Xavier wins hard-fought battle over Williamsburg

WILLIAMSBURG — Last year when Williamsburg and Cedar Rapids Xavier met on the football field, the game ended in a thrilling 21-20 win for the Raiders.

This season’s matchup was different only in the outcome. Xavier defeated Williamsburg 29-27 in a game that was hard-fought to the end.

The stars of the game were the quarterback and receiver tandems for both teams.

Xavier’s sophomore quarterback, Cash Parks, threw the ball 42 times, while Grant Hocker, for the Raiders, threw 26 times, with two tosses ending in touchdowns.

Ryan Kelly had nine catches for 150 yards to lead the Saints, while John Eichhorn grabbed nine for 133 yards to lead the Raiders.

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The Xavier defense was humming early as the Raiders failed to get a first down on their first two drives.

The Raiders’ defense held strong, allowing only two field goals from the Saints, holding the score to 6-0 midway through the first quarter.

The Raiders put together a four-play touchdown drive ending with a 14-yard passing touchdown to Rayce Heitman to give the Raiders the lead.

The Saints responded with score on a two-yard pass to Aiden Miller, who had a strong performance in the game as a receiver.

Much of the rest of the first half went back and forth with no scoring — good defensive plays and penalties hurting both teams.

With little time remaining in the half, the Raiders decided to go for it on fourth-and-ten near midfield. The quarterback was sacked on the play.

Xavier was able to drive the ball downfield and kick a field goal, making the score 16-7 at half. Those three points turned out to be very critical in the game’s outcome.

“In the first half we didn’t play very disciplined and mismanaged the clock a little bit right before halftime,” Williamsburg head coach Curt Ritchie said.

“Wish we would’ve punted away instead of letting them get that field goal, which ended up being big.”

Down by two scores, the Raiders returned to the field and delivered the first two punches of the second half.

After a fumble by Xavier, the Raiders had a short field and capitalized on field position with a four-yard touchdown run from Nile Sinn.

On the next Xavier possession, the Raiders blocked a punt and took the ball with another short field. Sinn scored again, this time running from 12 years out.

Just like that, it was 21-16 Williamsburg.

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In two plays, Xavier was back in the lead, scoring on a 68-yard touchdown pass to Ryan Kelly.

After the failed conversion, the score was 22-21 Xavier.

The Xavier defense got a stop and drove the ball down the field, scoring another touchdown on a pass from 26 yards out to Nolan Wilgenbusch.

A long, resilient drive later, the Raiders responded with their own touchdown.

John Eichhorn caught a beautiful, back-shoulder to make the score 29-27. The following two-point conversion failed.

Hocker-Eichhorn was on display all night as the duo connected on several back-shoulder throws throughout the game.

“Rayce [Heitman] got hurt in the first series of the game, so he wasn’t quite full speed,” Ritchie said. “John stepped up and did a good job.”

Adding Eichhorn to Heitman and the running game of Sinn provides the Raiders with a lot of versatility as they move into district play soon.

With five minutes remaining, Xavier tried to run out the clock to keep the Raiders from having another chance to score.

Parks delivered clutch throws on third downs, and the Saints punted with 16 seconds remaining.

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The Raiders had one last play and attempted a lateral play, but the Xavier defense ended the play quickly.

”We’ve won 25 of our last 27 games, so obviously losing is not fun,“ Ritchie said following the game.

But playing up one class against a good 4A school will help prepare the Raiders for some tough district games later in the season.

“We’ve always liked to play up,” Ritchie said. ”If we can handle it and fight through it, the hope is it always makes us better at the end.“

Cedar Rapids Xavier 29, Williamsburg 27

(AT WILLIAMSBURG)

CRX Will

First downs 19 16

Rushes-yards 24-74 34-96

Comp-att-int 27-42-0 15-26-0

Passing yards 342 200

Total yards 416 296

Punts-avg. 3-38.3 5-40.6

Penalties-yards 10-70 7-50

Fumbles-lost 1-0 0-0

Cedar Rapids Xavier 13 3 6 7-29

Williamsburg 7 0 14 6-27

CRX—Owen Vasquez 35 FG

CRX—Vasquez 31 FG

Will—Rayce Heitman 14 pass from Grant Hocker (Colby McMullin kick)

CRX—Aiden Miller 2 pass from Cash Parks (Vasquez kick)

CRX—Vasquez 31 FG

Will—Nile Sinn 4 run (McMullin kick)

Will—Sinn 12 run (McMullin kick)

CRX—Ryan Kelly 68 pass from Parks (pass failed)

CRX—Will Forman 26 pass from Parks (Vasquez kick)

Will—John Eichhorn 14 pass from Hocker (pass failed)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing — Xavier: Carter Hoffman 17-79, Dustin Cook 2-0, Cash Parks 5- (minus) 5. Williamsburg: Nile Sinn 21-72, Grady Wetjen 2-23, Grant Hocker 10-8, Dylan Weisskopf 1- (minus) 7

Passing — Xavier: Cash Parks 27-42-0-342. Williamsburg: Grant Hocker 15-26-0-200

Receiving — Xavier: Ryan Kelly 9-150, Aiden Miller 8-83, Dustin Cook 4-50, Carter Hoffman 4-19, Will Forman 1-26, Jack Downey 1-14. Williamsburg: John Eichhorn 9-133, Rayce Heitman 5-66, Connor Westcott 1-10