Xavier High School - Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Lilly nears 500 wins as Xavier begins

Every year, the Xavier girls basketball team seems to graduate its leading scorer after another successful campaign. And every year, a new senior seems to step forward and grab the reins.

"I can't remember the last time we had our leading scorer coming back," legendary coach Tom Lilly said Thursday. "It seems like every year our leading scorer or leading rebounder is somebody who puts on the cap and gown. So we take the next kid with the most experience and we flip roles."

The system has worked just fine.

Lilly has captured four state titles at Xavier and begins his 31st year as a head coach in the local Catholic school system with an impressive record of 496-216 overall, including a 308-114 mark in 17 years with the Saints.

He hears rumors about his impending retirement every year, but has no plans to step aside anytime soon.

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Schulte named district Player of Year

Xavier quarterback Bryce Schulte has been named the Player of the Year in Class 3A District 4.

Schulte completed 57.6 percent of his passes this season for 1,516 yards and 20 touchdowns. He also ran for four touchdowns and helped the Saints (9-1) reach the second round of the playoffs.

Schulte, Maliki Wilson, Nick Stark and Sam Meyers from Xavier were named first team all-district on offense. Sean Murphy, Blake Whitten, Bryce Charipar and Ryan Stulken were named first team on defense.

Joe Constant, Max Johnson, Thomas Hasley and Ryan Jasper were named second team all-district for the Saints. Dallas Klein was named the all-district kicker.

Gage Kray and Keanu Quinn from Marion High School were named to the first team in District 4. Kory Walsh, Matt Halfman, Owen Carstensen and Isaak Hahn were named to the second team for the Indians.

Saints bumped off by Decorah

Call it an upset, if you like.

But to those on the losing side, it was no fluke that unheralded Decorah (a 5-5 team coming in) ended Xavier’s undefeated season and advanced to the Class 3A state quarterfinals with a 30-21 win Monday night on the Saints' home field.

“We’d watched them on film and knew they were a really good power running team,” Xavier senior Blake Whitten said. “We figured they’d try to shove it right down our throats. And credit them. That’s what they did.”

With a beefy offensive line that averaged over 250 pounds, the Vikings used a bunch of backs to keep pounding the ball up the middle.

Against a normally stout Xavier defense, they gained 291 yards on 55 carries. A lot of their yards came on first down, and they picked up 20 of those.

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Warriors, J-Hawks collide in Round 2

The Washington Warriors and Jefferson J-Hawks began the 2015 high school football season back in August when they collided in the season-opener at Kingston Stadium.

Now one of them -- either the Warriors (9-1) or the J-Hawks (7-3) -- will see their season come to an end when they collide again in the second round of the Class 4A playoffs at 8 p.m. Monday at Kingston.

Washington topped Jefferson, 27-14, on Aug. 29 in the opener. The game was tied in the fourth quarter before the Warriors scored twice to claim the victory.

Both clubs won their playoff openers Wednesday night, with the Warriors skinning Cedar Falls 28-21 and the J-Hawks rolling to a 61-43 victory over Dubuque Senior after a slow start in Mount Vernon.

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