Excitement or relief?
"Excitement, we got the chip off our shoulder," Helias senior wide receiver/linebacker Adam Bax said Saturday night after the Crusaders picked up their first win of the season with a 39-6 decision against the Hickman Kewpies at Adkins Stadium in Jefferson City.
Crusaders coach Tim Rulo, who picked up his first win at Helias, wanted more choices.
"It's many emotions," he said. "I knew a win was going to come. We'd like for it to come in Week 1, Week 2 or Week 3, but I knew it would. I'm so happy for the guys.
"This may calm some fears or cement some lessons. I'm so happy for the guys and the coaches, who have put in a lot of work to make sure this program continues to be successful."
The Crusaders were successful in all three phases of the game Saturday night.
Defensively, Helias dominated from the start. In their first five possessions, the Kewpies had a minus-20 yards.
"We had a lot of intensity," Bax said. "Our defensive line got a lot of pressure, our defensive backs were being tough on their wide receivers."
Helias had problems stopping the run in its first three games and Hickman seemed intent on pounding the ball in the first half after throwing for nearly 400 yards last week.
But the Crusaders weren't about to bend, much less break.
"I thought they were going to throw it more, but we got some good push up front," Rulo said. "We had eight tackles for loss or sacks and that really hurts an offense."
Hickman's touchdown came in the final minute of the game.
On the other hand, the Helias offense was able to move the ball for much of the contest. Caleb Albertson of the Crusaders recovered a Hickman fumble midway through the first quarter, giving Helias the ball at the Kewpie 33. It was one of two fumble recoveries for Albertson in the game.
Seven plays later, Jacob Storms took it over from 5 yards and Sam Heckart's PAT made it 7-0.
After a Hickman put, Helias got the ball back at its own 39. The Crusaders went on a 10-play, 61-yard scoring drive, capped by a 4-yard run by quarterback Alex Faddoul. Heckart's kick made it 14-0 less than a minute into the second quarter.
Storms scored twice later in the second quarter. The first came on a 36-yard pass midway through the period, the second on a 15-yard run with 2:12 left.
"He played great on offense and defense," Rulo said. "Jacob came through in a big way."
Helias got a 2-point conversion pass from Curtis Campbell to Nathan Bax after Storms first score. Heckart booted his third PAT after the second to five Helias a 29-0 lead at the break.
After Helias' Alex Werner knocked down a fourth-down pass to stop Hickman's first drive of the second half, the Crusaders needed just two plays to score.
The touchdown came on a 70-yard run by Faddoul and Heckart's PAT made it 36-0.
Heckart joined the Helias record book early in the fourth quarter. With the Crusaders facing a fourth-and-18 at the Kewpie 30, Rulo sent the field-goal team onto the field for a 47-yard attempt.
The Crusaders got the snap off with :01 left on the play clock and Heckart booted the ball through the uprights for the record. Except Rulo called a timeout to avoid a delay of game penalty.
Oops.
But Heckart nailed the second attempt as well to better the mark of 43 yards shared by Alex Cadice and Taylor Heislen.
"I told him we should give him the record twice," Rulo said.
Hickman's score came on a 49-yard pass from Carter Nicoli to Elijah Crum with :52.6 remaining.
"Hopefully we can build off this and take this intensity into next week," Adam Bax said.
Helias (1-3) is back in action Friday at Battle in Columbia.
"Hats off to the kids for staying the course and working hard, same thing for the coaches," Rulo said. "It can be difficult when you're 0-3. The kids had a great attitude and practices during the week and that carried over into the game.
"Their execution was awesome."
Hickman is 0-4.