Xavier gets Boyled in 4A championship game loss

CEDAR FALLS – You'd think any guy with his own website would be good. Make no mistake, Ryan Boyle is website good.At times, the junior quarterback surgically and single-handedly took apart the state's best defense Friday night, leading West Des Moines Dowling to a 44-13 win over Cedar Rapids Xavier in the Class 4A state championship game.Highlights of Boyle's six touchdowns should be near the top of www.ryanboyle10.com, which is set up to showcase a player whose recruiting will pick up even more after this performance. The guy is a legit FBS player.“I think just the main highlight is (going to be) that we won state and we were perfect,” Boyle said. “I'm so glad this team could end it this way.”For Xavier (12-2), this was so painfully similar to last year's 4A title game, in which a fine individual performance by QB Joel Lanning (an Iowa State freshman) directed Ankeny to championship gold. But to be honest, Boyle's was considerably better.He ran for 84 yards and four TDs, completing 12 of 14 passes for 283 yards and two more scores. Some lucky college is going to be getting themselves a fine, fine player.“We saw how good he was on film,” said Xavier's Matt Nelson.“Very athletic, a very good quarterback,” said Xavier Coach Duane Schulte. “He's like Lanning a little bit, same kind of stuff. I don't know if he's as big, seems a little more, what's the word, slithery. I don't know if that's a laconic word or not. He's hard to get a hold of.”So a team that went 25-3 combined in 2012 and 2013 has to settle for another runner-up trophy. So close, yet, so far away.You bet that's hard to swallow, though there's still plenty for these Saints to be proud of.“I guess we can't really be sad that it's over and that we couldn't get that win,” said Xavier quarterback Quinton Scholer. “You kind of just have to be happy it happened. I'm proud of this team, proud of our community. Xavier's a great place, it's been a great place for me for four years. It's too bad we didn't come out on top, but we did play our hearts out. That's all you can ask for.”“This was an incredibly great group of kids to work with,” Schulte said. “How do you match back-to-back state championship games in 4A when you're a 3A school? It's unprecedented. I don't know if it'll ever be done again.”Xavier came in allowing 5.23 points per game, posting eight shutouts. Many observers felt it was one of the best defenses the Metro has seen in years.But Boyle was just too good. He ran the Maroons' attack with aplomb, seemingly making every correct read on the read option and throwing every pass with Peyton Manning-esque accuracy.He even had a Johnny Football moment late in the third quarter, spinning away from what appeared a certain sack, collecting himself and throwing a 15-yard dart to Grant Palmer for a touchdown that put Dowling up 41-10. Johnny Manziel himself would have nodded favorably after watching that play.Ryan Persick's 45-yard field goal gave Xavier the first points of the game with 5:40 left in the opening quarter, but Boyle hooked up with tight end Zach Steenblock for an 83-yard TD three plays later. Steenblock was uncovered running a slant 15 yards downfield and outraced Xavier's defense to the end zone.The Saints immediately responded with their own and only big play of the game, a 72-yard option run for touchdown by Scholer. That made it a 10-7 game.But Boyle to Steenblock for 52 yards on Dowling's ensuing possession eventually set up a 3-yard Boyle touchdown keeper off the right side. After Persick missed a 32-yard field goal, Boyle went right back to it, completing a 19-yard pass, running for 19 yards and throwing for 23 more on consecutive plays that set up the first of what would be three straight 1-yard TD sneaks.There was no way Xavier's offense could keep up. There was no way any offense could keep up.To help you appreciate how special Dowling's offense was, this was more points than Xavier allowed in its previous seven games ... combined."Coming in, we knew there were a really good team," Nelson said. "We knew it would be a battle. They came out on top.""Maybe you take away a couple plays, and the momentum changes,” Schulte said. “But give credit to them. They executed when they were supposed to, did their jobs, just like we tell our guys. We didn't execute on a couple of plays, and it came back to bite us.”

Here are the game statistics:

WDM Dowling 44, CR Xavier 13

AT CEDAR FALLS

TEAM STATISTICS

CR Xavier

WDM Dowling

First downs

15

17

Rushes-yards

36 - 156

43 - 139

Passing yards

102

283

Comp-Att-Int

8 - 21 - 1

12 - 14 - 1

Total yards

422

258

Fumbles-lost

2 - 0

1 - 0

Punts-average

5 - 39.2

1 - 27.0

Penalties-yards

4 - 32

8 - 80

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing:  CR Xavier – Quinton Scholer 12-70 , Brendan Miller 12-35 , Bryce Grimm 4-28 , Chris Ball 6-17 Nik Ekland 2-6  WDM Dowling – Ryan Boyle 21-82 , Chase Dowell 11-25 , Elliott Tiernan 5-20 ,Nate Christian 6-12

Passing:  CR Xavier – Quinton Scholer 7-19-1-95 , Sam Tursi 1-2-0-7  WDM Dowling – Ryan Boyle 12-14-1-283

Receiving:  CR Xavier – Bryce Grimm 3-60 , Nik Ekland 1-12 , Matt Nelson 1-10 , Brendan Miller 1-9 ,John Loecher 1-7 ,Wes Gardner 1-4  WDM Dowling – Rico Gafford 4-73 , Zach Steenblock 3-153 , Grant Palmer 3-28 , Nate Christian 1-18 ,Mason Magruder 1-11

SCORE BY QUARTERS

CR Xavier

10

3

–

28

WDM Dowling

14

13

14

3

–

31

SCORING SUMMARY

CRX - Ryan Persick 45 FG

WDMD - Zach Steenblock 83 pass from Ryan Boyle (Nick McLellan kick)

CRX - Quinton Scholer 72 run (Persick kick)

WDMD - Boyle 3 run (McLellan kick)

WDMD - Boyle 1 run (kick blocked)

WDMD - Boyle 1 run (McLellan kick)

WDMD - Boyle 1 run (McLellan kick)

WDMD - Grant Palmer 15 pass from Boyle (McLellan kick)

CRX - Persick 40 FG