Friday Football: Complete effort for Helias in win against Tolton

COLUMBIA - There was a little something for everyone Friday night for the Helias Crusaders.

First, there was a shutout as the Crusaders blanked the Father Tolton Trailblazers 38-0. It's the third shutout of the season for the Crusaders, who have not allowed a point in their last 90-plus minutes.

"Keep them out of the end zone, that's the goal of defensive coaches," Helias coach Chris Hentges said. "No defensive coach wants to give up a score.

"It's a goal every week."

Second, there was the first-half performance by the Helias starting offense that racked up 275 yards and found the end zone in all five of its possessions to take a 35-0 advantage into intermission.

"You can't do any better than that," Hentges said. "We were efficient in the run game and the pass game."

Third, there was the performance of the Crusader reserves. The backups were solid as they saw almost all of the action in the final two quarters.

"For our young guys to come out and execute was good, but it's what we expect from them," Hentges said. "We give our second unit a lot of reps during the week to prepare them as best we can for when they go into the game."

Helias needed just 32 plays to score the five touchdowns in the first half.

After the defense forced a three-and-out from the Tolton offense on the first series of the game, Helias went 57 yards in eight plays to take the lead.

The score came on a 7-yard run by Brody Mays and the first of five extra points by Vito Calvaruso made it 7-0 a little less than four minutes into the game.

Mays, who had missed the last two games with an injury, finished with 13 carries for 103 yards, all in the first half.

"He was about 85-90 percent tonight, we just look for him to get a little healthier each week and continue to do what he's capable of doing," Hentges said.

A 1-yard plunge by quarterback Jake Weaver on the second play of the second quarter doubled Helias' lead to 14-0.

Weaver then connected with Griffin Buschjost for touchdowns on Helias' next two possessions from 52 and 7 yards, respectively, to make it 28-0. Buschjost finished with five catches for 81 yards.

The duo have combined for five touchdowns in the last two games.

The Crusaders took a 35-0 advantage into halftime when Weaver hooked up with Dylan Weaver for a 3-yard touchdown with :14 left in the second quarter.

Jake Weaver then called it a night, finishing 10-of-13 through the air for 153 yards and the three touchdowns.

"Jake had another good game, he was pretty accurate again," Hentges said. "We took some shots in the pass game and Jake made them work. And the offensive line gave him some pretty good protection."

Helias got the ball to start the second half. The drive stalled at the Tolton 39 and Hentges sent Calvaruso out to attempt a 56-yard field goal.

"He does it in practice," Hentges said. "If he catches it, he can get it there. We obviously thought it was one he could make."

The kick, which would have bettered Sam Heckart's school record by nine yards, was down the middle, but came up about three yards short.

Calvaruso had no problem with his second attempt of the night, banging through a 22-yarder on the final play of the third quarter to increase Helias' lead to 38-0.

The only question left was would Helias finish with the shutout. But Tolton was unable to get deep into Helias territory in the fourth quarter as the Crusader reserves got a lot of quality playing time Friday night.

"We moved the ball effectively, we got some points," Hentges said. "Defensively, we gave up some yards and some first downs in the second half, but we saw some good things from some young players and that's exciting."

Tolton (0-6) finished with just 167 yards of offense to 387 for Helias.

Helias (5-1, No. 9 in the Class 4 Missouri Media Rankings) was without senior Jake Warren, who missed the game with a leg injury.

Hentges said he expects junior running back/cornerback Alex Clement back for this Friday night's game at Monroe City (5-1, receiving votes in Class 2). Clement has missed the last two games with a shoulder injury.

Monroe City defeated South Shelby 38-12 on Friday night for its fifth consecutive victory after opening with a loss to Centralia.

Game time is 7 p.m. Friday