It was Ryan Crane's time to shine.
The Helias junior tallied a hat trick Thursday night as the Crusaders posted a 4-0 victory against the Fatima Comets at the Crusader Athletic Complex.
"He woke up a little bit," Helias coach Jay Hebenheimer said. "That's what he can do, he's a very dangerous player who is technically skilled with the ball.
"If we can get him behind the back line, he's as good as anybody at finishing."
Crane got the Crusaders on the board about nine minutes into the contest. The Crusaders got a turnover deep in the defensive end of the Comets and Brendan Callahan was able to feed a pass to Crane, who lined in a shot from the left side.
It was 2-0 about five minutes later. The Crusader were sprinting toward the Comet net and Sam Conley dished the ball to Crane, who scored from nearly the same spot as his first one.
"We were playing better balls in than we have been," Hebenheimer said.
Crane got his third goal midway through the second half, driving to the net and past the Fatima keeper to tap it in.
Helias' final goal came with about 10 minutes left. Charlie Hinds sent a corner kick to the front of the Fatima net and Conner Mudd was there to knock it in.
"We've been talking about calm finishes and that was one," Hebenheimer said. "That was a great ball in by Charlie and Conner did nothing but open up and tap it in to tuck it away. It was a good 1-2 finish."
Helias played a more controlled game than it has in recent contests.
"We wanted to work on our counter attack because that's what we're going to have to do against our opponents the rest of the season," Hebenheimer said.
Grant Schrimpf got his first career shutout in goal for Helias.
"He's probably the future for us in goal," Hebenheimer said. "He's never played the position, but I don't have one coming in or one on the JV who is a dedicated goalkeeper. We're trying to find one and he stepped up and said he'd do it."
Helias senior keeper Connor Schaefer missed the game after being injured Wednesday night against Hickman.
On Thursday, it was announced Helias was the No. 8 seed in the upcoming Class 4 District 6 Tournament and will take on top-seeded Hickman in the opening round. The Kewpies beat the Crusaders 6-0 on Wednesday at the Crusader Athletic Complex.
"Every game from here on is getting ready for our district opener," Hebenheimer said. "We know what's Hickman is about, we're building to try to surprise them a little bit."
The district opener will start at 3 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 30 at Rock Bridge.
Fatima (6-14-1) will play Tuesday at Sedalia Sacred Heart.
Helias (6-13) is back in action Monday against School of the Osage at the Crusader Athletic Complex in the final home game of the season for the Crusaders.
In Thursday's JV game, Helias defeated Fatima 8-2.