—Messenger photo by Britt Kudla St. Edmond’s Grant Webster tackles Remsen St. Mary’s quarterback Cael Ortmann inside Dodger Stadium on Friday night. For more photos, visit CU at messengernews.net

Any lingering questions about the status of Remsen St. Mary’s still being a state title contender were put to rest here Friday night.

The fifth-ranked and defending champion Hawks scored three first quarter touchdowns in posting a convincing 58-6 victory over St. Edmond inside Dodger Stadium, stretching their win streak to 17 games in a row.

Cael Ortmann accounted for six touchdowns, including five on the ground, to lead an offense that racked up 309 yards in limited minutes. Ortmann ran for 101 and threw for another 62, with Brenden Fisch rushing for 94 yards and a TD.

Fisch also returned a punt for a touchdown and Remsen St. Mary’s recorded a safety late.

“That’s a program built on hard work and tradition,” SEHS head coach Matt Dillon said. “They know exactly what they are going to do and they come out and execute. They are big, physical and we didn’t match that or the intensity of the game.

“It was frustrating because coming in against the defending state champions, you should be fired up.”

The Hawks marched right down the field, scoring on a five-play drive when Ortmann found the end zone. They added another quick TD on the second series and scored again to make it 23-0 late in the first.

St. Edmond got on the board when sophomore JT Laufersweiler scored on a 4-yard run, capping a five-play drive that started with a fumble recovery. Laufersweiler threw for 73 yards and ran for another 22.

“JT made some nice plays when we gave him time,” Dillon said. “We’ve just got to figure out a way to run the football. We haven’t been able to do a good enough job up front to get our run game going all year.”

Ortmann finished off the opening half with his third rushing score and his first passing TD, hitting Austin Jensen. Ortmann also connected on a pair of passing two-point conversion plays to Brody Schorg.

Fisch’s 45-yard punt return made it 43-6 at the half in favor of Remsen St. Mary’s, who are now 51-8 since the start of the 2016 season.

“We’ve got to figure out what we are,” Dillon said. “We have a couple weeks left here in this season to see what we can do.”

Johnny Dickerson caught three passes for 43 yards, Isaac Landwehr had two catches and Quinten McCarville one. On defense, Adam Walker and Grant Webster each recorded a sack, with Cayne Reed, Landwehr and Webster recovering fumbles.

Remsen St. Mary’s had three interceptions, including two by Jensen, and recorded a pair of sacks.

After two consecutive home games, the Gaels head to Algona to face Bishop Garrigan next Friday night. The Golden Bears fell to Harris-Lake Park last night, 19-2.

SE RSM

First Downs 6 15

Rushes-Yards 28-28 37-247

Passing 73 62

Comp-Att-Int 6-21-3 5-9-0

Total Offense 101 309

Fumbles-Lost 3-0 2-1

Punts-Avg. 5-40.0 1-50.0

Penalties-Yards 3-15 3-30

St. Edmond 0 6 0 0– 6

St. Mary’s 23 20 7 8–58

Scoring Summary

Remsen St. Mary’s — Cael Ortmann (1-yard run), 10:07 left in first. Ortmann-to-Brody Schorg conversion.

Remsen St. Mary’s — Ortmann (15-yard run), 7:24 left in first. Ortmann-to-Schorg conversion.

Remsen St. Mary’s — Brenden Fisch (26-yard run), 3:35 left in first. Austin Jensen kick.

St. Edmond — JT Laufersweiler (4-yard run), 10:12 left in second. Conversion failed.

Remsen St. Mary’s — Ortmann (4-yard run), 9:00 left in second. Jensen kick.

Remsen St. Mary’s — Jensen (27-yard pass from Ortmann), 6:28 left in second. Kick failed.

Remsen St. Mary’s — Fisch (45-yard punt return), 4:40 left in third. Jensen kick.

Remsen St. Mary’s — Ortmann (3-yard run), 5:30 left in third. Jensen kick.

Remsen St. Mary’s — Ortmann (2-yard run), 6:32 left in fourth. Kick failed.

Remsen St. Mary’s — Safety, 5:22 left in fourth.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing — St. Edmond: JT Laufersweiler 16-22, Tyler Rossmanith 7-6, Cayne Reed 5-0. Remsen St. Mary’s: Cael Ortmann 18-101, Brenden Fisch 8-94, Brody Schorg 3-30, Jaxon Bunkers 4-17, Austin Jensen 3-8, Cade Tentinger 1-(minus-3).

Passing — St. Edmond: JT Laufersweiler 6-21-3-73. Remsen St. Mary’s: Cael Ortmann 5-9-0-62, Jaxon Bunkers 0-0-0-0.

Receiving — St. Edmond: Johnny Dickerson 3-43, Isaac Landwehr 2-16, Quinten McCarville 1-14. Remsen St. Mary’s: Brody Schorg 3-33, Austin Jensen 1-27, Brenden Fisch 1-2.