Victory over Battle puts Helias
in driver's seat to win CMAC title

Sept. 11, 2020

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. --- This has certainly been a year of firsts for all of us, and we had another one Friday night.

Thankfully, this first wasn't horrible or depressing.

The Central Missouri Activities Conference had a "storied" three-week history under its belt as the Helias Crusaders got set to battle the Battle Spartans. These were the teams most thought we finish 1-2 in the inaugural football season for the CMAC, only the order of finish was in question.

Both entered this one 2-0 so, in Week 3, the conference had its first big game, and the first conference championship was probably on the line.

This was a big one, all right --- a big blowout.

This was not a first for Helias this season. And fittingly, it was over after the first half.

The Crusaders forced five turnovers, senior quarterback threw for three touchdowns and ran for another score, and Helias racked up 379 total yards and 41 points --- all before the break.

After building a 22-point halftime lead, the Crusaders put it in shut-down mode from there to roll over the Spartans 41-19 on Friday night at Ray Hentges Stadium.

The win certainly puts Helias (3-0, 2-2 CMAC) in the driver's seat to capture the first conference crown, and leaves Battle (2-1, 1-1) scrambling and looking for help.

We're just a few days removed from Labor Day, however, so there's obviously a lot of hockey left.

The Crusaders had only allowed 23 yards rushing TOTAL in their first two games. The Spartans eclipsed that mark on the first scoring play of this one, a 27-yard run senior quarterback Khaleel Dampier on the game's --- you guessed it --- first possession to grab a 6-0 after just 105 seconds.

In a wild first half, that proved to be the only lead of the night for Battle.

The Crusaders took a 7-6 lead on Alex Clement's 6-yard scamper midway through the opening quarter, then made it 13-6 on The Ryan Klahr Drive. The elusive 5-6 junior ran all six plays on 54-yard effort, finishing it with a 10-yard burst late in the first.

At times, this looked the first game of the season, not the third. In one forgettable sequence in the second quarter, there were turnovers on three consecutive plays, with Helias winning that battle 2-1.

There were six turnovers in the first half,  five of those committed by Battle.

The Helias margins grew to 20-6, 27-19, then 41-19 at the break. Weaver had a 43-yard scoring run, along with touchdown passes of 26 yards to Drew Higgins, 30 yards to a wide-open Cole Stumpe and 45 yards to Damon Johanns, who was even more wide open.

Of the nine touchdown drives in the first half, none took more than six plays. Then came something completely different --- the second half.

It was scoreless in the second half, but featured interesting dueling drives --- the teams would trade 15-play drives, but both came up empty.

This was the first of a three-game homestand for the Crusaders, who host Borgia next Friday and Rock Bridge in another CMAC game on Sept. 25. The Bruins edged the Jefferson City Jays 23-21 on Friday night to improve to 3-0.

Speaking of firsts, here's hoping the Jays and first-year head coach Scott Bailey can get their first win sooner, rather than later.

Tough times: Skid
for Jays reaches nine
with setback to Pirates

Helias running back Alex Clement (5) looks to turn the edge during the first quarter of Friday night's game with Battle at Ray Hentges Stadium.

Hentges on future:

'We don't know what

virus is going to do'

Chris Leuckel

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