Weaver has big night as Helias

rolls to easy win over Nevada

Rough finish to rough

season for Jays --- 

Lakers win wild affair

Loeffler's Link

Nov. 6, 2020

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. --- Nevada has made some impressive strides in the game of football since last season.

Any stride would be an improvement from 0-10, of course, but winning seven games is worthy of a nod.

But Friday night proved there are still a lot of strides to be made if the Tigers want to run with the big dogs.

After one quarter, Helias held a 3-1 lead, and it was 4-1 after the first play of the second quarter.

That would be four touchdowns for Helias, one first down for Nevada.

Jacob Weaver rushed for three touchdowns and threw for another score as the Crusaders brushed aside the Tigers 54-22 in the Class 4 District 6 semifinals at Ray Hentges Stadium.

In this strange year and strange season, it took until Game 10 for the top-ranked Crusaders (10-0) to actually play a Class 4 school.

They'd competed against three smaller school --- one Class 2, two Class 3 --- and six larger schools --- four Class 5, two Class 6.

It really didn't matter.  Actually, their two smallest margins of victory came against the smaller teams --- nine points vs. Class 3 Cardinal Ritter, 11 points vs. Class 2 St. Charles Lutheran.

The average margin of victory against the larger schools? More than 36 points. Now, finally picking on somebody their own size, it was more of the same.

Rest assured, this final score was not indicative of the mismatch, as it was over early.

Weaver had another stellar night, as his six rushing attempts and 14 completions accounted for 275 total yards. He scored the game's first two touchdowns on runs of nine and 19 yards, before hooking up with Damon Johanns on a 48-yard pass-catch-and run to make it 21-0.

After Ryan Klahr recovered a fumble at the 31 of the Tigers (7-4) late in the first quarter, a 9-yard run by Alex Clement on the first play of the second made it 28-0.

That's where it stayed at the half, as Helias held a 274-95 edge in total yards.

Head coach Chris Hentges emptied the bench after the break and basically put the game shutdown mode. Two of the touchdowns were supplied by Carson Brauner on a 64-yard interception return and a 63-yard run, Weaver scored on a 43-yard burst, and Harrison Miller on a 58-yard pass play from Zach Wolken.

To Nevada's credit, it didn't quit and scored three touchdowns in the game's final 17 minutes, with two of those scores stopping the running clock.

The Crusaders, who finished with 470 total yards, will now meet Warrensburg for the district next title next Friday at Hentges Stadium. Those Tigers advanced with a 27-23 win over Bolivar.

That one promises to be a bit tougher than this one was.
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Chris Leuckel

Helias quarterback Jacob Weaver breaks through a big hole in the line on his way to a 19-yard touchdown run during the first quarter of Friday night's game with Nevada at Ray Hentges Stadium.