After starting the 2011 season with three straight wins, the Cedar Rapids Xavier football team hit a rut.

The Saints lost to No. 2 Iowa City High, No. 1 Cedar Falls and No. 9 Iowa City West in consecutive weeks. Even though most teams couldn’t win those three games, much less one of them, the Saints wanted to get back to playing Xavier football.

On Friday night, Xavier got back to its style of play with a vengeance.

The Saints pounded the ball between the tackles with tailback Carter Valentine, played stifling defense and topped Waterloo East, 19-13, at Saints Field.

From the opening kickoff, the Saints were in control as they dominated the line of scrimmage.

“Yeah, we definitely wanted to make a statement coming into the game and I think for the most part we executed pretty well,” said Valentine.

That statement was made loud and clear when Valentine posted 170 yards and two touchdowns in the first half. He finished with 225 yards.

“I thought compared to the last three weeks, our offensive line did a lot better and Carter ran hard tonight,” said Xavier Coach Duane Schulte. “They were different than they were the previous three weeks.”

Xavier (3-2, 4-3) faced a Waterloo East team that came into the game with four wins. “That was a good Waterloo East team,” said Schulte. “That’s not your typical Waterloo East team. He (Kody Asmus) is a good coach.”

Waterloo East (3-3, 4-3) has a quarterback reminiscent of Iowa City West’s Charles Rogers, who torched Xavier a week ago. East’s Desmond VanArsdale is a dual-threat quarterback with a strong arm.

The Saints corraled VanArsdale, as they provided constant pressure from the defensive line and forced VanArsdale to miss open receivers.

“He’s a heck of an athlete,” said Schulte. “We just try to preach do your job and keep him inside and have him contained because he is dangerous.”

VanArsdale completed 11 of 28 passes.

The Saints took the opening kickoff and marched down the field through a seemingly permeable Waterloo East defense. Valentine capped the drive with a 12-yard scamper with 8:31 left in the first quarter.

East got the ball and Xavier made another statement. With East facing a third-and-one near the 50, Xavier stuffed them for no gain. On fourth-and-one, East decided to go for it.

VanArsdale took a shotgun snap and ran to the left, but before he could even reach the line of scrimmage, three Xavier defenders were on him for a loss. Turnover on downs. Statement made.

“We just felt like we wanted to get back to some bread and butter and play Xavier-style football,” said Schulte.

Xavier got help from sophomore kicker Ryan Persick near the end of the first quarter when he nailed a 27-yard field goal with the wind swirling for a 9-0 lead.

Valentine added another touchdown run with 4:34 left in the half and kept piling up the yards.

At halftime, Valentine was 70 yards away from breaking the school record for rushing yards in a game set by Will Martin in 2006 with 241. However, Waterloo East’s defense stiffened in the second half and kept the Saints out of the end zone.

With the game clock dwindling down in the fourth, VanArsdale fired a rocket 35-yard touchdown pass to Corshundous Love to make it 19-13. East attempted an onside kick, but Xavier recovered after a short scrum for the ball.

“This was a must win, definitely,” said Valentine. “After three in a row like we had, you have to get a win. This was huge for us.”

Xavier faces winless Cedar Rapids Jefferson next Friday at Kingston Stadium. Waterloo East travels to Dubuque Wahlert.

XAVIER 19, WATERLOO EAST 13

Xavier     9  7  3  0 - 19
East       0  6  0  7 - 13

Xavier   East

First Downs     20       11
Rushing         48-273   25-78
Passing         3-6-0    11-28-0
Passing Yards   10       149
Fumbles/Lost    1/0      1/0
Penalties       6-55     7-50
Punts-Avg       4-33.8   4-39.8

X - Carter Valentine 12 run (kick failed)
X - Ryan Persick 24 FG
X - Valentine 8 run (Josh Steffensmeier kick)
WE - LeTray Reed 15 pass from Desmond VanArsdale (conversion failed)
X - Steffensmeier 34 FG
WE - Corshundous Love 35 pass from VanArsdale (Juan Martinez kick)

Individual Stats

Waterloo East

Rushing - VanArsdale 12-13, Taylor 7-38, Love 6-27.
Passing - VanArsdale 11-28-0, 149.
Receiving - Reed 6-56, Clifton 2-65, Love 3-58.

Xavier

Rushing - Valentine 36-225, Hansen 6-29, Schulte 3-minus 4, Ball 3-23.
Passing - Schulte 3-6-0, 10.
Receiving - Woods 2-10, Hansen 1-0.