The Rockhurst Hawklets started at a different speed than the Helias Crusaders.
Helias could never catch up.
The Hawklets scored on their first three possessions Thursday night on their way to a 40-10 victory against the Crusaders at Adkins Stadium.
"They came out swinging, ready to go," Helias coach Phil Pitts said. "They played great. For whatever reason, we didn't answer the call. You have to tip their hat to them, they did a heck of a job and they beat us."
Rockhurst went 80 yards in eight plays on the first series of the game, then needed eight plays to go 71 yards on its next drive to take a 14-0 lead.
A 1-yard plunge by A.J. Taylor got the Hawklets on the board a little more than four minutes into the game. The second score, which came with 2:19 left in the first quarter, came on a 17-yard pass from T.J. Green to Taylor Soukup.
"We take pride in the fact teams have problems putting together drives against us, but Rockhurst did a good job of it tonight," Pitts said.
Jackson Terry, who booted PATs after the first two touchdowns, added field goals from 42 and 34 yards in the second quarter to give Rockhurst a 20-0 lead with 1:42 to go before halftime.
With time running down, Helias pieced together its best drive in the opening two quarters. Starting at its own 23, the Crusaders looked to be ready to settle for a short field goal on fourth-and-2 at the Hawklet 4.
Rockhurst jumped offside before the Helias kick and it was fourth-and-inches just outside the 2. Helias decided to put the offense back on the field.
"We wanted to set a tone to the team that we believed they could make the play," Pitts said.
But a run play lost 3 yards.
"We had an opportunity to get the ball in the end zone, get a score," Pitts said. "Then we get the ball back to start the second half and if we score, it's a new game."
Back in the first quarter, Helias appeared to have a score on an option pass when Weston Porter hit a wide-open Kale Gerstner for 76-yard score. But the officials ruled the first pass from Alex Faddoul to Porter went forward, negating the play.
"We practice that all the time and we didn't execute it," Pitts said. "We knew the play would work, it did work, but we have to do a better job of executing."
Helias fumbled away the ball on the third play of the second half and Rockhurst took over at the Crusader 25. Four plays later, Matt Schell scored on a 3-yard run to make it 27-0.
A 29-yard return of a Crusader punt on the next series gave the Hawklets the ball at the Helias 36. Six plays later, Green took it in from 1 yard out to make it 33-0. In an effort to get the running clock with a 35-point lead, Rockhurst went for the 2-point conversion. But Green's run came up short of the end zone.
"Our program has had the turbo clock put on us before, it's no big deal," Pitts said. "What is a big deal is that it showed we were still fighting. We were still plugging away and that meant something to me."
The stop may have put some life into the Crusaders, who drove to the Hawklet 10 on the next series before settling for a 37-yard field goal by Sam Heckart with 9:58 left in the game to make it 33-3.
Blake Wilbers then picked off a Green pass to give Helias the ball at the Rockhurst 31. The interception extended Helias' streak of getting a turnover to 34 straight games.
Two plays later, Faddoul scored on an 18-yard run and Heckart's PAT made it 33-10 with 8:29 remaining.
"We talked about responding, continuing to fight," Pitts said. "When things become difficult, it shows character to keep battling and keep going. And I firmly believe we did that."
Rockhurst got the final score of the game with :50.1 remaining on a 25-yard pass from Green to Soukup.
"You have to tip their hat to them, they did a heck of a job and they beat us," Pitts said.
Green, the son of former Chiefs quarterback Trent Green, finished 11-of-16 through the air for 141 yards. He also led the Hawklets with 81 rushing yards, 58 of which came on scrambles to elude the Crusader pass rush.
"We've been successful keeping quarterbacks in the pocket, but we couldn't do that tonight," Pitts said. "He'd find a hole and we couldn't keep him contained."
Rockhurst finished with 330 total yards to 258 for Helias. The Crusaders totaled 16 first downs to 13 for the Hawklets.
"We made plays, we just didn't make enough of them," Pitts said.
Helias sacked Green twice in the game. The Crusaders now have 36 sacks this season to eclipse the school's single-season record of 35 set in 2007.
Helias (7-1, ranked No. 2 in Class 4) is back in action next Friday when the Crusaders host the Sullivan Eagles for Homecoming.
Rockhurst (7-1, ranked No. 2 in Class 6) will host the Jefferson City Jays next Friday.