After a morning of 8-player state semifinal football at the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls that was nearly perfectly evenly matched, the entire outcome of the game between 2022 state champion Remsen St. Mary’s and 2023 state champion Bishop Garrigan came down to one drive, one deflected pass, and one two-point conversion attempt.
With Bishop Garrigan leading 20-14 and 24 seconds left, Remsen St. Mary’s quarterback Landon Waldschmitt rolled out to his right and fired a pass into the endzone intended for tight end Collin Homan. The ball was deflected into the air by Bishop Garrigan defensive back Trayton Cink, and Remsen St. Mary senior Brady Wurth was in a perfect position to catch the deflection, tying the game at 20.
Remsen St. Mary’s Head Coach Tim Osterman says the Hawks dialed up a play to get their quarterback moving towards his right side.
Waldschmitt trusted his receivers to go make a play.
With the game tied at 20, the Hawks attempted the all-important two-point conversion, and Waldschmitt connected with his running back Keaton Harpenau on a pass out of the backfield, as Harpenau found himself all alone in the endzone to make the score 22-20.
Waldschmitt says they showed a look Bishop Garrigan hadn’t seen yet on the two point try.
Osterman anticipated cover zero from Bishop Garrigan and felt the Hawks dialed up the right play to beat the coverage.
The touchdown and two point conversion capped off a masterful drive for the Hawks that resulted in the go-ahead score, and minimal time left for Bishop Garrigan to get the ball back. The Hawks took eight plays to move 66 yards, and burned 3:16 off the clock to only leave Bishop Garrigan with 24 seconds.
The drive began with a 34 yard run by Waldschmitt to take the ball from the Remsen St. Mary’s 14 yard line to the Bishop Garrigan 32. Osterman feels the opening play by Waldschmitt gave Remsen St. Mary’s a chance to control the clock.
With the game tied at eight coming out of halftime, Remsen St. Mary’s forced a three and out by Bishop Garrigan on their opening drive of the second half, then marched down the field for another clock eating drive, traveling 60 yards in 13 plays, none longer than eight yards, ending the drive with a Waldschmitt touchdown pass to Wurth for eight yards, his first of two touchdown receptions on the day. The drive took nearly six minutes off of the clock, and gave the Hawks a 14-8 lead with 4:33 left in the third quarter, as the two point conversion was no good.
Osterman wanted his team to be patient and take what the defense gave them all day long.
Following the Hawks touchdown, Bishop Garrigan put together a drive that was a near carbon copy of the Remsen St. Mary’s drive, also engineering a 13 play, 60 yard march that took 5:46, and ended with a quarterback sneak touchdown by Foertsch, tying the game at 14. The drive featured two third down conversions, one on a six yard pass on third and five from Foertsch to Nick Leerar, and the other on a four yard pickup by Ethan Marso on a third and three. Cink also picked up a big chunk of 16 yards on the ground following the Marso conversion, putting the Golden Bears in the red zone and eventually setting up the touchdown. Bishop Garrigan attempted a halfback pass on the two point try after the touchdown, which was batted down by Wurth, keeping the score tied at 14 just over one minute into the fourth quarter.
Remsen St. Mary’s appeared poised to respond, moving the ball into Bishop Garrigan territory on their ensuing drive. The Hawks then faced a fourth and two from the Bishop Garrigan 35 yard line, and dialed up a running play for Waldschmitt. Bishop Garrigan defensive lineman Carter Schwab evaded a block and came into the backfield nearly untouched to blow up the play for a one yard loss, giving the ball back to the Golden Bears near midfield.
Bishop Garrigan would not waste the opportunity given to them by the Schwab stop, completing a 10 play drive that encompassed 44 yards and featured 9 runs, topped off by a two yard scoring run from Marso, giving the Golden Bears their first lead of the day, 20-14, with 3:43 left in the game. The drive featured a 15 yard pass from Foertsch to his tight end Wyatt Rosenmeyer, giving the Golden Bears a fresh set of downs after a false start put them behind the sticks.
Long, grinding drives were the theme of the day. Remsen St. Mary’s opened the game with the ball on their own four yard line after Braxton Kneip mishandled a Daniel Meis squib kickoff, as Thadd Kollasch tackled Kneip inside the five yard line before he could get any momentum up the field. The Hawks nickeled and dimed the Bishop Garrigan defense down the field after that, traveling 76 yards in 14 plays, as the six minute and 34 second drive ended with a Waldschmitt four yard scoring pass to Homan, with a two point conversion pass to Kneip giving the Hawks an 8-0 lead. The Golden Bear defense had an opportunity to get off the field early in the drive, recovering an apparent fumble, but the recovery was wiped out by an illegal hands to the face penalty that allowed Remsen St. Mary’s to maintain possession.
Just as the Golden Bears would do later in the game, they responded to Remsen St. Mary’s touchdown with their own scoring drive, as a 24 yard run by Foertsch, along with 12 and 24 yard passes from Foertsch to Owen Murphy, eventually set up a Foertsch eight yard touchdown rush to complete the drive. Foertsch then hit Marso in the end zone for the two point conversion, as the Bishop Garrigan junior had to turn his body at a 180 degree angle to make the grab and tie the game at eight.
Penalties would become a huge factor for both teams in the second quarter. A promising drive by Remsen St. Mary’s was interrupted by an intentional grounding penalty, as Waldschmitt tried to escape the grasp of Keaton Helleseth, but couldn’t get his pass back to the line of scrimmage. The penalty set up a fourth and 20, which the Hawks failed to convert.
Bishop Garrigan then short-circuited their own drive with penalties. After a 39 yard pass from Foertsch to Murphy set up first and goal from the Remsen St. Mary’s nine yard line, Bishop Garrigan would be hit by back to back holding penalties, then a third hold later on the same drive. Facing fourth and goal from the 29 yard line, Foertsch looked for Murphy in the end zone, as the Golden Bear receiver had snuck behind the defense, but Waldschmitt recovered and deflected the pass away from his safety position just in time to avoid a touchdown.
Bishop Garrigan Head Coach Marty Wadle took responsibility for the lack of points on that drive.
The Golden Bears eventually got the ball back with the score still tied 8-8 and one more opportunity to score before halftime. A thirty yard catch and run by Michael Joyce moved Bishop Garrigan from deep inside of their own territory to the Remsen St. Mary’s side of the field. With time winding down and Bishop Garrigan at the Hawks 14 yard line following a pass interference penalty, Foertsch ripped a pass up the seam looking for Murphy again in the end zone, but Harpenau made a diving deflection to prevent a Golden Bear touchdown before the half.
Just as the final score of 22-20 was nearly even, the final stats were nearly the same for both teams as well. Bishop Garrigan gained 299 yards to Remsen St. Mary’s 286, the Golden Bears controlled the clock for 24:10, compared to 23:50 for the Hawks, and Remsen St. Mary’s converted on 7 of their 10 third down tries while Bishop Garrigan was successful on 6 out of 10. The Hawks also gained 18 first downs compared to 17 for the Golden Bears.
Wadle felt even in defeat, Bishop Garrigan made Remsen St. Mary’s earn every last yard.
Remsen St. Mary’s was able to keep Bishop Garrigan’s vaunted rushing attack, which came in averaging over 277 yards per game, contained for most of the game until later in the second half. Bishop Garrigan finished the game averaging 4.6 yards per carry after coming in averaging 7.3. Marso had 12 rushes for 42 yards, Cink had 14 carries for 57 yards, and Foertsch carried 12 times for 76 yards.
Schwab felt the Golden Bears finally got the ground game working by the end, but ultimately came up one play short.
Osterman says the Hawks defense was focused on forcing the Golden Bears to run laterally, rather than downhill.
Waldschmitt finished his day 10/16 through the air for 91 yards, while carrying 25 times for 99 more yards. The Remsen St. Mary’s quarterback felt the game was a physical battle.
Waldschmitt credited his offensive line as the key to the victory, including setting up his 34 yard pickup on the game winning drive.
Keaton Harpenau contributed 13 rushes for 67 yards and two receptions for 16 yards to the Hawk attack. After entering the game with three receptions and one touchdown all season long, Brady Wurth caught three passes for 29 yards and two scores. Collin Homan hauled in three passes for 34 yards and a touchdown.
The Hawks started an all-senior lineup on both offense and defense, as Osterman says that group is taking advantage of their last chance at high school football.
In addition to his 76 rushing yards, Tate Foertsch added 124 yards through the air on 8/16 passing for the Golden Bears. Owen Murphy caught four balls for 76 yards, Michael Joyce chipped in two catches for 27 yards, and Wyatt Rosenmeyer and Nick Leerar had one reception apiece.
Foertsch felt some of Remsen St. Mary’s zone defensive looks were challenging for the Golden Bear passing game.
Andrew Lichter led Bishop Garrigan with 9.5 tackles. Collin Homan, Keaton Harpenau, and Brady Koenck shared the lead for the Hawks with 6.5 apiece.
Wadle wants the Golden Bear seniors to know they will always be a part of the program.
Foertsch says the Golden Bear underclassmen will use what they are feeling today as motivation going forward.
Osterman called Bishop Garrigan’s program a class act, even in defeat.
The hard-hitting game marked the first time either team had been held below 40 points so far this season, and also represented the first game this year decided by single digits for either school.
With the victory, Remsen St. Mary’s is now 12-0, and will face Gladbrook-Reinbeck on Thursday, November 21st in the 8-player state title game, as Gladbrook-Reinbeck knocked off top seeded Lenox 43-27 in Wednesday’s semifinal round.
The Hawks bring an end to Bishop Garrigan’s 23 game win streak, a win streak that had included a 21-18 victory over then-defending champion Remsen St. Mary’s in the second round of the 2023 playoffs, jumpstarting Bishop Garrigan’s run to a state title. Remsen St. Mary’s has now won 68 of their last 71 games, and will look to win the fourth state title in program history, joining the teams of 2004, 2020, and 2022.
