There's no truth to the rumor that Xavier High School is going to put the Oklahoma Sooners and Green Bay Packers on their schedule.

Cedar Falls and Iowa City High have been tough enough.

The Saints took another punch to the face Friday night when Barkley Hill and the top-ranked Cedar Falls Tigers socked them, 27-7, in a Mississippi Valley Conference game at Xavier.

The Saints got walloped by No.2 Iowa City High, 52-24, last week, giving them a rough 1-2 uppercut in two straight weeks.

"They're both great teams," Xavier Coach Duane Schulte said. "They've both got great players and they both have great coaches."

Hill slashed for 219 yards and two touchdowns as he continued his remarkable campaign. He's eclipsed 200 yards in all five games this season and has rushed for 1,135 yards and 21 TDs, giving him an average of 227 yards per contest.

"Oh, he's terrific. He's terrific. I think he's got two more years of eligibility!" joked Cedar Falls co-coach Pat Mitchell, engaging in some wishful thinking. "He had a big night again. Super back."

Actually, Hill has four more years of eliibility, but they'll be at Iowa State University when the 6-foot, 210-pound back joins the Cyclones next season.

The Saints killed themselves with five interceptions, with several of Reggie Schulte's passes bouncing off receivers and into the waiting arms of Cedar Falls defenders. Xavier's first four possessions of the game ended with interceptions, yet the Saints trailed only 6-0 at intermission due to a staunch defensive effort.

Schulte's first pass of the second half was picked off as well, and Cedar Falls had to drive only 19 yards for a 2-yard touchdown by Hill and a 13-0 advantage. That pass was intercepted by Shawn Hagarty, his second of the game.

"It seemed to flip the momentum of the whole game and gave us a spark, and it went from there," Mitchell said.

Cedar Falls (5-0) made it 20-0 on its next possesion on a 62-yard touchdown pass from Ike Boettger to James Harrington, the Class 4A sprint champion last spring.

Harrington broke loose for a 44-yard punt return shortly after that, putting the Tigers in business for a quick 30-yard drive and a 7-yard touchdown by Ben Challgren to make it 27-0.

Xavier broke the ice on a quarterback sneak by Schulte with 10:43 left in the game, but never came close to scoring again.

Cedar Falls arrived at Saints Field with a glossy 4-0 record and the No.1 spot in the polls, but the Tigers had faced teams with a combined record of 2-and-14 prior to Friday with easy wins over Hempstead (0-4), Waterloo East (2-2), Prairie (0-4) and Jefferson (0-4).

The Tigers felt they had something to prove Friday night at Xavier, which had been ranked in the top-10 before losing to Iowa City High.

"That was a good test," Harrington said. "Xavier was a great team, they were the hardest-hitting team so far. They're well-coached, so it was a tough challenge tonight."

Xavier (3-2) collected only 180 yards of total offense. Tailback Carter Valentine ran hard and finished with 101 yards on 25 carries, but the rest of the club sputtered. Schulte finished 7 of 21 for 85 yards and the five interceptions.

Xavier played well on defense in the first half, but the dam broke in the third quater when the Tigers took advantage of a short field to score 21 points.

Duane Schulte declined to pick a favorite between No.1 Cedar Falls and No.2 Iowa City High, but knows he just saw two of the premier teams in the entire state.

"Iowa City West is next, and they're not a dropoff either," he said. "But that's the nature of the league. We just have to be ready to go."

Iowa City West (4-1) belted Jefferson, 63-14, Friday night.

Coach Schulte lamented the five interceptions and a few other mistakes, such as untimely penalties that foiled good plays.

"You can't have mistakes, especially against the No.1 team in the state," he said. "They're a very good team. You just can't do that against a team like that. They're going to take advantage of it."

Cedar Falls drove to the Xavier 3-yard line with more than a minute left in the game, but Mitchell told his quarterback to take a knee on three straight snaps to let time expire.

"Very classy by Pat Mitchell and (co-coach) Brad Remmert at the end there," Schulte remarked.

Mitchell raised his record to 320-130-1 at Cedar Falls in 44 years, tying Jim Bellamy for sixth place for most victories by a prep football coach in Iowa.

CEDAR FALLS 27, XAVIER 7
CF        CRX

First Downs           14          11
Rushing               49-255      34-95
Passing               5-13-0      7-21-5
Passing Yards         88          85
Fumbles/Lost          2/2         0/0
Punts                 6-36.8      6-33.8
Penalties             6-40        6-47

Cedar Falls       0  6  21  0 - 27
Xavier             0  0   0   7 - 7

CF - Barkley Hill 4 run (run failed)
CF - Hill 2 run (Jacob Fagersten PAT)
CF - James Harrington 62 pass from Ike Boettger (Fagersten PAT)
CF - Ben Challgren 7 run (Fagersten PAT)
CRX - Reggie Schulte 1 run (Chad Gilmer PAT)

Individual Statistics

Cedar Falls

Rushing: Barkley Hill 33-219, Jacob Seehase 4-16, Brennan Block 2-15, Ben  Challgren 3-9, James Harrington 2-8, Ike Boettger 2-minus 7, Team 3-minus  5.
Passing: Boettger 5-13-0, 88.
Receiving: Harrington 3-73, Jake Gallu 1-9, Hill 1-6.

Xavier

Rushing: Carter Valentine 25-101, Logan Jones 1-7, Matt Hansen 1-1, Reggie  Schulte 7-minus 14.
Passing: Schulte 7-21-5, 85.
Receiving: Jordan Weber 2-56, Corbin Woods 2-14, Kevin Hosch 1-11, Hansen  1-6, Valentine 1-minus 2.

Sophomore Game - Xavier 47, Cedar Falls 7