SIOUX CITY - Having a highlights reel 91-yard touchdown pass reception nullified by a penalty was more than a little frustrating for Bishop Heelan's Nick Berger.

A little while later, though, Berger more than made up for it, collecting three defensive takeaways in less than three minutes and turning two of them into scoring plays.

It was all part of a 38-point second-quarter barrage as Heelan's defending Class 3A state champions opened postseason football action with a 66-2 substate romp over Creston/Orient-Macksburg.

Iowa basketball recruit Zach McCabe broke Heelan's single-season passing record, hitting eight of nine attempts for 114 yards and three scores in a Wednesday night contest at Memorial Field.

It all happened before Heelan roared into halftime with a 52-2 advantage. And, the impressive first two quarters also included eight carries for 133 yards by sophomore tailback Michael Malloy, scoring on runs of nine and 54 yards.

Heelan 9-1 with eight wins in a row since a 24-6 loss at Harlan, the top-ranked team in 3A, now hosts District 1 rival Denison-Schleswig in a Monday night contest labeled as a "first-round playoff game."

Denison-Schleswig, which lost to Heelan 28-6 on Sept. 11, improved to 6-4 with a 14-9 road win over Glenwood, also 6-4 with the loss.

"I thought we would compete better,'' said 38-year head coaching veteran Dick Bergstrom, 204-157 while serving most of his career at Creston. "Harlan was the best defense we'd faced (44-0 Creston loss) and the best offense. I would say they're even (with Heelan) in both cases.''

Heelan's first priority was to shake off a tough regular season finale, a 42-35 overtime win at Sergeant Bluff-Luton, which led 14-0 late in the second quarter and later rallied from a 35-14 deficit to force the overtime.

"We had a pretty good feeling that (his Heelan team) were going to be focused,'' said Heelan Coach Roger Jansen. "They learned from the Sergeant Bluff game and they came out and played hard.''

McCabe, now 130 of 223 on the season for 1,935 yards and 17 touchdowns, broke the single-season school passing record of 1,870 set in 2004 by Pat Grace, now the senior quarterback at Northern Iowa.

A third-year starter behind center for the Crusaders, the 6-7, 210-pounder had all three of his touchdown throws, two to Preston Ives, and Malloy tallied both of his scoring runs to send Heelan in front 35-2 less than five minutes into the second quarter.

That's when the Nick Berger "show'' began. And, it was sweet redemption for the long first-quarter play that an illegal block in Heelan's end zone turned into a safety for the visitors only points.

First, the senior wide receiver/safety hauled in his first pass interception of the season and hauled it back 27 yards to score with 5:56 left in the half. Then, just 20 seconds later, the twin brother of Nate Berger, also a two-way performer for the Crusaders, scooped up a fumble and went 30 yards for another TD.

Nick Berger also pounced on a fumble with 3:30 remaining in the half, giving him three takeaways within just 2:26.

"That was really different,'' grinned Nick Berger. "I haven't had a pick so far this year. I guess tonight was the night. I felt that we were ready to play.''

Even with a running clock in the second half and Heelan reserves facing Creston starters for most of the final two periods, the Crusaders outpointed the guests 14-0 in the second half.

Sophomore Dane Hickman scored from four yards out after one of two pass interceptions by classmate Nick Sawin gave Heelan the ball at Creston's 8-yard line. Later, with an all-freshman unit on the field for the winners, quarterback Court McGregor had a 10-yard TD run after Sawin's other pick left the Crusaders just 11 yards from paydirt.