Though coach might disagree, Cedar Rapids Xavier's defense bringing it

CEDAR RAPIDS — Perhaps it was sleep deprivation.

Cedar Rapids Xavier assistant football coach and defensive coordinator Jim O'Connell is a farmer, this is harvest season, and he's been going virtually 24-7.

For instance, O'Connell was in the fields until 2:30 Tuesday morning, right back in them by 5:30 a.m., stopping only to come to football practice late Tuesday afternoon. That'll wear on you.

'I'm tired,' he said.

Which maybe is why he didn't seem overly impressed by the way his defense has played this season. That's despite the optics and statistics.

The top-ranked Saints go into their Friday night home battle against fellow unbeaten Waverly-Shell Rock coming off a shutout of Independence in which they allowed under 100 yards. Xavier has allowed but 40 points in six games (a 6.7 average), with three total shutouts.

Pretty good, it would seem. Or not.

'I don't feel like that,' O'Connell said. 'It feels to me like we've given up a lot of points. I don't know why, but I feel like that, like in games we are giving up yards. I don't know why I'm not satisfied. I never feel comfortable with that. So we are always striving to be like 'Well, we're giving up eight points a game, then how about six? Why not five?'

'We are always striving to get to that next level if we can.'

Take into consideration this is virtually an entirely new defense, too. Graduation hit hard.

Though tradition never graduates, as they say. The cast may change, but the results don't.

'I guess it just comes down to ... doing what Coach tells you to do every day,' said senior linebacker Jack Lemke. 'That's basically the bottom line. Doing what you are supposed to do, being where you are supposed to be every play. If you do that, good things will happen.'

'We just try and go out there and play our hardest every down,' said senior rover Beau Van Berkum.

When you ask Lemke and Van Berkum about Xavier's defensive philosophy, you get a shrug of the shoulders and the old lines about doing your job and getting good looks from the scout team. That will never change.

But, traditionally, Xavier's defenses are about being tough, physical, aggressive and fundamentally sound.

'I take them out on the field and show them the back of the end zone, that white (goal) line, the sideline,' O'Connell said. 'Then we walk down to the other end zone, and I show them the back of that end zone, that white (goal) line. Then we go to the (other) sideline. I tell them we will be playing to those lines. The whole field. If you can't do that, then you can't be out here.

'These guys, they don't know what to say when you're asking them questions. But that's an identity for us. We want to bring it, we want to play completely in that whole box. We want to be in there.'

Senior linebacker McClain Burger leads Xavier in tackles and tackles for loss, but the defensive statistics are pretty spread out, a sign that everyone is contributing. An even dozen players have tackle totals between 10 and 26, with eight different guys having at least one tackle for loss.

'We were talking about it in the coaches office after Week 1 or Week 2,' O'Connell said. 'I don't know exactly how to explain it. Every week, we seem to be getting a little bit better play toward where I think we should be. We are not quite there, yet, but we're getting a lot better at, maybe an identity, what we are trying to get accomplished.'

l Comments: (319) 398-8259; jeff.johnson@thegazette.com