Comets finish strong in 35-7 loss against top-ranked Saints

By John Burbridge

sports@charlescitypress.com

CEDAR RAPIDS — Xavier has an impressive high school.

It also has an impressive football team.

Yet Xavier’s football field is rather spartan in comparison as it doesn’t have play-clocks — a delay-of-game hazard for unaccustomed visiting teams.

Xavier does have a game clock on its single scoreboard, and if the Charles City Comets can find any solace in their 35-7 loss to the Class 3A top-ranked Saints on Friday, it is that they stopped it from running continuously.

Xavier quarterback Bryce Schulte hit Nolan Butkowski on an 8-yard slant TD pass after a fourth-and-three snap, that — with Shane Scott’s PAT kick — put the Saints up 35-0 with 7:15 left in the third.

According to Iowa high school football rules, a running clock has to be instituted whenever a team attains a 35-point lead.

Running clock or not, it appeared that Xavier was going to continue to pad its lead against its District 3A-3 foe when it recovered a fumble deep in Comet territory on Charles City’s ensuing possession.

But the Comets’ defense stiffened up and stuffed the Saints even with much of their offensive first team still in the game. And then after taking over on downs at the 17, Charles City quarterback Drew Mitchell — throwing from the far hash mark — unleashed the mother of all deep outs to fellow senior Jaden Foster, who made a brilliant over-the-helmet catch before nimbly turning up the sideline for an 83-yard catch-and-run touchdown.

It was the biggest play from the line of scrimmage thus far this season for the Comets (1-3, 1-1 in district play), and it forced the game to go back to standard time-keeping.

For those hoping the Saints would score again to initiate the running clock so they get home early, the Comets’ defense did them no favors as it continue to put forth a much more competitive effort in the second half to finish the game.

Some of the defensive highlights included junior Theo Arndt recovering lost ground to break up a Bryce Schulte pass to Quinn Schulte in the end zone; junior Josh Halligan recording several quarterback sacks; Jalen Jones, AJ Maloy and Elliott Gebel all sticking Saint ball carriers for little or no gains; and Dalton Cleveland, Mike Cranshaw and Tyreque Baker making clutch solo open-field tackles.

Granted, the Saints rested a lot of their starters from midway through the third quarter to the end of the game. But a team with 35 seniors on its roster is usually not thin on talent.

The Saints (4-0, 2-0) took control early when senior running back Maliki Wilson — who was among the state’s rushing leaders going into the game with more than 600 yards compiled in just three games — broke loose for a 43-yard TD run a little more than two-and-a-half minutes into the game.

Wilson would finish with 126 yards on 11 carries

Then Bryce Schulte, who had four TD passes on the night, connected with scoring passes to Brett Burns (5 yards), Butkowski (3 yards) and then to Quinn Schulte on a 36-yard roll-out pass that helped put the Saints up 28-0 with a little less than five minutes left in the half.

Charles City’s offense began to show signs of life before halftime. Foster made a brilliant leaping catch of a Mitchell pass along the sidelines while keeping his feet inbounds. That 20-yard play put the Comets in business at the Saints 27.

Earlier in the drive while facing a third-and-long, Foster made a catch in traffic and held on after taking a tandem of big hits from Xavier’s cornerbacks.

The drive stalled after Charles City sustained a quarterback sack. The Saints took over on downs and took a knee to run out the final seconds of the half.

The Comets will try to rebound when they travel to face winless Independence on Friday.

XAVIER 35, CHARLES CITY 7

Charles City 0 0 7 0 — 7

Xavier 20 8 7 0 — 35

Scoring Summary

X — Maliki Wilson 43 run (Shane Scott kick) 7-0, 9:22 1st.

X — Brett Burns 5 pass from Bryce Schulte (Scott kick) 14-0, 7:55 1st.

X — Nolan Butkowski 3 pass from Schulte (Kick failed) 20-0, 2:55 1st.

X — Quinn Schulte 36 pass from Schulte (Wilson run) 28-0, 4:57 2nd

X — Butkowski 8 pass from Schulte (Scott kick) 35-0, 7:15 3rd.

CC — Jaden Foster 83 pass from Drew Mitchell (Derek Milligan kick) 35-7, 1:40 3rd.