Somewhere in Ohio, Reggie Schulte was smiling Friday night when he heard about what his younger brothers and the Xavier Saints did in their football game against Vinton-Shellsburg.

Bryce Schulte passed for three touchdowns and snapped Reggie's old Metro record for career TD passes as Xavier topped Vinton-Shellsburg, 32-8, to claim its third Class 3A district title in a row at Saints Field.

Reggie Schulte collected 49 touchdown passes during his all-state career at Xavier in 2011 and 2012, but Bryce zoomed past him Friday night with the 48th, 49th and 50th of his career.

And to keep it all in the family, Bryce Schulte's record-setting 50th touchdown pass was caught by his brother Quinn in the fourth quarter for a 2-yard score.

Reggie Schulte likes to attend as many Xavier football games as he can, but he was in Ohio Friday night with the University of Northern Iowa Panthers as they got ready for Saturday night's game against Youngstown State.

"He does Twitter, so I'm sure he's getting updates from somebody," said Duane Schulte, the Xavier coach and their father. "I'm guessing he already knows what happened."

Bryce Schulte knew he was getting close to Reggie's school and Metro record, but was not aware when it happened. He was too busy.

"I was so focused on the game and just worrying about scoring on that last drive that I didn't really notice it," he said. "And then someone said something on the sideline and I was like, 'Oh, OK. That's pretty cool.'"

Bryce and Quinn were not sure if they'd hear from Reggie after the game or not. Bryce figured that Reggie, a back-up quarterback for UNI, was probably studying film for Saturday's game.

"Maybe we'll talk to him on the phone tomorrow or something," said Quinn.

Bryce has the record, but he admires what Reggie accomplished during his high school career in fewer games.

"We'll have a lot of different conversations at home about it," said Bryce, a senior. "He threw 37 (TD passes) in one season.

"It's a really good accomplishment," Bryce said about the record, "but I did it with my teammates and they did a great job helping me out."

Quinn Schulte, a sophomore, enjoyed the biggest game of his young career with 10 catches for 82 yards and two touchdowns, but he was not the primary receiver on his brother's record-setting toss. Bryce surveyed the field, saw that Quinn was open and found him for six points to finish the scoring.

"I don't know what to say," Coach Schulte remarked about his sons' achievements. "I'm happy for our team to get the win, first of all. I hope all of our players can celebrate this with Bryce and Quinn."

Vinton-Shellsburg arrived at Saints Field with a 2-5 record, but the Vikings punched the Saints in the mouth on their first possession when Wes Edwards broke loose and raced 71 yards for a touchdown with the game barely more than two minutes old. Vinton-Shellsburg added a two-point conversion and led, 8-0, with 9:54 left in the first period.

"You've got to give them credit," said Coach Schulte. "Popping that long one in the first quarter was kind of numbing. It got our kids' attention and got our coaches' attention. It got our whole team's attention. So we had to battle back, and thank God we did."

It took a lone time for the Saints to get untracked, however. Drew Wiley, a 6-foot-4, 299-pound lineman who has committed to Kansas State, helped Vinton-Shellsburg stuff Maliki Wilson and the Xavier runnning attack for long stretches as Xavier fans, expecting an easy win, got antsy.

The Saints finally got on the board when Bryce Schulte connected with Quinn for a 36-yard touchdown with 3:22 left in the second quarter to pull the Saints within 8-6. Xavier tried to tie the game with a two-point conversion, but Wilson was stopped short of the end zone.

Last week, the Saints scored five touchdowns in the first 16 minutes of their game againt Waverly-Shell Rock. This week, it took more than 20 minutes for the Saints to get their first score.

It looked like Xavier might trail at halftime, but Josh Gerke intercepted a pass with about two minutes left in the first half and returned the ball to his own 49-yard line to put the Saints in business. Bryce Schulte quickly moved his team into scoring position and finished the drive with a perfectly thrown pass to Brett Burns for a 25-yard touchdown for a 12-8 lead with 31 seconds left in the half.

The Saints failed on another two-point conversion, but went to the locker room with the 12-8 advantage.

Riding some momentum, the Saints scored on their first possession of the second half when fullback Erik Rodriguez popped through the line of scrimmage on a a 4th-and-1 play, broke several tackles and reached the pylon for a 48-yard touchdown to make it 18-8. The kick failed, leaving it a 10-point game.

Rodriguez had a big game for the Saints, running for 95 yards on just six carries. He also popped loose for runs of 22 and 13 yards, looking more like a tailback than a fullback with his twists and spins.

"I'm just trying to get as many yards as possible," said Rodriguez. "Credit the line for creating some great holes and making it easy for me."

Xavier made it 25-8 on its next possession when Wilson broke through the middle and raced 34 yards for a touchdown, giving the Saints a touchdown on four straight possessions in the second and third periods. Wilson, who leads Class 3A in rushing, finished with 100 yards on 24 carries, but the Vikings made him earn those yards and tackled him five times for losses.

It stayed 25-8 until Bryce Schulte threw his record-setting TD pass to Quinn with 1:54 left in the game. That 73-yard drive began after Nolan Butkwoski intercepted a pass for the Saints.

Bryce Schulte completed 17 of 22 passes for 159 yards and no interceptions. By contrast, Vinton-Shellsburg did not complete a pass all night and was 0-for-10 with two interceptions. The Vikings collected all of their offense on the ground with 183 yards.

Xavier raised its records to 8-0 overall and 6-0 in District 3 heading into the final game of the regular season at South Tama next Friday night. The Saints have clinched a No. 1 seed for the playoffs and will host a playoff game on Friday, Oct. 28.

Vinton-Shellsburg fell to 2-6 overall and 1-5 in the district.

"We didn't do a good job in the first half," said Rodriguez. "We kind of underestimated those guys. Give Vinton-Shellsburg credit."

The Saints have won three district titles in a row after all schools in Iowa switched from conference to district competition.

"Hopefully people can look at this place and see the tradition we have in football," said Coach Schulte. "And the bottom line is, the kids toe the company line and try to execute what our coaches preach. And we've got some great assistant coaches who have helped the players achieve what they've done."

XAVIER 32, VINTON-SHELLSBURG 8

Vinton        Xavier

First Downs      8             15
Rushing          35-183        38-209
Passing Yards    0             159
Att/Comp/Int     0-10-2        17-22-0
Fumbles/Lost     4/1           0/0
Punts            5-34.2        4-31.5
Penalties        4-34          5-45

Vinton-Shellsburg    8   0   0   0 - 8
Xavier               0  12  13   7 - 32

Scoring Plays

V - Wes Edwards 71 run (Justin Bartz pass from Blake Bohnsack)
X - Quinn Schulte 36 pass from Bryce Schulte (run failed)
X - Brett Burns 25 pass from B.Schulte (pass failed)
X - Erik Rodriguez 48 run (kick failed)
X - Maliki Wilson 34 run (Shane Scott kick)
X - Q.Schulte 2 pass from B.Schule (Scott kick)

Individual Stats

Rushing

Vinton - Wes Edwards 8-77, Will Edwards 6-56, Davis 13-45, Bohnsack 8-5.
Xavier - Wilson 24-100, Rodriguez 6-95, B.Schulte 5-15, Q.Schulte 1-1, Team 2-minus 2.

Passing

Vinton - Bohnsack 0-10-2, 0 yards.
Xavier - B.Schulte 17-22-0, 159 yards.

Receiving

Xavier - Q.Schulte 10-82, Butkowski 4-40, Burns 2-40, Rodriguez 1-minus 3.