ST. LOUIS - It has been an unprecedented run for the Helias Crusaders.
Seventeen wins in their last 18 regular-season games, 22-of-23 counting the playoffs.
There's a lot of credit to be shared.
"The kids are working hard, the coaches are working hard," Helias coach Chris Hentges said Friday after the Class 5 No. 6 Crusaders wrapped up the regular season with a 47-9 victory against the Vianney Griffins. "We believe in what we do, I want to be clear about that. We believe in our offensive and defensive systems, the kids believe in our systems.
"They have bought in from Day 1 from when we took over four years ago."
Helias (8-1) , the 2020 Class 4 state champion, is the No. 2 seed behind third-ranked Holt (9-0) in Class 5 District 4. Helias and Holt will be off this week with first-round byes in the six-team district.
The Crusaders lost the coin toss Friday night and the Griffins deferred to the second half, so Helias got set to receive the opening kick.
With about a minute left on the pregame clock, the Helias return team went on the field and lined up in its positions for the start of the game as normal. But the game didn't start as the players stood silently waiting for the pregame prayer and national anthem. There was no delay of game penalty.
The odd start didn't slow the Helias offense. Starting at their own 40, it took four plays for the Crusaders to find the end zone. The score came on a 47-yard pass from Drew Miller to Kaden Hampson. Vinnie Calvaruso booted the first of his five PATs and Helias led 7-0 less than two minutes into the game.
The Helias defense got a three-and-out on Vianney's first series and after a short punt, the Crusader offense took over at the Griffin 35.
It took six plays for the Crusaders to score, which came on a 23-yard pass from Miller to a diving Ryan Klahr in the end zone to make it 14-0 less than five minutes into the contest.
Vianney found its offensive footing on its next drive, putting together a 15-play march down to the Helias 11. Keith Garrett came on to kick a 28-yard field goal to cut the Crusader lead to 14-3.
Vianney quarterback Paul Berra was 9-of-10 passing on the drive.
After a Helias fumble and a Vianney punt, the Crusaders took over at their own 15 early in the second quarter. Six running plays got the Crusaders out to midfield before Drew Miller threw a pass to Harrison Miller for 12 yards to the Vianney 38. Miller then tossed a screen pass to Will Herrbold, who took it to the end zone and a 21-3 Helias lead.
Vianney drove to the Helias 24 on its next series before Klahr picked off a pass for the Crusaders. A 42-yard pass from Miller to Cole Stumpe got Helias into Vianney territory. Two more completions got the Crusaders to the 14, where Klahr took a handoff and sprinted to the end zone to make it 28-3 with 2:10 left in the first half.
"We were pretty efficient on offense tonight," Hentges said.
The Helias defense got the next touchdown for the Crusaders when Beau Bondurant ripped the ball out of Berra's grasp and returned it 33 yards for a touchdown to make it 35-3 with a little under a minute remaining in the second quarter.
But that was just enough time for the Griffins to score their lone touchdown. Vianney went 63 yards in six plays, with Berra hitting a wide-open Garrett Hauck in the end zone. The extra-point kick was wide and it was 35-9 going into halftime.
"We lost him in coverage, that was frustrating," Hentges said. "But we made some adjustments at halftime and fixed some things."
Berra finished 22-of-30 passing in the first half for 192 yards.
"We struggled with containment and (Berra) got out of the pocket on us," Hentges said.
In the second half, the Crusaders played more man coverage and sent their pass rushers. That worked as Berra was just 5-of-13 passing in the second half for just 26 yards.
Helias scored on its second possession of the second half. On third-and-5, Carson Brauner carried the ball around the left side for a first down, but when he got near the sideline, he cut back to the right and ran the remainder of way to the end zone for a 33-yard touchdown to make it 41-9.
After forcing a Vianney punt, Helias needed just one play to start the running clock as Drew Miller connected with Harrison Miller for a 43-yard touchdown that made it 47-9.
"We hit some big plays in the pass game," Hentges said.
Drew Miller finished 10-of-13 passing for 220 yards and four touchdowns.
That brought the Helias second team offense and defense onto the field for the remainder of the game.
Vianney was poised to score midway through the fourth quarter, driving to the Helias 5. But Jacob Lannigan made a diving interception to give the ball back to the Crusaders.
"That was a heck of an interception by Jacob," Hentges said.
Hentges then challenged the Crusaders' No. 2 offense to run out the remainder six minutes.
"I told them they were going to finish this game," Hentges said. "I didn't want a three-and-out and let Vianney get the ball back."
The Griffins (1-8) didn't get it back, as the Crusaders picked up two first downs to run out the clock.
"I was happy with the way the No. 2 defense finished and happy with the way the No. 2 offense finished," Hentges said.
Vianney finished with 249 total yards, running the ball 22 times for 21 yards.
Helias totaled 368 yards, including 157 on the ground.
The Crusaders will host the winner of No. 3 Washington (6-3) and No. 6 Capital City (1-8) in the district semifinals Nov. 5.
III
Helias assistant coach Jeb Waite was honored after the game by the program. Waite is in the military and has been assigned to Fairbanks, Alaska.
"He's been with us for two years and this was his last game with us," Hentges said. "We dedicated this win to him for everything he's done for us.
"The boys really love him, we hate losing him. We're sad to see him go, but we're happy for the years he was here."