SMITHVILLE - The Helias Crusaders were in a bit of a situation.
And it didn't look promising.
First, the Crusaders would have to get a fourth-down stop on defense against the Smithville Warriors with a little more than two minutes remaining in Friday night's Class 4 semifinal and trailing 10-6.
Second, if they got that stop, there was the matter of the Crusaders going the 80 or so yards required to get the needed touchdown. And do it in around two minutes.
That's needing a lot to go right. But the Crusaders got what they needed and defeated the Warriors 13-10 to advance to Friday night's Class 4 championship game against MICDS at Adkins Stadium.
"We're looking forward to playing for a state title," Helias coach Chris Hentges said. "We're going to work our tails off to bring it home."
After a Helias (13-0) punt, Smithville (10-3) got the ball back at its own 40 with a little more than six minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. The Warriors drove inside the 20 and were facing a fourth-and-2 at the 17 with 2:18 left.
The Crusaders had called all three of their timeouts. The Warriors were faced with two options - attempt a 34-yard field goal or try to get a first down that would seal the victory.
They decided to go for it. Cody Simonac took the handoff, but was immediately hit by Helias linebacker Isaac Lopez for a three-yard loss.
"It was all instinct," Lopez said. "I was blitzing and I hit it as hard as I could."
"That was a huge stop to get us an opportunity," Hentges said.
So Helias had the ball back with a chance to win. But there was the matter of going the length of the field to get a touchdown. There was no panic on the Crusader sideline.
"We were just calling plays," Hentges said.
The first was a bit of a trick play. Reserve quarterback Zach Wolken was behind center, with starting quarterback Jake Weaver split out to the left side among five receivers on the field. Wolken threw a long ball down the sideline toward a sprinting Weaver, but it was incomplete.
"Wolken threw a great ball, we were just a step away from that being a big play," Hentges said. "We needed to try something."
After Weaver threw an incompletion on second down, he picked up 11 yards and a first down on a scramble to get Helias to the 31. The first down pass was incomplete.
And then came the play of the game for the Crusaders.
Weaver took the snap and waited for Alex Clement to find his way out into the flat down the left side. The swing pass was complete and Clement took off down the sideline.
"We needed something big, not much had been working for us all game because their defense had been stopping us," Clement said. "I think that caught them off guard because we hadn't thrown a pass to a running back all game."
Clement broke a pair of tackles on his way to a 50-yard reception to get the ball down to the Smithville 15.
"You look at him, you don't realize how strong he is and his ability to break tackles and stay balanced when he runs," Hentges said.
There was still 1:20 left on the clock, which left the Crusaders the option to either run or pass to try to find the end zone. And with Smithville playing for the pass, Helias decided to run.
Clement picked up five yards on first down, then five more to give the Crusaders a first down at the 5. The next play, Clement found his way to the end zone and Vinnie Calvaruso's PAT gave Helias its first lead of the night at 13-10 with :32 left.
"It was amazing," Clement said. "They had done a great job against our run game all night and to score the game-winning touchdown on the ground was pretty good."
Smithville had problems picking up the ball on the ensuing kickoff and were left starting at its own 6. A short pass picked up five yards, then three more. On third down, the Warriors tried a hook and ladder, but the toss after the catch was wild and Gage Wilde fell on the loose football for the Crusaders.
One snap in victory formation remained before the Crusaders celebrated their first trip to the state title game since 2013.
"We persevered at the end and got it done," Clement said.
Defenses dominated the first half, which ended scoreless.
"This was an old-fashioned high school defensive struggle," Hentges said. "Sometimes you just have to tip your hat to two good defensive football teams."
Hentges thought the Helias offense would have a more productive night than it did.
"We felt comfortable we could hold them to two scores, maybe three," he said. "But I thought we would score more than that and that's a credit to Smithville. That's a good defensive team."
Smithville had posted shutouts in its three postseason games.
"We had a tough time blocking their front," Hentges said. "They were quick and athletic, you can see why they'd had three shutouts in the playoffs.
"But we just kept grinding."
On the other side, the Crusader defense held up its end.
"I thought we played awesome," Lopez said. "The defense was great, but the offense came through when we needed it and saved us, too."
Smithville got on the board with 1:47 left in the third quarter on a 1-yard run by Hayden Sigg. Noah Schuetz added the PAT and it was 7-0.
Helias had been behind on the scoreboard for a little less than 22 minutes in the 576 minutes of its first 12 games. The Crusaders had a little less than 14 minutes left in the game Friday to do something about it.
The Crusaders came back on their next drive when Weaver connected with Cole Stumpe for a 63-yard score on the final play of the third quarter. After seeing double coverage for much of the night, Stumpe found himself in single coverage on the score.
"Jake threw a great ball and Cole ran a good route," Hentges said.
The PAT was wide and Helias trailed 7-6.
The Warriors used a long kickoff return on the first play of the fourth quarter to set up a 27-yard field goal by Schuetz that gave Smithville a 10-6 advantage with a little less than nine minutes left.
"The defense kept us in the ballgame, if they didn't play the way they did, we'd have been behind three or four scores and it wouldn't have been a ballgame," Hentges said.
MICDS (7-0) advanced to the title game with a 56-20 semifinal win Saturday against Union (7-5).
The title game is scheduled for 7 p.m.
"We've been working for this since fifth grade," Lopez, a senior, said.
"I can't wait," Clement, also a senior, said.