Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – The first three clashes between perennial state football powers Regina and Cedar Rapids Xavier all came down to the final moments of the game.  

Braden Stovie and his Xavier teammates took most of the drama out of the fourth meeting before halftime.

Class 3A Xavier (1-0) scored 16 points in the final five minutes of the first half on its way to a convincing 23-6 season-opening win over Regina (0-1) in front of an overflow crowd at Regal Field.

Stovie rushed for 104 yards and scored two second-quarter touchdowns just more than three minutes apart as the Saints won their third straight in the series.  

“They are a really tough team, they have really good athletes we know that from playing them in the past,” Stovie said. “We were expecting a battle and that’s what they gave us so to get that lead was important.”

Defending 1A runner-up Regina finished with a 301 to 282 edge in total yardage, thanks largely to 160 rushing yards from senior Isaac Vollstedt, but couldn’t get on the scoreboard until Patrick Clark hauled in a touchdown pass with 19 seconds left.

The Regals hurt themselves with a myriad of miscues that included three turnovers, a blocked punt, a safety and several dropped passes and fumbles while dropping their season opener for the third time in four seasons.

“We had a couple of drops that hurt us and we had the turnover with the fumble,” Regina coach Marv Cook said. “It’s going to be one of those things where when we watch the film and say if we just got the edge here, if we just finish this block here we would have been fine but that’s football and that’s Xavier making it hard on you.”

Xavier scored 16 points in less than 3 and a half minutes in the second quarter to break open a scoreless game.

Stovie got the scoring started with an 8-yard touchdown run with 4:28 left in the first half.

The junior running back set up his touchdown with a 70 yard run on the opening play of the 4-play, 91-yard drive.

“I was just trying to get a few yards and our fullback Jax Junge had a good fill and then just got a great hole for me,” Stovie said. “That kind of got us going and we kept on going from there.”

Regina went 3-and-out on its next possession thanks to a Jacob Hines sack that drove Regina back to its own 6 yard line.

The Saints started their ensuing drive at the Regina 37 and needed just three plays to take a 14-0 lead on a 3-yard plunge by Stovie.

Junior quarterback Quinn Schulte set up the second Stovie touchdown with a 33-yard run on second down.

“They pound on you, they pound on you and then they crease it,” Cook said. “They have enough athletes that they can make plays like that.”

Xavier took a 16-0 lead into the half after a pair of fumbled snaps forced Regina to take a safety.

Regina had just 75 total yards in the first half and managed just 14 rushing yards on 13 carries.

Six first-half possessions for Regina resulted in a lost fumble, a safety and four punts.

“They are a good team, a good program and they come out and they hit you every play,” Regina quarterback Michael Conlon said. “All 11 guys are out there hustling every play.”

Regina moved the ball in the second half but couldn’t finish drives while Xavier put the game away with a 1-yard touchdown run by Schulte that made it 23-0 with 4:06 left in the third quarter.

The first four Regina drives of the second half ended without points inside the Xavier 35 yard line.

“It’s obviously really frustrating getting the ball in the red zone and not being able to punch it in,” Vollstedt said. “I feel good about tonight’s game besides coming out on the wrong side of the scoreboard I think if we keep working hard we will be on the right side of the scoreboard more often than not.”

Regina turned it over on downs at the Xavier 26 yard line on its first possession of the second half and after Schulte made it a 23-0 game Justin Schneider picked off a Conlon pass in the end zone to turn away another scoring opportunity.

“It’s definitely the little things, just finishing every drive and every play,” Conlon said. “I definitely feel like we left points out there.”

Conlon finished 21-of-39 passing for 151 yards and a touchdown with two interceptions.

Vollstedt had 123 of his 160 rushing yards in the second half.

“It’s frustrating not coming out on top in the first game but it also helps build for the rest of the season,” Vollstedt said. “We have set a goal for the rest of the season and we can still reach that.”
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                                    CRX               ICR 

First Downs               7                      16

Rushes-Yards            35-218             29-150

Comp-Att-Int             6-8-0                21-39-2

Passing Yards            64                    151

Fumbles Lost             0-0                   4-1

Penalties-Yards         6-36                 6-45

Regina           0    0   0   6  –   6

CR Xavier      0    16  7   0  –  23

CRX – Braden Stovie 8 run (Benjamin Conrad kick)

CRX – Stovie 3 run (Conrad kick)

CRX – Team Safety

CRX – Bryce Schulte 1 run (Conrad kick)

ICR – Patrick Clark 19 pass from Michael Conlon (Kick blocked)

Individual Statistics

RUSHING – CRX: Braden Stovie 6-104, Quinn Schulte 14-80, Jax Junge 12-32, Thomas Tobin 3-2. ICR: Isaac Vollstedt 18-160, Nick Milder 2-13, Jayden Kies 1-5, Michael Conlon 8-(-28).

PASSING – CRX: Quinn Schulte 6-8-0 64. ICR: Michael Conlon 21-39-2 151.

RECEIVING – CRX: Jack Scott 2-41, Jacob Hines 2-16, Braden Stovie 1-5, Gabe Lux 1-2. ICR: Alec Wick 5-22, Jake Phillips 4-30, Kieler Brown 4-28, Patrick Clark 3-36, Isaac Vollstedt 3-19, Jayden Kies 2-16.