The result of Friday night's game between Jefferson City and Helias had a lot of weight to it.
It was the first time the crosstown rivals faced each other in football. A chance to win the Central Missouri Activities Conference in its first year of competition was on the line. The Mayor's Cup was for the taking.
Even though the 28-0 win at Adkins Stadium for Helias gave the Crusaders a 1-0 lead in the series, the CMAC title and the Mayor's Cup, it wasn't the end of the season for the Jays.
"The biggest thing that I've tried to get our kids to understand is this is Week 7, it's not Week Last," Jefferson City coach Scott Bailey said after the Jays' three-game winning streak came to an end. "And it's a big game, and you're playing a really good team.
"And if you fail to use this experience to help you down the road when you get into a situation where if you don't win your season's over, then you've wasted the whole week. And I hope that our kids, coaches, community, understands that big games like this are needed to prepare you for those games that come at the end that can end your season."
The loss did drop Jefferson City's record to 3-4, 3-2 in the CMAC with next Friday night's home game against Battle (4-1, 2-1 CMAC) being the Jays' final conference game of the season.
In the Class 5 District 4 standings, Rolla overtook Jefferson City for the third spot after a 34-20 win at Waynesville. Battle sits in the second spot entering Week 8.
The Jays kept within reach of the top-ranked team in Class 4 for much of Friday's game, trailing 14-0 after three quarters.
Heias (7-0, 5-0 CMAC) had seven possessions to that point, turning it over five times.
Darrell Jones picked off Jake Weaver on the opening drive of the game, Isaac Jones intercepted a pass late in the first quarter, Will Berendzen popped the ball out and Ian Jones recovered the fumble, and Isaac Jones and Frank Gillmore each added a fumble recovery.
However, Helias' defensive line won the battle up front, the Jays punted three times, Isaac Lopez intercepted a Seth Brooks pass and the second-quarter clock ran out on the Jays after one of the fumble recoveries.
Helias held Jefferson City to 108 rushing yards on 35 attempts, the Jays' lowest output since Week 1. David Bethune led the way with 47 yards on 17 carries.
"That Helias defensive line gave us a lot of fits today," Bailey said. "We couldn't get outside of it, couldn't get a push off the ball inside of it, couldn't counter them. We just couldn't find a consistent run play. It makes it difficult to call plays when you're playing a good defense."
It wasn't easy for the Helias offense, either. The Jays held the Crusaders to a season-low in points and their lowest total yards (372) since Week 1.
But Helias got enough from Alex Clement, who had touchdown runs of 9 and 26 yards in the fourth quarter to finish with 154 yards on 18 carries.
Weaver ran it 14 times for 84 yards, shaking off a defender on his way to a 3-yard score midway through the second quarter. Vinnie Calvaruso made his second of four extra points for a 14-0 lead.
"They're a very well quality coached team," Jefferson City defensive coordinator Jeff Jacques said. "They threw a lot of curveballs at us so we were adjusting on the fly, and our guys did pretty well. They've got some players, they had some athletes, we knew they were going to make plays."
The first points were scored on a 37-yard touchdown pass from Weaver to Cole Stumpe, who ran a 4-yard hook, cut up field and ran free to the end zone with 6:02 on the first-quarter clock.
Weaver was 7-of-12 for 109 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions.
"I was very happy with the secondary," Jacques said. "Coach (Grant) Hopkins and coach (Steve) Sampson, they do a tremendous job in the secondary. They're getting better."
The Jays are scheduled to finish the regular season schedule at Adkins Stadium, with Battle coming to town this week and Fort Zumwalt West (1-6) visiting Oct. 22.
"We're going to build from this," Jacques said. "By no means do we need to hang our heads. We've just need to stay strong, get back on Monday and get prepared for Battle."