Metro Sports Report

Saints seek 2nd state title in 6 years

The Xavier Saints have a little football game to play in Cedar Falls Friday night.

It's for something called the Class 4A state title, but Coach Duane Schulte claims he hasn't talked to his guys about that.

It's against a team that is ranked No. 1 in the state and has three times as many students as Xavier, but Schulte says he isn't talking about that either.

The Saints are the underdogs, even though they are ranked No. 3 in the state, boast the stingiest scoring defense in Iowa and have won 13 straight games.

Xavier-Ankeny capsule

The last - and only - time Xavier previously made it to the state football championship game was in 2006.

The Saints had escaped Bettendorf in the semifinals when David Drahozal picked off a fumble and returned it the length of the field for a game-winning touchdown.

Coach Duane Schulte underwent an appendectomy the week of the championship game, yet was at the UNI-Dome when the Saints took on Southeast Polk.

There has been no such drama to this point in the season. But you can expect a bone-crunching, spine-tingling adventure Friday night when No. 3 Xavier tangles with No. 1 Ankeny for the 2012 Class 4A title.

Kirkwood falls at NJCAA tourney

TOLEDO, Ohio - Playing the host school on its home court in the national tournament did not turn out well for the Kirkwood Community College volleyball team Thursday.

The fourth-ranked Eagles lost to 17th-ranked Owens Community College, 21-25, 25-22, 25-21, 25-20, in the opening round of the NJCAA Division II Women's Volleyball Tournament at the Owens gym.

Kirkwood defeated Owens, 3-2, on a neutral floor Oct. 18, but Owens got revenge in front of its own fans Thursday.

O'Connell says Ankeny looks like college team

Jim O'Connell has seen just about everything during his 19 years as an assistant football coach, but he's been scratching his head a little this week as he studies the Ankeny Hawks.

O'Connell is the defensive coordinator for the Xavier Saints, who will play No. 1 Ankeny Friday night for the Class 4A state title in a premier matchup of 13-0 clubs.

Ankeny does a little of everything on offense and the Hawks do it well. They use spin backs, an old-fashioned ploy from the 1930's, and they use a spread offense with four and five wide receivers, which is the hot offense some 80 years later.