(Sentinel photo by Roy Tucker) RSM's Zane Phillips and Billy Steichen bring down the Spartan runner in Friday night's 52-30 Hawk victory in Remsen. [Click to enlarge]

It was a battle of fierce rivals as Remsen St. Mary's took on Spalding Catholic on the gridiron this past Friday. However, St. Mary's took the fight out of the Spartans early as they rolled to a 52-30 win.

"I was very happy with the outcome," said RSM's Ken Hajek. "I know we have a lot of things to improve on both sides of the ball but I was happy with the effort. I think we can use this next week on a few more fundamentals on both sides of the ball before the next game."

"This game was a positive note for us because the kids stayed focused despite homecoming week," continued Hajek. "[Woodbine] was a hard loss but the kids really practiced hard all week. We just had a balanced attack and did a lot of things we haven't been able to on offense and I was happy with that."

Zane Phillips got the Hawks on the board in the first quarter as he scored on a seven-yard touchdown run. However, the Spartans held the lead early as they were up 16-6 midway through the quarter. Skyler Higgins did his best to keep the Hawks in the game as he hooked up with tight end Neil Loutsch from 15-yards out to make it a 16-12 game. A point after attempt by Billy Steichen made it 16-13 in favor of Spalding as the teams headed into the second quarter.

From there, it was all Hawks as they scored 18 unanswered points to go ahead 31-16 at halftime. Higgins found Tanner Kockler for a 13-yard touchdown toss before hooking up with Phillips for 57 yards and a touchdown.

Unfortunately for the Spartans, Phillips wasn't done scoring as he intercepted a pass and took it 15 yards the other way for another score to put the Hawks in control at halftime.

Higgins had more success through the air in the second half as he found Neil Loutsch for a 47-yard bomb before finding Kockler for another score, this time from 18-yards out to put the game out of reach.

Loutsch punched in another touchdown from a yard out to put a stamp on the game as the Hawks improved to 1-1 in the district and 2-2 overall.

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Higgins was 9-15 passing with 182 yards and five touchdowns. The junior also threw two interceptions in the game. Higgins also had success in the running game with 14 carries for 60 yards while directing a Hawks' offense that notched 229 yards on the ground and 189 through the air.

Neil Loutsch was 1-1 passing for seven yards but caught three passes for 72 yards and two scores. The senior also had six rushes for 28 yards and a touchdown.

Phillips was the team's only 100-yard rusher as he hit the century mark on 18 carries. Phillips also caught four passes for 82 yard and a score.

Kockler had two catches for 31 yards and two scores.

Defensively, Steichen was the force on St. Marys' defense with 15 total stops, including one for a loss. Josh Schlitz also added 15 tackles with nine solo tackles.

Phillips added 11 tackles to his night along with his interception. Nathan Ruhland and Christopher Loutsch each added eight stops for the Hawks.

St. Mary's will travel to face Whiting who is coming off of a 47-0 loss to Remsen-Union.

"We've got to go back on the road this week and that's a hard thing to do," said Hajek. "We've got to keep playing sound football and keep this momentum through the rest of the season."