Spencer's Craig Cunningham is gang tackled by the Bishop Heelan defense Friday, October 3, 2008, at Memorial Stadium in Sioux City. The Tigers kept it close in the first half against the No. 1-rated team in 3A before the Crusaders exploded for five second-half touchdowns. (Photos by Michael Fischer)

Sports Editor

Turnovers, turnover, turnovers.

The No. 1 team in the state needed very little help to retain that title Friday at Memorial Stadium in Sioux City, but Spencer gave it to them anyway.

The Tigers committed two turnovers on the first three plays of the game and added three more in the second half, helping to turn Sioux City Heelan's 17-13 halftime lead into a 52-13 rout.

"I was really pleased at halftime. It was an avalanche after that. We're very disappointed," said Spencer head coach Jim Tighe. "We made some very crucial errors to put us in bad situations."

Field position certainly didn't help the Tigers. Heelan scored on five drives of 60 yards of less, starting from inside Spencer's own 35 three different times.

"You can't give them the ball in that short of field. You just can't do that to your defense, that's not fair to them," Tighe commented. "They're a good team the way it is."

Behind a 127-yard, three touchdown effort over the final 24 minutes, star running back Brandon Wegher led the Crusaders in yet another second half rampage. Heelan rolled up 225 yards and scored five touchdowns in the final two quarters Friday as the Crusaders became a virtual lock for one of four District 1 playoff spots.

Wegher finished with 190 yards on 28 carries, scoring five rushing touchdowns. He moved into fifth on Iowa's all-time list for career touchdowns, tying Iowa City High graduate and former Hawkeye Tim Dwight.

Spencer's Greg Maassen hauls in a touchdown pass from Craig Cunningham late in the second quarter Friday, October 3, 2008, in Sioux City. The Maassen reception pulled the Tigers to within a 17-13 score, but Spencer would fall to the top-rated Crusaders, 52-13.

"He's a very talented kid. We'd like to see him one more time, but that's about it," Tighe said, referring to a potential playoff meeting with Wegher and the Crusaders.

The victory gave Heelan its 15th straight district win and 22nd in its last 24 games. The Crusaders have outscored their district opponents 96-0 in the second half this season.

"They kids played hard, I was pleased with that," Tighe said. "The score doesn't look that way, but we were in this game a lot more than last year.

"We really bounced back after the Emmetsburg disappointment and now we have to do it again," Tighe added.

With that modest 4-point lead to open the third, Heelan went 72 yards in nine plays and Wegher dove into the end zone from the 1 with 4:24 on the clock, extending the lead to 24-13 with the PAT.

Then the flood gates opened on the Tigers.

Following a Sean Keane interception that set up the Crusaders at the Spencer 35, Wegher scored his fourth rushing touchdown on a 27-yard scamper with 50 seconds left in the third.

Exactly one minute later, Buckley Wright scored on a 42-yard fumble return. Just like that, Spencer was down 38-13.

Wegher recorded Heelan's second interception with just over 10 minutes remaining and capped off his night four plays later. Wegher ran through a quartet of Tigers for his final score with 8:39 left, making it 45-13 after a 32-yard run.

Preston Ives went into the end zone with seven seconds left on a reverse, a play that had worked against the Tigers numerous times for sizable gains Friday.

"We had to do some things to defend Wegher and they exploited it," Tighe said of the reverse play.

In a prelude of what was to come, Spencer fumbled the opening kickoff, setting up the Crusaders on the 10-yard line. Two plays after a Heelan field goal, the Tigers fumbled again. This time, Heelan found the end zone when Wegher scored his first touchdown from 11 yards out.

Spencer answered the 10-0 deficit on its ensuing possession, going 78 yards in nine plays. A pair of option runs from Craig Cunningham (25, 14), one from Skylaur Konrady and another 14-yard tote from Alex Rosado set up the score before Cunningham went into the end zone from five yards out. Spencer trailed 10-7 after a Sam Brockshus extra point.

Spencer's Skylaur Konrady is stopped by a stingy Bishop Heelan defense Friday, October 3, 2008, in Sioux City.

The Tigers scored their final touchdown with 25 seconds left in the first half. Two straight passes from Cunningham to Greg Maassen, including an 8-yard touchdown, helped cover more than 60 yards.

Heelan had scored between the two Spencer touchdowns. After a Nate Berger 38-yard reverse put the Crusaders inside the 20, Wegher scored for the second time, this one coming from six yards with 4:41 left in the half.

Spencer finished the night with 219 total yards after putting up 168 yards in the first half. Heelan managed 163 yards in the first half, giving them 388 total yards for the game. The Crusaders had 324 yards on the ground.

Konrady carried 18 times for 58 yards, Cunningham added 54 rushing yards and was 3-of-7 passing for 55 yards. Maassen had all three receptions.

Spencer turnovers came in the form of three fumbles and two interceptions. Heelan committed no turnovers. Quarterback Zach McCabe was 5-of-10 for 64 yards.

Sean Elliott totaled 13. 5 tackles for Spencer, Tyler Kacmarynski added 13. Taylor Allen added 10.5 stops, Brad Murphy had 9.5 and Tyler Kramer had 9.

Spencer falls to 4-2 (3-1), Heelan improves to 6-0 (4-0). The Tigers will host MOC-Floyd Valley in next week's homecoming game.