HANNIBAL, Mo. - Down 35-0 at the half Friday night, the final result was all but decided.
The Helias Crusaders didn't want anything remotely similar to occur in the final two quarters.
"We talked about how no matter what happens, we have to win the second half," Helias senior quarterback Weston Porter said. "We had to figure out what we could do to get better.
"We didn't want that to happen again."
It didn't. The Crusaders scored the first four times they had the ball in the second half in a 49-35 loss to the Hannibal Pirates.
"It's a good sign we responded," Helias coach Tim Rulo said. "It was great to see the effort and the energy. This team has so much potential, but we have to put that on the field."
The Crusaders got the ball first in the second half and used an 11-play drive to go 65 yards for their first score. Jake Burnett carried the load on the series for Helias. After not getting a carry in the first half, the junior bulled his way between the tackles six times for a total 30 yards on the series.
The touchdown came on a 16-yard pass from Porter to Adam Bax. Sam Heckart booted the first of his five PATs and it was 35-7.
Hannibal got that touchdown back on its first series of the second half. But the Helias offense had found its stride, piecing together another 11-play scoring drive, this one totaling 58 yards. The touchdown came on a 7-yard run by Alex Werner and it was 42-14.
The Helias defense got a stop and the offense took over at its own 39. Three plays later, Porter and Bax hooked up again for a touchdown, this time from 29 yards out and it was 42-21.
"We needed a stop, then get a score," Rulo said. "And then we needed to do that again."
Hannibal fumbled the ensuing kickoff and Jordan Kemple recovered it for Helias on the Crusader 19. On the first play Porter found the 6-foot-6 Bax again in the end zone and the second score in a span of 12 seconds had Helias within 14 points at 42-28.
"We felt like we had some advantages with (Bax's) size and we tried to get it to Adam as much as we could," Porter said.
Helias got another stop, but then the Crusader offense was stopped a half-yard short on fourth down at the Hannibal 34. On the next play, Shamar Griffith sprinted 66 yards for a Hannibal touchdown and the Pirates' lead was 49-28.
The Crusaders went 83 yards in seven plays on their next series for a score. Porter and Bax connected for the fourth time Friday night, this one from 5 yards, and it was 49-35.
Joe Randazzo of Helias recovered the ensuing onside kick and the Crusaders got as far as the Hannibal 35 before turning it over on downs with about a minute left.
The frenzy of the second half took some of the sting out of a disappointing first two quarters.
"I just never felt we got into a good rhythm," Rulo said. "We'd have a play here or a stop there, but we couldn't get anything going."
Hannibal scored three times on its way to a 21-0 lead after the first quarter. The Pirates had a 210-26 edge in total yards in the opening period.
Helias had an early chance to get on the board, blocking a punt on the first series of the game and taking over at the Hannibal 20. But Helias failed to convert on a fourth-and-3 to give the ball back to Hannibal.
"It comes down to simple football, we were not able to score in the red zone," Rulo said.
On the second play of the second quarter, Helias was faced with a fourth-and-6 at its own 41. The Crusaders opted to go for it, but a pass fell incomplete.
"I wanted to see if we could get something going," Rulo said. "We had to get some kind of momentum or it was going to turn out like it did."
Hannibal drove 41 yards to score on the ensuing drive to make it 28-0, then added another touchdown with just under five minutes to go in the half to take the 35-0 bulge into intermission.
"It was just a snowball effect,"Rulo said.
Hannibal (2-0) finished with 411 yards on 40 carries (10.3 avg.).
"We have to play assignment football," Rulo said. "When you don't do that, you're going to give up yards."
Helias (0-2) will play its first home game of the season Friday night against Bishop Althoff (Belleville, Ill.) Game time is 7 p.m.