two touchdowns. He also rushed 22 times for 73 yards and another TD.

“It was just getting drives. As simple as that,” Neal said.

Vasquez opened the scoring with his 38-yard field goal with just 1:28 left in the first quarter and added a 31-yarder early in the second. In between those two kicks was Forgy’s electrifying touchdown.

A 28-yarder made it 23-7 Xavier early in the third quarter, and the Saints stuffed a fourth-and-2 running play later in the quarter from a desperate Winterset team that gambled and went for it deep in its own territory, which eventually led to a 1-yard TD plunge from Will Hiserote.

Christian Stanek later added another 1-yard touchdown run for the Saints, whose only loss this season came in Week 4 to top-ranked North Scott. The Lancers were upset in the first round of the playoffs by Decorah.

Xavier’s time-of-possession advantage in the first half was 15:43 to 8:17, a theme in this game. The final TOP numbers were 29:35 for Xavier and 18:25 for Winterset (9-3).

Neal was asked what he remembered about the 2017 and ‘18 championship games. He was a fan in the UNI-Dome stands.

“It was exciting,” he said. “Now we want to do the same thing.”

Cedar Rapids Xavier 40, Winterset 14

(At UNI-Dome)

Winterset 7 0 0 7-14

C.R. Xavier 3 17 3 17-40

Team Statistics

First Downs - Winterset 11, Xavier 18. Rushes-Yards - Winterset 30-160, Xavier 49-189. Passing Yards - Winterset 119, Xavier 155. Comp.-Att.-Int. - Winterset 8-19-2, Xavier 10-12-0. Total Yards - Winterset 279, Xavier 344. Punts-Avg. - Winterset 5-39.2, Xavier 2-33.0. Penalties-Yards - Winterset 4-25, Xavier 1-5. Fumbles-Lost - Winterset 2-1, Xavier 2-0.

Individual Statistics

Rushing - Winterset: Dawson Forgy 15-145, Luke Briney 5-25, Hagan Hanselman 4-1, Caden Kleemeier 6-(minus) 11. Xavier: Will Hiserote 20-90, Alex Neal 22-73, Aidan McDermott 2-15, Christian Stanek 5-11.

Passing - Winterset: Caden Kleemeier 8-18-2-119, Reilly Hoven 0-1-0-0. Xavier: Alex Neal 10-12-0-155.

Receiving - Winterset: Dawson Forgy 4-47, Charlie McDonald 1-26, Blake Feuring 1-17, Nathan Avery 1-13. Xavier: Aidan McDermott 3-48, Grayson Hartman 3-38, Trysten Vasquez 2-41, Christian Stanek 1-20.

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