High School

8-Man state championship: Remsen St. Mary’s silences Gladbrook-Reinbeck for fourth state title overall

Remsen St. Mary’s returns to the top of 8-Man with a dominating 51-12 victory over Gladbrook-Reinbeck

Dana Becker

Landon Waldschmitt finds the end zone Thursday during a 51-12 win for Remsen St. Mary's in the 8-Man championship game vs. Gladbrook-Reinbeck.
Landon Waldschmitt finds the end zone Thursday during a 51-12 win for Remsen St. Mary's in the 8-Man championship game vs. Gladbrook-Reinbeck. / Julia Hansen/Iowa City Press-Citizen / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

CEDAR FALLS - A year after seeing their hopes of a repeat fall short early in the postseason, the Remsen St. Mary’s football team ensured there would be none of that this year.

The Hawks put together a dominating performance in the 8-Man finals here Thursday inside the UNI-Dome, blasting Gladbrook-Reinbeck, 51-12. The win marked the fourth title all-time for Remsen St. Mary’s (13-0) and the third in the last five years. 

Landon Waldschmitt had seven total touchdowns with 177 yards rushing and 156 yards passing. He tied the record for most rushing TDs in a title game and did not have a negative rush on 33 carries.

In the air, Waldschmitt completed 10 of 15 with both of his touchdown passes going to Keaton Harpenau, who had three catches for 58 with 44 more on the ground.

“My line up front worked their butts off,” Waldschmitt said. “We fell short last year and losing this season wasn’t an option. This was our last game playing together (for the seniors) and we wanted to leave with a bang.”

Drew Eilers led the Rebels (11-2) with 118 yards passing and 83 yards rushing, scoring two touchdowns. Hudson Clark caught seven passes for 80 yards. 

Remsen St. Mary’s got on the board late in the first as Harpeanu caught a 27-yard TD pass from Waldschmitt to complete a 10-play, 76-yard scoring drive that took just under five minutes. Waldschmitt had his second score early in the second before finding Harpenau again to make it 21-0.

Eilers got Gladbrook-Reinbeck going with a 14-yard touchdown run but the Hawks quickly answered, scoring once more just before the break. 

Another run by Eilers to the end zone made it 29-12 midway through the third. That was the closest they would get, as Waldschmitt had three more rushing scores over the next 12 minutes of game play.

Braxton Kneip caught five passes for 57 yards for Remsen St. Mary’s as the Hawks scored on seven of their 10 possessions. Collin Homan had 8.5 tackles including three for loss with a sack while Brady Wurth also had a sack. Harpeanu recorded eight tackles and had an interception. 

Michael Boyd led the Gladbrook-Reinbeck defense with 12.5 tackles and Treyvon Herron had 10. The Rebels were in their fifth title game appearance all-time and first in 8-Man after winning titles in 2015 and ‘16.

8-MAN CHAMPIONSHIP GAME STATS

RUSHING - Gladbrook-Reinbeck: Drew Eilers 19-83 (2 TDs), Treyvon Herron 9-44, Hudson Clark 2-8. Remsen St. Mary’s: Landon Waldschmitt 33-177 (5 TDs), Keaton Harpenau 8-44, Braxton Kneip 5-13, Cade Tentinger 2-9.

PASSING - Gladbrook-Reinbeck: Drew Eilers 12-23-1-118. Remsen St. Mary’s: Landon Waldschmitt 10-15-0-156 (2 TDs).

RECEIVING - Gladbrook-Reinbeck: Hudson Clark 7-80, Treyvon Herron 3-33, Trevor Mathern 1-11. Remsen St. Mary’s: Braxton Kneip 5-57, Keaton Harpenau 3-58 (2 TDs), Collin Homan 1-26, Brady Wurth 1-15.

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Dana Becker
DANA BECKER

Dana Becker has been a sports writer in Iowa since 2000, writing for The Fort Dodge Messenger, Mason City Globe-Gazette, Cedar Rapids Gazette and others. Dana resides in northcentral Iowa and started as a writer with SB Live Sports in 2022 focused on the state of Iowa. Along with providing coverage of football and wrestling, Dana also spotlights cross country, swimming, basketball, track and field, soccer, tennis, golf, baseball and softball. He began writing for High School on SI in 2023.

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