COLUMBIA - The roller coaster continues for the Helias Crusaders.
The Crusaders' habit of following a win with a loss continued Friday night as Helias lost five fumbles in a 46-33 loss to the Rock Bridge Bruins.
Kion Pilot ran for 228 yards and four touchdowns for the Bruins as they celebrated Homecoming with a victory.
After forcing a three-and-out on the first series of the game, Helias took over on its own 44. It took just one play for the Crusaders to get on the board as Chandler Luebbert turned the corner on the right side of the line and went 56 yards for the score. Vito Calvaruso booted the PAT and it was 7-0.
It took Rock Bridge just two plays from scrimmage to score on the next series as Pilot sprinted 53 yards for a touchdown. The PAT kick missed and Helias led 7-6.
After a Helias fumble, Rock Bridge took over at the Crusader 34. Nine plays later, Pilot scored from a yard out and it was 12-7.
Helias was forced to punt after an illegal forward pass halted the ensuing drive and Rock Bridge returned it to the Crusader 49. On first down, Pilot ran 49 yards for his second touchdown and it was 18-7 in favor of the Bruins.
Helias had a field-goal attempt blocked on its next series, but Dylan Gaines of Crusaders got Helias the ball back when he picked off a Bruin pass and returned it to the Rock Bridge 29. Six plays later, Jacob Storms took it over from 2 yards out and Calvaruso's kick cut Rock Bridge's lead to 18-14 early in the second quarter.
The Bruins turned it over on downs at the Crusader 40 on the next series. Helias proceeded to go 60 yards on 11 plays, with the touchdown coming on a 6-yard run by Storms. The PAT by Calvaruso gave Helias a 21-18 advantage with 3:00 to go before intermission.
But the Bruins weren't done in the first half, going 56 yards on seven plays to regain the lead. The touchdown came on a 6-yard pass from Marcus Manuel to Matthew Hall and David O'Rouke"s PAT gave Rock Bridge a 25-21 lead at the half.
Rock Bridge finished the first half with 243 total yards to 160 for Helias.
Helias appeared poised to regain the lead on the opening drive of the third quarter, but fumbled into the end zone to give the ball back to Rock Bridge. After a penalty, Manuel hit Reece Jarvis with a short pass and the junior scampered 84 yards for a touchdown to make it 32-21.
The Crusaders cut the deficit to five points at 32-27 on the next series as Blake Veltrop scored from a yard out.
Rock Bridge then got a 1-yard touchd0wn plunge from Pilot with 1:29 to go in the third quarter and a 26-yard scoring run from Nate Peat with 6:35 left to take a 46-27 advantage.
Luebbert's 1-yard run with 1:51 left made the final 45-33.
Luebbert finished with 94 yards on nine carries for the Crusaders. Helias had 50 rushes for 235 yards in the game, while completing 9-of-24 passes for 127 yards.
Helias fumbled the ball nine times Friday night.
Pilot led Rock Bridge with 228 yards on 27 carries. The Bruins picked up 307 yards on the ground on 40 attempts and were 11-of-21 passing for 135 yards.
Rock Bridge is now 2-5.
Helias (3-4) is back in action next Saturday when the Crusaders host the Kirksville Tigers for Homecoming.