St. Xavier upsets No. 11 Moeller in battle of Cincinnati powers

CINCINNATI - The victory wasn’t necessarily shocking, but the dominance certainly was.

In a highly anticipated match-up of two Greater Catholic League heavyweights, St. Xavier (Cincinnati) dismantled favored Archbishop Moeller 49-21 in Cincinnati on Friday night.

It was the most points scored by the Bombers since 2006.

"You never expect to see something like this," St. Xavier head coach Steve Specht said. "But what I did see was a group of young men who haven’t been deterred by two heart-wrenching losses. They keep working hard, they keep improving – and that’s really all that matters. Kids are resilient."

St. Xavier, which entered the contest having lost two straight games – both in the final minute – couldn’t have gotten off to a better start. On the first play of the game, St. Xavier junior quarterback Nick Tensing connected with senior wide receiver Kevin Milligan on an 80-yard, play-action touchdown pass.

"All I saw was the ball and the open field," said Milligan, a Wes Welker-type receiver who finished with nine catches for 139 yards and two touchdowns. "We had been studying their blitzes all week, and we knew what was coming so we took advantage of it."

Said Specht of the play call, “It was something we wanted to do. We thought we saw something we could take advantage of. It just fell into place.”

Moeller’s first possession didn’t unfold quite as smoothly. Facing 3rd-and-16 deep in his own territory, Crusader quarterback Spencer Iacovone saw his pass picked off by St. Xavier defensive back Ryan Frey, who returned it 32 yards for a touchdown.

Seventy-six seconds into the game, St. Xavier led 14-0.

Moeller responded with a 15-play touchdown drive to make it 14-7, but the Bombers put up 21 unanswered points before halftime, as Tensing hooked up with three different receivers – Milligan, Frey and Joey Arbino – to put the game out of reach. Tensing finished 16-of-23 for 248 yards and four touchdowns.

"Nick’s getting better every week," Specht said. "I think he’s going to be a special player."

Meanwhile, Moeller, nationally ranked in virtually every poll and No. 11 in the MaxPreps Xcellent 25, entered the contest averaging 43 points but was held to 21. The game was, in Week 5, the Crusaders’ first of the season against a Cincinnati team. After opening the year with a 35-14 win over Gilman (Baltimore), Moeller held off Grand Rapids Christian 42-34 and won a pair of road games – 61-33 at Catholic Central (Detroit) and 34-27 at St. Xavier (Louisville, Ky.). A third straight road game, however, was too much to overcome, as the Crusaders struggled to move the ball consistently against an undersized yet scrappy St. X defense.

Moeller senior running back Keith Watkins, a Northwestern recruit, rushed 26 times for 111 yards and a touchdown, while Iacovone ran 14 times for 74 yards and a score. He was also 12-of-22 for 89 yards with two interceptions.

The St. X defense, much maligned to start the year, has improved drastically over the last two weeks. The Bombers allowed a combined 107 points in their first three games – by far the most allowed in a three-game stretch during the Steve Specht era (the previous high was 81, set in 2004, Specht’s first year) – but last week they held Louisville Trinity to 14 points; Trinity entered the game averaging 41.

"Week 1, we were awful young," Specht said. "We were working with the guys, but we had to do a better job as coaches to find out what we could do well."

Specht, who improves to 7-4 against Moeller and 84-23 overall, may have found the answer, as his defense limited Moeller to 345 total yards – almost 150 below its season average.

"Our kids play hard," Specht said. "We’re not the biggest group, and we may not be the smartest or the fastest, but they give me what they have every single snap. As long as you’ve got that, you’re going to find success. You might not find it always, but you’ll find it."

The Bombers were held scoreless in the third quarter but milked the clock in the fourth to finish the game. St. Xavier junior tailback C.J. Hilliard carried 17 times for 130 yards, much of it on a 61-yard touchdown that made it 42-14 with 9:41 remaining and sent most of Moeller’s fans to the exits.

"We’re getting better; that’s all I can say," Specht said. “We’re getting better."

Tony Meale, author of the book 'The Chosen Ones: The Team That Beat LeBron,' is a freelance writer and MaxPreps.com contributor. He may be reached at tony.meale@gmail.com.