Xavier Football

Ekland helps Saints get bigger, stronger

Tom Ekland gets up about 5 o'clock every morning, Monday through Friday, and heads to Xavier High School to help supervise the weight room.

He's been doing this for 20 years, first at LaSalle High School and the past 16 years at Xavier since the school opened in 1998.

He loves working with the guys and has played an important role in Xavier's success on the football field - and other sports as well - but there have been times when he's wondered what in the world he's doing so early in the morning.

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Miller tied Xavier rushing record

Xavier tailback Brendan Miller officially rushed for 92 yards against Kennedy in the Class 4A playoffs Friday night and tied the school record for career rushing yards with 2,483.

Miller has matched Will Martin, who rushed for 2,483 yards in 2005 and 2006. Miller can break the record when the Saints play Bettendorf in the state semifinals Friday in the UNI-Dome.

The Metro Sports Report credited Miller with 93 yards on the ground against Kennedy, which would have broken Martin's career mark by one yard. The official statistics, kept by Xavier, had Miller with 92 yards.

Xavier selling semifinal football tickets

Xavier High School will be selling tickets this week for the Class 4A semifinals between the Saints and Bettendorf that will be played Friday at the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls.

Tickets wil be sold in the Activities Office on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 7:45 a.m. to 3 p.m. each day and on Friday from 7:45 a.m. until noon.

Friday's game will begin at 4:06 p.m. All tickets cost $8. Xavier is the visiting team and its fans will sit on the west side of the UNI-Dome.

Saints pinch Cougars for trip to UNI-Dome

There were no fancy speeches in the Xavier locker room at halftime Friday, no fire-and-brimstone demonstrations and certainly no finger-pointing.

"All we said was, 'Do your job,'" Coach Duane Schulte maintained after the game had a happy ending for his club.

The Saints absorbed Kennedy's best shot in the first half and came out swinging in the third quarter in the quarterfinals of the Class 4A playoffs Friday before a standing-room-only crowd on a crisp, breezy night at Saints Field.

Xavier exploded for 21 points in the third period and blanked the Cougars, 21-0, to earn a trip to the Class 4A semifinals next week.

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