Xavier High School - Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Martin leads Saints at CRANDIC golf

Sam Martin shot a 2-over-par 65 to help the Xavier Saints finish fourth at the CRANDIC golf tournament at Airport National Tuesday.

Cedar Rapids Washington won the championship at 257. Prairie finished second on its home course.

Connor Neighbors of Washington claimed medalist honors with a 2-under 61.

TEAM STANDINGS

1. Washington 257, 2. Prairie 263, 3. Kennedy 265, 4. Xavier 267, 5. Linn-Mar 270, 6. Iowa City West 288, 7. Iowa City High 304, 8. Jefferson 315.

XAVIER: Sam Martin 65, Nick Recker 66, Matt Neumeyer 68, Ryan Keating 68.

Saints spike 5A foes for title

The Xavier Saints won all six of their matches at the Cedar Rapids Washington volleyball tournament Saturday and captured top honors in a star-studded field.

The Saints, who will compete at the Class 4A level in the postseason tournament, whipped a pair of Class 5A powers in the playoffs Saturday at Washington.

Xavier topped Johnston, 26-24, 25-20, in the semifinals and defeated Linn-Mar, 25-23, 12-25, 15-13, in the finals,. Johnston is ranked No. 5 in Class 5A and Linn-Mar is ranked No. 10 in Class 5A.

Xavier is ranked No. 10 in Class 4A, but the Saints will surely climb higher in the next poll.

The Saints also beat Linn-Mar in a thriller in bracket play, 21-14, 14-21, 15-12, to win their pool. Xavier also topped Oskaloosa (18-21, 21-13, 15-7), Solon (21-17, 21-13) and Dubuque Senior (19-21, 21-19, 15-10).

The Saints have gotten off to an 8-0 start this season under new coach Austin Filer, with five of the victories against ranked Class 5A opponents.

Wilson sparkles as Saints tame Lions

You can stop Maliki Wilson for one quarter, you can stop him for two quarters and you might even stop him for three quarters, but nobody can stop Maliki Wilson and his horde of blockers for an entire game.

Linn-Mar tried Friday night and failed.

Wilson put on a dazzling display of running in the fourth quarter with touchdown runs of 71, 97 and 66 yards during a span of 4 minutes, 18 seconds as the Xavier Saints ran by the Lions, 45-17, at Linn-Mar Stadium.

Wilson tied one school record (the 97 yarder) and broke another with 26 points in the ballgame.

Wilson had rushed for only 34 yards heading into the final period and the Saints appeared to be in trouble with Linn-Mar ahead 17-14, but Wilson galloped for 233 yards in that memorable last quarter to shatter the Lions and deflate the large crowd.

Xavier scored 31 straight points in the final 8 minutes, 55 seconds of the game to win convincingly.

"My old high school coach Tom Kopatich used to say, sometimes a bomb goes off and you get on a roll," Xavier boss Duane Schulte remarked. "That's kind of what happened tonight."

Wilson caught a 7-yard touchdown pass from Bryce Schulte in the first quarter Friday, but he did not accomplish a great deal again until he broke loose for those three long runs in the fourth period.

Read more...

Xavier O-Line paved way for Wilson's record

Maliki Wilson grabbed the headlines last Friday night when he rushed for a school-record 291 yards and scored on three long touchdowns for the Xavier Saints, but he was quick to credit all his blockers for paving the way in a 35-26 victory over Iowa City Regina.

As it turns out, it's a mutual admiration society. Wilson praised his blockers, and the blockers praised Wilson for his big game in the season-opener.

"It's pretty incredible," Xavier center Sam Meyers said this week. "It's easy to block for a running back that can set up his own blocks for us and gets a ton of yards after contact."

Wilson snapped the old school mark of 271 yards set by Brendan Miller against Linn-Mar in 2013. He broke loose for touchdowns that measured 69, 31 and 62 yards against the Regals.

"It's impressive to see what he can do," said Ryan Jasper, who plays right guard on the offensive line. "He sets us up great, but again it all goes back to the scout team. They gave us a great look in practice and we knew what we were doing when we got out there."

Wilson collected his 69-yard touchdown on his first carry in the first quarter and his 62-yard touchdown the last time he touched the ball in the fourth quarter to clinch the victory. All told, he carried the ball 25 times for a healthy 11.6-yard average.

"It's nice to have a back like him running behind us," remarked Max Johnson, who starts at right tackle.

Read more...