It's not how many plays you run as much as it is what you do when you have the football.

Waterloo East ran 37 more plays than Xavier in Monday night's second round game of the Class 4A playoffs at Saints Field.

No. 3 Xavier squashed the Trojans, 45-0.

Xavier (11-0) advances to Friday's quarterfinal round where the Saints will host Prairie (8-3). The Hawks stunned No. 2 Iowa City West, 49-28, Monday night. Friday's game kicks off at 7 p.m.

Despite the disparity in plays, Xavier held a six-yard edge in total offense, 183-177.

Xavier senior quarterback Reggie Schulte threw touchdown passes of 58 and 23 yards to junior Bryce Grimm. Senior Corbin Woods returned a punt for a score and senior Trey Sampson returned an interception for another touchdown. Xavier scored three touchdowns in about 2 1/2 minutes late in the first quarter for a 21-0 lead and built the margin to 35-0 by halftime.

"It was just a weird, Halloween kind of game, I guess," Xavier Coach Duane Schulte said. "At this point you just try to win and move on.

"I don't really care (how many plays Xavier ran). I'm just happy that we won and we're moving on."

East Coach Kody Asmus was impressed with the Saints.

"Their coaches might think there are some spots here and there where they have a weakness," Asmus said. "But when you break them down position by position, they really don't have a weak link.

"A lot of programs have a lot of A level players and a few B level players and it's the C or D level players that (opponents) find out and try to exploit. To me it looks like (the Saints) have a lot of high end A players and even their B players would probably be A players on a lot of different teams.

"I'd love to see the team that's going to be able to knock them off. I think it would be great to have (Xavier) as an MVC representative in the state championship."

Waterloo East (6-5) executed its game plan well on the game's first drive. The Trojans drove 16 plays from their own 23 to the Saints' 5-yard line but came up empty when Desmond VanArsdale's fourth-down pass bounced off the turf in the end zone.

"That was a good momentum shifter, because they (East) had it going for a little bit," Sampson said.

Grimm agreed.

"The defense did great stopping that and it gave the offense a lot of momentum and we rewarded them (the defense) with a score," said Grimm, who caught four passes for 101 yards.

The Saints unleashed a seven-play, 95-yard touchdown drive. Schulte spotted Grimm wide open at about the East 15 and he escaped a closing tackler at around the 5 and plowed into the end zone to complete the 58-yard play. Ryan Persick's PAT kick gave the Saints a 7-0 lead with 3:32 left in the first quarter.

"We saw something there and thankfully it worked," said Grimm.

That was the beginning of the blitz.

East punted on fourth-down and senior Corbin Woods gathered it in at the Xavier 34. He looped down the near sideline, picked up a few blocks, cut back and raced 66 yards for a touchdown.

The Trojans fumbled on their first play after the ensuing kickoff and Xavier senior Craig Murtha recovered it at the East 23.

Schulte dropped back and lofted a pass to a wide open Grimm for another touchdown and a 21-0 lead with 1:24 still left in the quarter.

Xavier had touched the ball three times and scored three touchdowns.

"You can't have that happen, especially against a team like Xavier," Asmus said.

Xavier wasn't through with quick scores, either.

Schulte, who threw only three interceptions in 10 previous games, proved human and was picked off in the end zone early in the second quarter.

East mounted another drive, working the ball from its own 20 to the Xavier 26. The Trojans attempted to run a screen play, but junior Hunter Baldus reached up and snared the pass. He raced back 68 yards to the East 4. Brendan Miller took the ball in for a touchdown and a 28-0 lead with 7:21 left in the half.

That was Xavier's fourth touchdown in its last seven touches.

Sampson closed out the scoring in the first half, returning an interception 33 yards for a touchdown with 1:13 left in the first half. That gave Xavier a 35-0 lead and set in motion a continuous clock to start the second half.

"I caught it and he (receiver) stripped it a little bit. I bobbled it and then took off," Sampson said of the first interception return for a touchdown in his varsity career. "Craig Murtha made an amazing block down the sideline."

After surrendering 124 rushing yards in the first half, Xavier held East to minus-26 yards rushing and minus-14 total yards in the second half. The defense held East senior quarterback Desmond Van Arsdale to 120 total yards and intercepted him three times. He had 298 yards and accounted for four touchdowns in the Trojans' 33-14 win over Davenport Assumption in last Wednesday's opening round.

"The line did a good job containing him and we (defensive backs) just had to stay with (receivers)," Sampson said. "That's what the coaches stressed. Stay with your wide receivers at all times."

Xavier scored twice in the fourth quarter. Persick kicked a 33-yard field goal and senior Luke Hammerberg scored on a six-yard run.

Xavier now faces Prairie for a second time. The Saints beat the Hawks, 48-14, in a Week 3 game at Prairie.

"They're explosive offensively, they have a good defense and they have good coaching," Schulte said of his concerns about playing Prairie again. "No matter who we play at this point in the season they're going to be a good team."

XAVIER 45, WATERLOO EAST 0

First downs -- WE 12; CRX 8     
Rushes-yards -- WE 31-98; CRX 16-49        
Passing yards -- WE 79; CRX 134      
Comp-att-int -- WE 6-32-3; CRX 7-11-1      
Punts-avg. -- WE 4-28.8; CRX 3-35.7      
Fumbles-Lost -- WE 1-1; CRX 0-0      
Penalties-yards -- WE 6-57; CRX 7-66

Waterloo East        0      0       0       0  --    0
Xavier                   21    14      0      10  --  45

CRX - Bryce Grimm 58 pass from Reggie Schulte (Ryan Persick kick)
CRX - Corbin Woods 66 punt return (Persick kick)
CRX - Grimm 23 pass from Schulte (Persock kick)
CRX - Brendan Miller 4 run (Persick kick)
CRX - Trey Sampson 33 interception return (Persick kick)
CRX - FG Persick 33
CRX - Luke Hammerberg 6 run (Persick kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing
WE - Desmond VanArsdale 8-53, Aaron Taylor 9-45, Jordan Johnson 8-37, Deshay Wright 2-(-5), John Magnuson 2-(-10), James Horton 1-(-10), Team 1-(-12)
CRX - Brendan Miller 10-53, Luke Hammerberg 4-4, Reggie Schulte 1-(-11)

Passing
WE - VanArsdale 5-27-3-67, Magnuson 1-5-0-12
CRX - Schulte 7-11-1-134

Receiving
WE - A'Darrius Riley 2-32, Javon Middleton 2-23, Jacob Hewitt 1-12, Horton 1-12
CRX - Bryce Grimm 4-101, Corbin Woods 3-33