Friday Football: Helias unable to overcome deficit in first CMAC loss

Helias running back Korbin Fisher runs past a pair of Rock Bridge defenders during Friday night’s game at Ray Hentges Stadium. (Eileen Wisniowicz/News Tribune)
Helias running back Korbin Fisher runs past a pair of Rock Bridge defenders during Friday night’s game at Ray Hentges Stadium. (Eileen Wisniowicz/News Tribune)

The chances were there.

The execution wasn’t.

“We had opportunities, we didn’t capitalize on those opportunities,” Helias coach Chris Hentges said after Friday night’s 31-20 loss to the Rock Bridge Bruins at Ray Hentges Stadium.

“We have to find plays that will work and be successful. Our offense is not executing at a championship level.”

It was the first Central Missouri Activities Conference loss for the Crusaders in the two-plus years of the league. Helias was 14-0 in conference play entering Friday night and it looks like a third straight CMAC title may be out of reach.

“We really wanted to three-peat,” Hentges said.

Rock Bridge (4-1 overall, 4-0 CMAC) got the ball first and drove 80 yards in nine plays. The score came on a 9-yard pass from Sam Kaiser to Stephen Gibson, with the PAT by Joey Scardina making it 7-0 with 7:19 remaining in the first quarter.

Improbably, the Bruins needed just seven seconds of game-time to double their lead.

Scardina booted the ensuing kickoff into the end zone and Helias took over at its own 20. On first down, the snap sailed over the head of quarterback Drew Miller all the way to the end zone. Rock Bridge’s Alden Dubbert won the scramble to recover the loose ball and it was 14-0.

“It shocked us,” Hentges said. “Maybe we could have kicked or knocked it out of the end zone for a safety instead of giving up a touchdown.”

Helias punted back to Rock Bridge on its next possession and the Bruins drove into Crusader territory before settling for a 41-yard field goal by Scardina to make it 17-0 with a little more than a minute left in the first quarter.

The Crusaders answered quickly on their next possession. Korbin Fisher ran for 31 yards to midfield on Helias’ first play. After the Crusaders were flagged for offside, Fisher rumbled 47 yards on the next play to get the Crusaders to the Bruin 7.

Fisher scored on the next play and Nic Calvaruso’s PAT pulled Helias to within 17-7 with :33.3 remaining in the first quarter.

Fisher, who only participated in practice Thursday due to an injury, finished with 144 yards on 20 carries Friday night.

“He really gutted it out tonight,” Hentges said.

The two teams swapped punts for much of the second quarter. A short kick by Helias gave Rock Bridge the ball at the Crusader 27. Rock Bridge needed nine plays to find the end zone, the score coming on a 2-yard run by Tomissac Johnson with 3:21 left before halftime.

Rock Bridge fumbled the ball back to Helias near midfield on its next possession. The Crusaders had a little more than a minute to do something on offense before intermission.

A pair of passes from Miller to Logan Bloomer got the Crusaders to the Bruin 24. On second-and-10, Miller fired a bullet to Henry Neuenswander for a 24-yard touchdown. Calvaruso’s PAT made it 24-14 at the half.

Confidence was up for the Crusaders, who would get the ball first to start the second half with the opportunity to cut into the Bruins lead.

But the first two drives of the second half netted just 5 total yards in six plays.

“They were terrible, terrible,” Hentges said. “We got the ball first, nothing. The defense gets us the ball back, nothing.”

That brought about a change at quarterback in Helias’ next series with Sam Wyrick entering the game behind center.

“Drew was struggling, I thought he needed a break and I wanted to give Sam a shot,” Hentges said. “He took it well.”

Wyrick played two series before Miller returned after the Bruins turned the ball over on downs at the Crusader 39.

“I wanted to put the Homecoming game back in the hands of our senior quarterback,” Hentges said.

Miller led the Crusaders on an eight-play, 61-yard scoring drive. Fisher ran for 38 yards on the drive, which ended with Brady Rush scoring from 4 yards out. The PAT was blocked and Helias trailed 24-20 less than a minute into the fourth quarter.

The Rock Bridge offense then ran more than five minutes off the clock on the next drive before facing a fourth-and-9 at the Helias 37. The Bruins ran a fake punt as Caleb Froman broke loose for a 36-yard run to the Crusader 1.

“That was a gutsy call on their part, they executed it very well,” Hentges said. “We didn’t tackle very well on it, we had three or four guys there.”

Cooper Myers scored on the next play and Scardina’s fourth extra point gave the Bruins a 31-20 lead midway through the fourth quarter.

Helias put together a 14-play drive to get to the Rock Bridge 13. Facing a fourth-and-7 and needed two scores, Helias opted to kick a field goal, but the 30-yard attempt was wide.

The Crusaders got the ball back late in the fourth quarter, driving to the Bruin 15 before the clock ran out.

“We have to make plays and play better,” Hentges said.

The Crusaders were without starting receiver Mathew Malmstrom, out for the season with a knee injury suffered against Cardinal Ritter. Helias also had several players miss time during Friday’s game.

“I don’t want to make excuses, but we are beat up,” Hentges said. “We had a lot of young guys out there.

“I’m not sure we’re going to be able to hit in practice this week, I’ll be honest.”

Helias (3-2, 2-1), which lost consecutive games for the first time since dropping three straight to end the 2018 regular season, will play the next two weeks at Adkins Stadium. First up is a game Friday against Capital City, followed by a contest against Jefferson City the following Friday.

“Those will be two big games, two emotional games, for us,” Hentges said. “We’re going to need to find a way to regroup and play better football.”