After five games, the Helias wide receivers have learned to never give up on their routes.
Because senior quarterback Jake Weaver doesn't give up on the receivers or the routes they're supposed to run.
On Friday night, Helias held a 42-24 lead midway through the fourth quarter against Rock Bridge in a battle of state-ranked teams at Ray Hentges Stadium. After a Bruin punt, the Crusaders started at their own 43 in an attempt to ice the victory.
On third-and-5 at the Rock Bridge 40, Weaver took the snap in shotgun.
"We had a quick call to left, we just wanted to throw something short and get the first down," Helias coach Chris Hentges said. "But they covered it well."
So Weaver scrambled. And scrambled. And scrambled.
"It looked like he was going to get sacked, they covered our receivers well," Hentges said.
Except for Aleck Barcheski, whose role on the play was to run a deep route down the right sideline. And while Weaver was running around and evading a handful of Bruin would-be tacklers 15 yards behind the line of scrimmage, Barchenski was doing his job and got behind the Bruin defense.
Way behind the Bruin defense.
The throw resembled a punt because Barchenski had plenty of time to signal for a fair catch before cradling the 50-plus yard throw inside the 10. The Bruins recovered to bring Barchenski down at the 6 for a 34-yard gain.
"Jake just saw him and threw it," Hentges said. "He was throwing off-balance, but put it on the money."
On the next play, Ryan Klahr scored on a 6-yard run and the Crusaders went on to post a 56-24 victory against the Bruins to take control in the race for the Central Missouri Activities Conference title.
"Anytime you beat a quality team like Rock Bridge, it's a big win," Hentges said. "They are always well-prepared, we just played very well tonight."
Helias never trailed Friday night. Alex Clement's 11-yard touchdown run on the game's opening drive, followed by the first of eight Vinnie Calvaruso PATs, gave the Crusaders a 7-0 lead after one quarter.
After Rock Bridge kicked a field goal on the opening play of the second quarter, Helias came back to go 51 yards on six plays to score. The touchdown came on a 31-yard pass from Weaver to Cole Stumpe with 9:06 to go before halftime.
Rock Bridge answered on its next drive, scoring on a 24-yard pass from Nathan Dent to Mason Gortmaker on a fourth-and-7 play.
The Crusaders got on the board twice in the final 5:20 of the first half. The first score came on a 20-yard run by Weaver, the second on a 16-yard pass from Weaver to Drew Higgins with :25.5 on the clock to send Helias into the locker room with a 28-10 lead at the half.
The Bruins got one of the scores back on the first drive of the third quarter, going 80 yards on nine plays. The touchdown - a 25-yard pass from Dent to Payton Messer - came on a fourth-and-7 play.
Helias needed just five plays to go 65 yards to find the end zone on its next drive. Clement's 28-yard run made it 35-17.
"We were able to answer their scores," Hentges said.
Clement finished with 105 yards on 13 carries Friday night after leaving last week's game with a leg injury.
"He was healthy enough to go and he did a great job," Hentges said. "Alex toted it well."
The Bruins were poised to get that score back on their next drive, driving inside the Crusader 20. On fourth-and-1, everybody in the stadium figured Rock Bridge running back Bryce Jackson was going to get the ball.
Everybody including the Helias defense. They slowed Jackson behind the line of scrimmage and when he ran backward in an attempt to get away, Helias teammates Isaac Lopez and Jacob Watson combined to bring him down for a 12-yard loss.
It was only loss of yardage in 28 carries Friday night for Jackson, who finished with 167 yards on the ground.
"He's special, very special," Hentges said. "Sometime you see backs that can break a tackle or two, but if you don't have three or four guys around him, he's going to turn it into a big play."
Helias turned the next play into a big play when Weaver took the snap and immediately fired a bullet to Stumpe, who was wide open eight yards down the field. Stumpe ran 68 yards untouched as Helias extended its lead to 42-17 with a little more than three minutes remaining in the third quarter.
"That was a big play I thought was going to be there," Hentges said. "I was happy we hit it."
Stumpe finished with a team-high five catches for 124 yards and two scores.
"The way they were defending against the run provided some chances in the short and intermediate pass game for us and we were able to exploit that," Hentges said.
The Bruins made it 42-24 on the final play from scrimmage in the third quarter on a 27-yard pass from Dent to Chi'dron Wright.
After Klahr's score, the Helias second-team came out for the Crusaders' final drive of the night. Carson Brauner scored from 13 yards out on the last of eight straight running plays.
Helias ran the ball on 14 of its 17 plays in the fourth quarter.
"What we were able to do in the run game late, chew it up, to put it away, was important," Hentges said.
Helias finished with 288 yards on the ground, averaging 6.5 yards per carry. Weaver had 88 yards rushing and was 12-of-16 passing for 247 yards.
"Jake had a great night," Hentges said.
Rock Bridge is now 4-1 overall, 3-1 in the conference.
Helias (5-0, 3-0) will head down Stadium Boulevard next Friday for its first-ever meeting against Capital City (0-5, 0-4). Capital City fell 36-0 to Jefferson City on Friday night.
Game time is 7 p.m.