SEDALIA - The Helias Crusaders are now 2-for-2 and 12-for-12.
Two Central Missouri Activities Conference titles, going 12-0 to do it.
"I don't want to cry the blues, but we are by far the smallest school in the conference and for us to come out in the first two years and win all of our games, that's a great accomplishment for our program," Helias coach Chris Hentges said after the Crusaders wrapped up CMAC play Friday night with a 35-3 win against the Sedalia Smith-Cotton Tigers.
Helias outscored its CMAC competition 227-51 this season.
"The boys worked for it and they earned it," Hentges said.
While the Crusaders were happy to be two-time CMAC champs, there wasn't a lot of celebrating in the team huddle after the game.
"You could tell by the demeanor of the team, they knew they didn't play up to their standards," Hentges said. "We play to our standard, we don't play down to the competition."
Hentges was quick to credit Smith-Cotton for its efforts Friday night.
"They came out and played hard," Hentges said. "At times, they played harder than we played and it showed in their ability to keep the ball away from us."
The Crusaders had the better of the play for much of the night against the Tigers, who were celebrating Homecoming.
Helias held Smith-Cotton to 100 rushing yards on 49 attempts, including three sacks. Beau Bondurant of the Crusaders had two of the sacks on consecutive plays.
But the Tigers were able to keep the chains moving on some drives.
"That was a good rushing attack for them, we didn't do a great job of getting off blocks and winning second and third downs like we had been doing recently," Hentges said.
"It didn't produce a lot of net yards because of the negative plays, but they did exactly what they wanted."
The Crusader run game had been clicking in recent games, but finished with just 132 yards on 12 carries. That includes an 80-yard touchdown run by Cole Stumpe on Helias' second play from scrimmage in the game.
"Our run-blocking wasn't great tonight, they had a lot of unique looks in run-pressures that we didn't pick up very well at times," Hentges said.
Vinnie Calvaruso booted the first of his five extra points after Stumpe's run and Helias led 7-0 just :24 into the game.
Smith-Cotton turned the ball over on downs at its own 40 on its first series. A 20-yard pass from Drew Miller to Sam Schell and an 11-yard toss from Miller to Stumpe had the Crusaders first-and-goal at the Tiger 9. But a bobbled snap on first down pushed Helias back to the 16. Helias got to the Tiger 4 on fourth down, but a run play came up a yard short of the end zone.
That was Helias' only possession that did not result in a touchdown in the first three quarters.
Smith-Cotton got out to its 14 before Schell recovered a Tiger fumble. On the next play, Miller tossed a screen pass to Ryan Klahr, who went 8 yards for a touchdown and a 14-0 Helias lead.
Bondurant got his two sacks on the Tigers' next series and Smith-Cotton was forced to punt. The Crusaders needed just one play to score as Carson Brauner ran for a 34-yard touchdown to give Helias a 21-0 advantage with :22.4 left in the first quarter.
After another Smith-Cotton punt, Helias went 65 yards in eight plays for a touchdown. The score came on a 27-yard pass from Miller to Billy Underwood to make it 28-0.
That was the score going into halftime, which featured a bit of a spirited pep-talk in the Helias locker room.
"We told them at halftime we didn't think we were as sharp or as physical or as dialed-in as we needed to be," Hentges said.
Smith-Cotton lost a fumble on its first possession of the second half. Helias went 35 yards in seven plays, with Miller throwing a 3-yard pass to Stumpe for the touchdown. It was 35-0 and the running clock was in play.
Helias' only punt came on the first play of the fourth quarter. With the running clock, the Tigers drove into Crusader territory and Sam Cash came on to kick a 38-yard field goal on the final play of the game to make it 35-3.
Smith-Cotton (1-7, 0-6) will wrap up its regular season Friday at Hogan Prep.
Class 5 No. 7 Helias (7-1, 6-0) will travel this Friday to St. Louis to take on Vianney (1-7), who won its first game of the season with a 42-0 victory against Bishop DuBourg. Game time is 7 p.m.
Helias is locked in to the No. 2 spot in Class 5 District 4 behind third-ranked Holt (8-0).
The top two teams will receive first-round byes in the district, so after a week off, Helias will host a district semifinal Friday, Nov. 5.