KANSAS CITY, Mo. - They can't score if they don't have the ball.
That was the strategy Friday night for the Helias Crusaders as they took on the Rockhurst Hawklets. And for the most part, it worked.
"When you're playing a team like Rockhurst, you have to control the clock," Helias coach Tim Rulo said after the Crusaders dropped a 35-25 decision to the Hawklets. "When you have a player like A.J. Taylor, you want to limit his touches, to keep him off the field."
Taylor, the Rockhurst running back who has committed to Wisconsin, got his touches Friday night. He ran 21 times for 166 yards and a touchdown and also returned the ball 75 yards for another score after blocking a field-goal attempt.
But Helias did run 70 plays to just 44 for Rockhurst.
"You're seeing the offense continue to mature," Rulo said. "We put up 25 points on a very good Rockhurst defense by running the football and completing some passes.
"We like what we do because we have so many options, whether we want to run or throw it."
Helias received the opening kickoff and ran 11 plays to get down to the Rockhurst 14. Sam Heckart came on to boot a 32-yard field goal and Helias led 3-0. The Crusaders ran for 57 yards on the drive.
"The option looked great, we got the ball up the field," Rulo said.
Rockhurst missed a field goal on its first possession, but Helias then went three-and-out before punting the ball back to the Hawklets.
It took just two plays for the Hawklets to go 55 yards for a touchdown, the final 23 coming on a run by Taylor. The PAT made it 7-3 with 1:42 left in the opening quarter.
Taylor's run was Rockhurst's last play on offense until 2:44 remained in the half.
Helias started its next drive at its own 8. Thirteen plays later, midway through the second quarter, the Crusaders lined up for a 36-yard field goal. Taylor blocked the attempt and the ball bounced right into his arms and he was off down the right sideline for 75 yards and a touchdown to make it 14-3.
Starting at their own 22 after the ensuing kick, Helias ran nine plays before being forced to punt. Rockhurst fumbled the kick and Helias recovered at the Hawklet 11. Nolan Sachse got 7 yards on first down before Kaleb Davis scored from 4 yards out and Heckart's PAT cut Rockhurst's lead to 14-10.
But Rockhurst still had a little less than three minutes to try to extend its lead. And that's what the Hawklets did, going 63 yards in 10 plays, with quarterback Chance May scoring on a 1-yard run with :28 left in the half as Rockhurst took a 21-10 advantage into intermission.
With starter Alex Faddoul sidelined by an injury, Helias used juniors Curtis Campbell and Chandler Luebbert at the position in the first half.
Campbell went down with an ankle injury in the first half, so Luebbert had the spot all to himself in the final two quarters.
"They both practiced this week because you never know," Rulo said.
Campbell became the third quarterback to be injured this season, joining Faddoul and Weston Porter.
"The number of injuries this year stinks for our team," Rulo said. "They are part of the game, we know that. You wish it wouldn't happen, but it does."
Rockhurst scored on the fourth play of the third quarter when May took it in from 42 yards out to give the Hawklets a 28-10 lead.
But Helias answered with an eight-play, 80-yard drive. Luebbert hit Storms for a 33-yard pass to get the Crusaders into Hawklet territory, then Storms ran 31 yards to get Helias to the Rockhurst 1.
Two plays later, Storms scored from 1 yard out and Heckart's PAT made it 28-17.
Rockhurst scored on an 8-yard pass from May to Jack Powell in the opening minute of the fourth quarter and it was 35-17. The score came after Helias went for a fake punt deep in Rockhurst territory.
"We had to roll the dice, to beat a team like this you have to do that," Rulo said.
Helias got its final score with 2:32 left in the game on a 9-yard run by Storms. The Crusaders then got a 2-point conversion pass from Kale Gerstner to Adam Bax to make the final 35-25.
"We did not capitalize enough to get the win, those are little things that we need to get better on," Rulo said.
Helias (2-6) will wrap up the regular season Friday at Sullivan. Rockhurst (4-4) will face Jefferson City on Friday night at Adkins Stadium.