When
St. Mary's (Remsen, Iowa) and
Montezuma (Iowa) met early Thursday morning at the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls for their 8-man semifinal playoff football game who knew the final score would look more like a basketball contest — a high-scoring one at that. The teams combined for 1,497 yards and a state-record 202 points as St. Mary's pulled out a wild 108-94 victory.
According to the
Des Moines Register, the game featured 29 touchdowns (15 from St. Mary's), eight lead changes, five ties and 71 first downs (36 by St. Mary's). It took more than four hours for the pair of 10-0 teams to determine a winner as St. Mary's piled up 72 points in the second half after entering intermission down 10.
The 202 total points are tied for second all-time by two 8-man teams, according to the National Federation High School record book, surpassed only by a 2004 Arizona clash where Seligman and Queen Creek Academy piled up 224. Seligman won that one, 116-108.
Thursday's game broke the previous Iowa 8-man record of 178, set last year, when Baxter beat Meskwaki Settlement, 90-88.
Montezuma (10-1), which led 60-36 midway through the third quarter, actually outgained St. Mary's 804-683 and got 689 yards passing and 13 total touchdowns (nine passing, four rushing) from
Eddie Burgess. His favorite target was
Trey Shearer, who had a state 8-man record 20 catches for 389 yards and seven TDs.
Blaine Harpenau rushed 40 times for 354 yards, passed for 134 yards and accounted for eight touchdowns for St. Mary's (11-0). Teammate
Brenden Fisch rushed for 123 yards and five more scores.
St. Mary's plays Fremont-Mills in next week's title game after the Knights beat Don Bosco by a relatively pedestrian 32-30 score. Fremont-Mills has combined to score 120 points in its last four games.
