ST. LOUIS - They knew something like this could happen.
"We could not physically match up with them with their size inside," Helias coach Chris Hentges said Friday night after the Crusaders dropped a 49-3 decision to the De Smet Spartans.
"They won the battle on the offensive and defensive lines, therefore they won the war on the field."
Helias (8-1) ends the regular season as the No. 2 seed in the Class 4 District 5 standings and will host seventh-seeded Rolla (4-5) to open the postseason next Friday night at Ray Hentges Stadium. Game time is 7 p.m.
The Crusaders finished with just 72 total yards on 40 offensive plays against the Spartans (9-0), the No. 1 team in Class 6 in the latest Missouri Media Rankings.
"Sometimes you just have to tip your hat when you get handled like that, and we got handled," Hentges said.
Helias kicked off in Friday night's game and Vito Calvaruso's onside kick had backspin that would have made Tiger Woods proud as the Crusaders recovered on their own 44.
But the Crusaders couldn't take advantage of the early positive play and went three-and-out to punt the ball to the Spartans.
After the kick, De Smet took over on at its own 47. The Spartans needed six plays to go the 53 yards to the end zone, with the score coming on a 12-yard pass from Michael Wheeler to Jordan Johnson. Luke Bauer booted the first of his seven extra points and De Smet led 7-0.
After another three-and-out for the Crusaders, the Spartans went 78 yards in 14 plays for the score. Darez Snider took it over from 14 yards out and De Smet led 14-0 with 1:25 left in the opening quarter.
De Smet scored four times in the second quarter, including on its first play from scrimmage when Taj Butts ran 65 yards for a touchdown that made it 21-0 with 11:42 to go before halftime.
Butts finished with 146 yards on 11 carries in the game.
The Spartans went 56 yards in three plays on their next series for a touchdown. The score came on a 44-yard pass from AJ Fraser to Ra'Shod Smith-Harvey and it was 28-0 with 8:49 on the clock.
De Smet extended its lead to 35-0 with 4:01 to go in the half. On third-and-10 at the Helias 24, Fraser threw a short pass to Johnson, who then lateraled the ball to a streaking Snider down the left sideline for a touchdown.
The Spartans got the final touchdown of the half with :17 remaining on a 4-yard run by Rico Barfield that made it 42-0.
De Smet scored on six of its seven first-half possessions, rushing for 281 yards and throwing for an additional 148 to go along with 16 first downs. The only possession it didn't score on was a lost fumble recovered by Isaac Lopez of the Crusaders.
The second half was played with a running clock.
De Smet increased its lead to 49-0 in the opening minute of the fourth quarter on a 7-yard run by Fraser on a fourth-and-two play.
Helias, which had just three first downs in the game, got on the board with a little more than two minutes left on a 37-yard field goal by Calvaruso. The Crusaders punted on other seven possessions, while taking a knee to run out the final seconds of the first half.
"We just never got comfortable on offense," Hentges said. "It was a combination of things."
Camdenton (9-0), the No. 1 seed in the district, ended its regular season with a 35-0 victory Friday night against Kickapoo.