WASHINGTON - The Borgia Knights scored first Friday night, throwing a 66-yard touchdown pass on the opening possession of the game against the Helias Crusaders.
Helias had a quick answer, with Jake Weaver and Jake Warren combining on a 66-yard touchdown of their own on the Crusaders' first play from scrimmage.
The Crusaders had all the answers the rest of the way, scoring on their next six possessions on their way to a 47-7 victory against the Knights.
"This was a really good effort for us," Helias coach Chris Hentges said. "Obviously, we were very good on offense the rest of the first half and our defense was great for a lot of the night."
Borgia got on the board when quarterback Sam Heggemann connected with Brandon Mitchell for a 66-yard score.
After Helias returned the kickoff to the 34, Weaver dropped a pass off to Warren, who sprinted down the right side for the 66-yard answering score. Vito Calvaruso booted the first of his five extra points and the game was knotted at 7 with 9:35 left in the first quarter.
"It was a little bubble screen and you had a chance to see Jake's speed when he got out in the open," Hentges said.
After a Borgia punt, Helias drove inside the Borgia 10 on its next series before Calvaruso came on to kick a 25-yard field goal to give the Crusaders a 10-7 lead.
Helias took over on the Borgia 49 to start its next offensive series. Two plays later, Weaver connected with Griffin Buschjost for a 51-yard score and a 17-7 Helias advantage.
Weaver and Buschjost hooked up again for a touchdown on Helias' next series. The 8-yard pass capped a seven-play, 33-yard drive and gave the Crusaders at 24-7 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Helias' next two touchdowns came on the ground.
Ryan Klahr ran it in from 6 yards out early in the second quarter before a 2-yard run by Weaver midway through the quarter gave Helias a 38-7 advantage.
A 37-yard field goal by Calvaruso with 1:06 left in the quarter pushed Helias' lead to 41-7 at intermission.
Helias had 299 yards of total offense in the first half, with 254 coming through the air.
"Our offense was executing very, very well," Hentges said.
Borgia had 143 total yards in the first half, including just 29 on the ground in 16 carries.
Helias got the ball to start the third quarter and the drive stalled as the Crusaders had to punt for the first time in the game.
The Crusaders brought the running clock into play on their ensuing drive when Weaver and Buschjost combined for their third touchdown of the night. This one was from 39 yards out and a bad snap on the extra-point attempt made the score 47-7.
Weaver finished 15-of-20 through the air for 300 yards and four touchdowns.
"Jake was on tonight," Hentges said.
The biggest question in the fourth quarter was whether Helias could keep Borgia out of the end zone. The Knights had an 18-play drive take up much of the fourth quarter that got down to the Crusader 3 before Helias got the ball back with a little more than a minute remaining.
Borgia (3-2, No. 9 in Class 3) had 284 yards in the game.
Helias (4-1, No. 9 in Class 4) is back in action next Friday night at Father Tolton (0-5). The Trailblazers fell 70-14 to Cardinal Ritter on Friday night.