Marv Cook never backed down from a challenge during his All-American career with the Iowa Hawkeyes, and when the Xavier Saints called last winter he gladly accepted their offer to play even though the Saints are a much bigger school with twice as many players.

Cook and his spirited "little" squad from Iowa City Regina showed Friday night they can compete with anybody on a football field - big, small or anywhere in between.

The Regals knocked off the Saints, 21-7, in an All-Catholic showdown that saw the No. 1 club from Class 1A take care of the No. 5 team from Class 3A in a classic David vs. Goliath confrontation at the Saints Field.

The Regals have won four state titles in a row in the small-school category, but Cook relished a chance to play on a bigger stage against a traditional state power.

"I feel so strongly about this senior class," he said following the post-game celebration. "I've been coaching these guys since the first, second and third grade in flag football. They'd come to my house. I just have a connection with them.

"We wanted to have a platform for them to go out and really play and be challenged," he said. "Xavier gave us some shots and got back in the game, and then we answered the challenge. That's what it's all about."

Andrew Cook - the coach's son - is a member of this senior class at Regina that has enjoyed nothing but success. The Regals carried a 56-game winning streak into the season, lost to Class 3A Solon in the opener and have won seven straight since then.

Andrew Cook is a strapping 6-foot-5, 220-pounder who looks remarkably like his father. And like his father, he'll play his college football in Iowa City.

Cook remembers the day his father said they were going to face Xavier, which reached the Class 4A state finals in 2012 and 2013 before dropping to Class 3A this year.

"I think we were all excited," said Cook, who ran for two short touchdowns and ran an offense that collected 318 yards. "I think I can speak for all of us, we all wanted a chance to play a good team. And Xavier is a good team. They gave us fits all over the field.

"But to come here and get a victory means a lot to us," he said.

The Saints tied the game, 7-7, in the fourth quarter on a 25-yard pass play from Bryce Schulte to Joe Welch and the PAT by Dallas Klein. It looked like the Saints might be ready to take control of the game, but Regina tailback Jacob Brinkman broke loose for a 71-yard touchdown on their very next play from scrimmage to give the Regals a 13-7 advantage.

The Saints had to punt with 6 1/2 minutes left in the game and Brinkman raced 39 yards into Xavier territory on his next carry. Cook found Eric Bracken for a 29-yard pass to the 1-yard line, then Cook scored on a quarterback sneak to make it 20-7 with 4:57 left to seal the deal.

"This has been a game that, since Day 1, we circled," said Brinkman. "People always tell us we're good for our level of play. We just wanted to come out here and show those people that even a little 1A school can come out and play with these guys.

"We just go into games, we don't care how big a school they are. We're not intimidated. We know that with our coaches and with our talent and our weightlifting coaches, we just had to come in here with our heads held high and represent our school.

"We played our hearts out," said Brinkman. "That's a game I'll remember for the rest of my life."

It was a game that Brinkman almost missed.

"Jake Brinkman got a little dinged up on Wednesday. We were freaked out," said Marv Cook. "I didn't sleep for like two days. He came out and sucked it up and made huge plays for us. Huge."

The Saints kept Brinkman under wraps for most of the game, until he galloped for 71 yards and 39 yards on consecutive carries in the fourth quarter.

There was a school of thought that Xavier, which enjoyed a 71-37 manpower advantage, would be the stronger club in the fourth quarter, but Regina had the finishing kick.

None of the local Class 4A schools would play the Saints this year after they dropped to Class 3A, so Xavier officials shopped around and put an attractive non-district slate together that included Dowling, Davenport Assumption and Regina.

Xavier Coach Duane Schulte said he has no regrets about agreeing to play the Regals. "I thought it was a good high school football game," said Schulte. "I thought both teams played hard."

He had no regrets and no apologies for losing to a Class 1A outfit.

"Anybody that was here and saw what that team looked like, it was just a good high school football team," he said. "We've been in the same boat before. We've been the little guy playing the big guys. Now we were the so-called big guy and those guys played us."

The Saints (5-3) had trouble mounting a running game against the Regals and finished with only 77 yards on the ground. Xavier quarterback Bryce Schulte took to the air and completed 14 of 25 passes for 143 yards, but the Saints found the end zone only once all night.

Andrew Cook hit 11 of 22 passes for 101 yards and suffered his first interception of the season. He also ran for 46 yards. Brinkman finished with 120 yards, with almost all of it coming on his two runs in the fourth quarter.

When Cook became the head coach at Regina, one of the first people he contacted for advice was Duane Schulte, who was happy to give Cook a few points. Cook saluted the Saints and Schulte after the ballgame.

"They're the standard. They're the platinum standard, as far as I'm concerned with what they've been able to do," said Cook, who has rolled up a phenomenal 97-4 record at Regina. "They've been so successful for so many years, it's been amazing."

Xavier and Regina will meet again next year at Regina.

There was some good news for the Saints Friday night when Solon defeated Western Dubuque. Xavier, Solon and Western Dubuque are now tied for the district lead with 4-1 records with one game left in the regular season.

REGINA 21, XAVIER 7

Regina     Xavier

First downs         15         11

Rushes-yards        33-217     30-77

Passing yards       101        143

Comp-Att-Int        11-22-1    14-25-0

Fumbles-lost        0-0        2-0

Punts-avg.          8-44.4     7-37.7

Penalties-yards     4-40       4-30

Regina    0  7  0  14 - 21

Xavier    0  0  0   7 -  7

Scoring plays

ICR - Andrew Cook 3 run (Jacob Adam kick)

CRX - Joe Welch 25 pass from Bryce Schulte (Dallas Klein kick)

ICR - Jacob Brinkman 71 run (Adam kick)

ICR - Cook 1 run (Adam kick)

Individual Statistics

Rushing

Regina - Cook 11-46, Brinkman 11-120, Phillips 8-57, Team 3-minus 6.

Xavier - Kortemeyer 16-51, Schulte 5-minus 6, Ekland 2-4, Ickes 1-minus 1, Murphy 3-29, Stark 2-0.

Passing

Regina - Cook 11-22-1, 101 yards.

Xavier - Schulte 14-25-0, 143 yards.

Receiving

Regina - Stenger 5-33, Bracken 2-50, Phillips 3-15, Brinkman 1-3.

Xavier - Stark 5-63, Clasen 1-5, Kortemeyer 2-3, Welch 4-42, Ickes 1-14, Ekland 1-16.