Entering the final minute of the first half Friday night, things looked good for the Helias Crusaders.
A 17-yard touchdown run by Daniel Rhea with 1:45 to go before halftime gave the Crusaders a 31-14 lead against the Liberty: Wentzville Eagles at Ray Hentges Stadium. But the Eagles scored twice in the final minute on a pair of 47-yard plays and the Crusaders' 17-point bulge suddenly was down to a modest three points as the teams headed to their respective locker rooms.
But the Crusaders were neither down nor out.
"I think our guys responded well," Helias coach Tim Rulo said after the Crusaders scored four touchdowns in the first 12-plus minutes of the second half on their way to a 66-42 victory against the Eagles in the first round of the Class 4 District 7 playoffs.
"We went in and talked, nobody had their head down. They were catching what I was throwing. They understood that the last minute of the half did not define them. We knew we had to come out and make more stops and score more touchdowns and that's what we did."
After giving up 316 yards in the first two quarters, the Helias defense held Liberty to just 104 in the second half.
"We made the proper adjustments and played a lot better in the second half," Rulo said.
On the other side of the ball, the Helias offense followed a 301-yard first half with 209 yards in the third and fourth quarters.
The Crusaders did a majority of their offensive work on the ground. Blake Veltrop ran for 132 yards and four touchdowns, while Blake Savage added 102 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries in his return to the starting lineup at fullback.
"He played really well, he finished his runs strong," Rulo said. "He ran with some intensity."
Connor McKenna nearly gave the Crusaders three 100-yard rushers in the game, finishing with 95 on nine carries. The senior quarterback also rushed for a score.
Helias finished with 60 carries for 475 yards. The Crusaders were above the 500-yard mark before a punt snap sailed over Carson Stieferman's head late in the game. He fell on the ball for a loss of 30 yards.
The Crusaders scored on five of their seven possessions in the first half. Veltrop scored on runs of 29 and 2 yards, while McKenna had a 21-yard run for a touchdown as well as Rhea's late score. Vito Calvaruso booted a 37-yard field goal midway through the first quarter.
The Eagles used big plays to score in the first half. Wesley Hines scored on runs of 80 and 78 yards as well as catching a screen pass and going 47 yards for a touchdown as time expired in the half. Tito Plaza had a 47-yard run for a score.
The Crusaders scored three touchdowns in the third quarter - Savage on an 8-yard run, Rhea on a 4-yard run and Veltrop on a 12-yard run. Veltrop then scored from 13 yards out on the first play of the fourth quarter to give Helias a 59-28 lead.
Jacob Weaver ran 7 yards for Helias' final touchdown with 8:10 to go in the game.
The Eagles got their final two touchdowns in the last 2:26 of the game - Donavan Arrington on a 16-yard run and Hines on a 2-yard run after the high snap on the punt attempt.
Helias (5-5) will travel Friday to Warrenton (9-1) in the district semifinals. Game time is 7 p.m.
"It's going to be a good one," Rulo said.
The other district semifinal will have third-seeded Hannibal (6-4) playing at second-seeded Moberly (8-2). Hannibal advanced with a 41-18 win Friday night against Warrensburg, while Moberly bested Kirksville 21-12.
Moberly defeated Hannibal 18-13 in a North Central Missouri Conference contest Sept. 29.