BELTON — After two weeks of what head coach Brian Cope called “one-sided execution,” Lake Belton went into its home opener sitting at 0-2 and looking for a complete game on both sides of the ball in search of a win.

The Broncos got just what they needed in a 28-21 victory over Killeen on Thursday night at Tiger Field, extending the Kangaroos' losing streak to 13 games.

Lake’s offense was led by quarterback Maverik Maddux, who threw for 140 yards and two touchdowns with two interceptions in his return after missing last week's game with an injury.

“He’s an outstanding leader and I’m excited to have him back and excited that he played tonight,” Cope said. “This is just his second game of the year. He only played six games last year so he hasn’t played a full season yet, and so he’s just going to get better every week.”

Maddux completed throws to seven receivers in a passing attack that included senior Davion Peters’ one catch for a 28-yard touchdown and senior receiver/defensive back Christian Onchweri's pair of receptions for 62 yards and a score.

Senior running back AJ Alexander led the ground game for the Broncos with 70 yards rushing and two TDs on 17 attempts.

All of Lake’s scoring came in the first half, with two touchdowns in each of the opening quarters. Killeen had one touchdown through each of the first three quarters but was shut out in the final period.

“I think we had a really good first half offensively, and I think we sputtered in the second half a little bit,” Cope said. “But we’ll get back to work. We’ll watch film tomorrow morning with a Thursday game then we’re going to take the weekend to process, and then we’re going to get better.”

Lake held the Kangaroos to 81 yards passing and 214 yards on the ground. Killeen’s Tavarius Miles filled in for usual starting quarterback D’Angelo Ingram, who was out this week with an injury. Miles completed six of 17 passes and threw two interceptions.

Jatavion Harris led the rushing attack for the Kangaroos with 101 yards on 11 carries. Junior running back Amari Paige added 82 yards on eight attempts with a pair of scores.

The contest got off to a rocky start, with Maddux throwing an interception on the game’s opening drive. After Killeen’s punt was returned by the Broncos to the Kangaroos 44-yard line, Lake struck first on a three-play drive that was capped with Maddux's 28-yard pass to Peters for a 7-0 lead.

The Kangaroos answered on an eight-play, 57-yard drive that ended with Harris running in from the 1 to tie the game with 3:37 left in the opening quarter.

Lake answered in four plays after Peters returned the kickoff 63 yards to the Killeen 34. Alexander found the end zone from 11 yards out to put the Broncos back on top 14-7 with 2:33 left in the first.

Killeen pulled even again with Paige's 67-yard TD run 34 seconds into the second quarter.

Tied at 14 apiece, Maddux threw an interception to set up Killeen at the Broncos 49. Miles was picked off by Gavin Stewart on the first play of Killeen’s drive, which set up Lake on the Kangaroos 31.

Lake tacked on two more scores with Alexander's 4-yard run with 8 minutes remaining and a 57-yard pass from Maddux to Onchweri to go up 28-14 with 5:39 remaining.

Killeen opened the second half with a seven-play drive that ended with Miles scrambling for an 11-yard score with 9 minutes remaining in the third that cut Lake’s lead to 28-21, and neither team scored again.

LAKE BELTON 28, KILLEEN 21
Killeen;7;7;7;0;—;21

Lake Belton;14;14;0;0;—;28

LB — Davion Peters 28 pass from Maverik Maddux (Long Chung kick)

Kil — Amari Paige 1 run (Sergio Diaz kick)

LB — AJ Alexander 11 run (Chung kick)

Kil — Paige 67 run (Diaz kick)

LB — Alexander 4 run (Chung kick)

LB — Christian Onchweri 57 pass from Maddux (Chung kick)

Kil — Tavaris Miles 11 run (Diaz kick)

TEAM STATISTICS
;Kil;LB

First downs;10;10

Rushes-yards;38-214;28-101

Passing yards;81;140

Comp.-Att.-Int.;6-17-2;12-25-2

Punts-average;5-29.5;5-28.0

Fumbles-lost;2-1;0-0

Penalties-yards;4-35;4-30

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — Killeen: Jatavion Harris 11-101, Paige 8-82, Miles 19-31; Lake Belton: Alexander 17-70, Peters 6-21, Zyien Dupree 4-8, Zion Harness 1-2.

PASSING — Killeen: Miles 6-17-2-81; Lake Belton: Maddux 12-24-2-140, Harness 0-1-0-0.

RECEIVING — Killeen: Isaiah Jones 1-29, Jayden Mays 2-18, Isaiah Davis 2-17, Paige 1-17; Lake Belton: Onchweri 2-62, Peters 1-28, Harness 2-15, Brock Von Rajcs 1-15, Zavian Rodriguez 2-8, Luke Phillips 1-7, Alexander 3-5.

dtaylor@tdtnews.com