Football is a four-quarter game.
Saturday night, the Helias Crusaders and Kirksville Tigers each scored on their first drives of the game at Adkins Stadium. But Helias kept scoring the remaining 31/2 quarters while holding Kirksville off the scoreboard the remainder of the way in a 44-7 victory on Homecoming.
"Sometimes, I think people get too wrapped up in the beginning of the game," Helias coach Tim Rulo said. "Like that's the entire game. It's a full game, you have to be ready to play a full game.
"The game is so much more than the first drive or the first quarter."
Helias took the opening kickoff and went 71 yards in six plays to take the lead. Jacob Storms scored on a 44-yard run and Vito Calvaruso's PAT kick made it 7-0.
Kirksville answered on the next drive, going 83 yards in six plays. Blake Lewis scored on a 59-yard run for the Tigers and the PAT tied the game at 7. Lewis had 69 yards on three carries on the series.
But that was about it for the Kirksville offense, who mustered just 48 total yards the rest of the game.
"Our defense played very well the rest of the game," Rulo said.
After a Helias punt, Kirksville took over on its own 25. On first down, Crusader linebacker Jake Burnett sniffed out a screen pass, intercepting it at the 20 and returning it for a touchdown. The PAT kick missed and it was 13-7.
"You just need to make adjustments on offense and defense after the early series and go from there," Rulo said. "I am so proud of the way our guys made adjustments to what Kirksville was doing."
The Tigers were stacking the box defensively in an attempt to slow down the Crusader run game between the tackles.
"They were pressing us, putting everybody up tight," Rulo said. "So we had to adjust and I think we did that very well."
Helias opted to go outside and that paid off with big chunks of yardage. Storms paced the Helias rushing attack with 166 yards on just nine carries.
"Jacob ran very, very well," Rulo said. "He has moments where he can really make plays."
Helias stretched its advantage to 20-7 with 4:21 left in the second quarter on a 23-yard pass from Curtis Campbell to Nathan Bax. The score capped a 16-play, 71-yard drive for the Crusaders.
With 1:35 to go before halftime, Burnett scored on a 14-yard run and it was 27-7.
Then with :13.8 left, Calvaruso drilled a 29-yard field goal to give the Crusaders a 30-7 advantage at the half.
Caleb Davis scored on a 2-yard plunge with 8:27 left in the third quarter to make it 37-7.
Helias' final score came with 9:58 to go in the game when Chandler Luebbert hit Zach Stiles in the end zone from 32 yards out.
The two touchdown catches came in a game where Helias had just one other reception on a total of 12 attempts.
"We're going to keep working on the pass game," Rulo said. "We know we have to get better."
Helias finished with 436 total yards against Kirksville (3-5).
"It's good to have a Homecoming win," Rulo said.
Helias (4-4) will look to snap its habit of loss-win this season when it hosts DeSmet next Saturday in its regular-season finale.
"Doing that is better than two losses in a row," Rulo said. "Yes, we want to break that trend and we have an opportunity to do that next week."
It will be Senior Night for the Crusaders, with the game slated for a 7 p.m. start.
Notes: There was a bit of confusion about a Helias onside kick attempt Saturday night. The Crusaders appeared to have recovered the ball, but were flagged for illegal touching. According to the rules, the ball has to hit the ground before the kicking team can recover it and the Helias player caught it in the air. Helias is currently second in the Class 4 District 7 standings behind Hannibal. That would give the Crusaders the opportunity to host at least the first two district games.