It was a business-like football game for the Helias Crusaders.
There was nothing spectacular about Saturday's 35-12 victory against the Warrensburg Tigers to open Class 4 District 7 play at Adkins Stadium in Jefferson City. But at this time of the season, that's just fine.
"It wasn't the prettiest game, but we got the job done," Helias coach Tim Rulo said.
The Crusaders, with their spread option, and the Tigers, running out of the wing-T, combined for 108 rushes Saturday. There were six drives of 10 plays or more in the game, which lasted just two hours.
"I'm sure to most people, this was the most boring game of all time," Rulo said. "But I think as Warrensburg gets bigger and experience, that offense is going to thrive.
"I was very impressed with the way they do things."
The wing-T is a good offense to run for the underdog Tigers.
"I think with the style they played, they were grinding things out and trying to make us make a mistake," Rulo said. "But we didn't."
Helias got on the board on the game's opening drive, going 69 yards in 13 plays. Chandler Luebbert had the scoring honors, taking it over from a yard out, and the first of five PAT kicks by Sam Heckart gave Helias a 7-0 lead.
Warrensburg had to punt - the only punt for either team in the game - on its first series as Helias took over on the Tiger 33. Six plays later, Blake Veltrop fumbled as he entered the end zone on a 12-yard run, but fell on the ball for the score and it was 14-0.
The Crusaders scored again on their next series, going 78 yards on 12 plays. The touchdown came on a 2-yard run by Dylan Gaines and Helias led 21-0 with five minutes to go in the first half.
Warrensburg then put together its best drive of the game, marching 78 yards on 14 plays. The touchdown came on 1-yard run by Mike Flores with :13.8 left in the half. The 2-point conversion run failed and it was 21-6 at the half.
The wing-T was going to provide a challenge for the Helias defense, which has seen a succession of spread offenses this season.
"I was happy for the most part with the way we played against it," Rulo said.
Helias stopped Warrensburg on a fourth-and-4 on the first drive of the third quarter and took over at the Tiger 39.
Six plays later, Veltrop took it over from a yard out for his second touchdown of the game and it was 28-7.
The Tigers pieced together a 14-play drive on the ensuing series but turned it over on downs in Crusader territory.
Helias then went 49 yards in 12 plays, with Jacob Storms scoring on a 5-yard run to make the score 35-6 with 8:41 left in the game.
On the drive, Storms eclipsed the 1,000-yard rushing mark on the season. It is the 14th time a Helias running back has reached the milestone.
Helias scored on five of its seven possessions Saturday.
"Our efficiency rate was pretty darn high," Rulo said. "We may have left one touchdown out there, but you can't be all that upset with that."
Warrensburg (3-7) scored its other touchdown on the ensuing possession. The Tigers needed nine plays to go 31 yards before Flores went 49 on the 10th for a score. The 2-point conversion run failed again to make the final 35-12.
Caleb Davis had his best game of the season for Helias, rushing for 100 yards on 17 carries
"Teams try to find different ways to stop our offense and Warrensburg was designed to try to do that outside," Rulo said. "So that opened up things inside and Caleb did a good job taking advantage of that."
The Crusaders ran for 303 yards as team to
Helias ran for 303 yards Saturday. That pushes the 10-game total to 3,147 yards, seven more than the previous school record of 3,140 set in 1983.
With the win, second-seeded Helias (6-4) advances to take on third-seeded Warrenton (6-4) in the district semifinals at 7 p.m. Friday at Adkins Stadium.
Top-seeded Hannibal (7-3) will host fourth-seeded Moberly (5-5) in the other district semifinal Friday.