DUBUQUE – The Cedar Rapids Xavier football team is not invincible, a point Western Dubuque drove home a week ago while pulling arguably the season's biggest Class 3A upset on the Saints' home turf.

But when the Saints are on their game and themselves, they're a migraine headache even Excedrin won't stop, a point Dubuque Wahlert will confirm after Friday night.

An angry Xavier team rediscovered its identity by returning to what it does best: Dominating the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, establishing its electric running game and controlling the game from first quarter to fourth.

Jay Kortemeyer trucked for 207 yards and three touchdowns on 20 carries and the Class 3A No. 5-ranked Saints rolled off 41 unanswered points while bouncing back with a 41-12 statement stomping of Wahlert at Loras College's Rock Bowl.

The past week may have been the lost collective week of Saints players' lives.

“Football is a sport where you’ve got to wait a week before you can play another game, unlike basketball or baseball where you get that next at-bat or next game quickly,” Xavier Coach Duane Schulte said. “This week these guys wanted to get a game going so it was good to come up here and get a win.”

Ever have a bad day when you're just not yourself?

That was Friday, Oct. 3 for the Saints (5-2, 4-1 District 4), who lost track of the game form that had made them the top-ranked team in Iowa Class 3A and the favorite to win the state championship in November.

With no passing game whatsoever against Western Dubuque last week, Xavier couldn't get from Point A to Point B offensively while turning over the ball six times on downs and managing a mediocre 3 yards per carry in a Kansas-flat loss to the Bobcats. Xavier's lone touchdown came on Nic Ekland's 54-yard fumble recovery.

For the Saints, the Western Dubuque loss was the perfect football lesson plan for teaching resiliency.

Still, Xavier's rebound game didn't start well. Wahlert tailback Riley Hasken quickly gashed the Saints line, breaking free on a 49-yard touchdown just 1:59 into the game.

But the Saints defense loaded up on the line and locked down from there. The Golden Eagles (2-5, 2-2) managed only spare change rushing offense the rest of the way and quarterback Jacob Nemmers (5-for-16 passing for just 64 yards) couldn't get anything going either.

“We were able to execute the running game pretty good in the first drive,” Wahlert Coach Travis Zajac said. “They adjusted and they’re well-coached. They’re a physical football team. They had an answer for that and they loaded up the box.”

With his offensive line opening gaping holes, Kortemeyer ran wild. His 25-yard run and Dallas Klein's extra point just 1:40 after Hasken's score gave Xavier a 7-6 lead. From there, the Saints weren't looking back.

Bryce Schulte's 3-yard first-quarter run extended the Xavier advantage to 14-6 and the Saints went off and marching to victory.

Converting third downs with ease, Xavier constructed a 28-6 lead by halftime on Schulte's 3-yard second-quarter run and 27-yard scoring pass to Nick Stark.

Xavier kept its foot on the accelerator in the second half. Kortemeyer added a 19-yard TD run, Schulte hit Joe Welch on a 13-yard score and Kortemeyer reached paydirt again from 29 yards out as the Saints enforced the running clock rule by midway through the third quarter.

By the time the game clock hit zero, the message was clear: Xavier was itself again.

XAVIER 41, WAHLERT 12

Xavier    14    14    13    0 — 41

Wahlert    6    0      6    0 — 12

Scoring Plays

DW — Riley Hasken 49 run (kick failed)

CRX — Jay Kortemeyer 25 run (Dallas Klein kick)

CRX — Bryce Schulte 3 run (Klein kick)

CRX — Nick Stark 27 pass from Schulte (Klein kick)

CRX — Kortemeyer 19 run (Klein kick)

CRX — Joe Welch 13 pass from Schulte (Klein kick)

CRX — Kortemeyer 29 run (kick blocked)

DW — Austin Kluck 33 pass from Jacob Nemmers (pass failed)

CRX    DW

First downs        20        11

Rushes-yards       41-286    29-150

Passing yards      97        64

Passes             9-16-0    5-16-1

Punts-avg.         2-38      5-34

Fumbles-lost       1-0       0-0

Penalties-yards    1-13      1-5

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing

Xavier - Jay Kortemeyer 20-207, Bryce Schulte 9-28, Thomas Ickes 2-8, Nicholas Spark 1-8, Nicholas Ekland 2-10, Andrew Steffensmeier 7-25.

Wahlert - Riley Hasken 17-112, Jacob Nemmers 4-(-9), Travis Warden 1-17, Lyle Klein 5-28, Mason Flynn 2-2.

Passing

Xavier - Bryce Schulte 8-15-0, 88; Sam Tursi 1-1-0, 9.

Wahlert - Jacob Nemmers 5-16-1, 64.

Receiving

Xavier - Nicholas Stark 4-49, Jay Kortemeyer 1-1, Joe Welch 3-38, Blake Whitten 1-9.

Wahlert - Riley Hasken 1-1, Joe Duehr 1-9, Austin Kluck 2-40, Isaac Evans 1-14.