BELTON — Coming off an open date at 1-2, Lake Belton could have panicked and used the extra time to completely reset and change its plan heading into district play. Instead, the Broncos used the rest as a chance to reload and ramp up on both sides of the ball to get ready for District 8-5A-I play, which opened Friday night against Leander Rouse.

Maverik Maddux threw for 331 yards and three scores, Davion Peters hauled in six catches for 141 yards and a pair of TDs, and Lake escaped the back-and-forth battle to beat Rouse 49-38.

Lake (2-2) used three fourth-quarter scores to overcome a 10-point deficit.

After Rouse’s Anthony Reyes punched in a 2-yard touchdown with 9:22 left in the fourth, the Broncos trailed 38-28 and were desperate for a score. Lake got just what it needed when Josh Lighthall returned a squib kick 50 yards to the end zone to get the Broncos within 38-35 with just more than 9 minutes left.

Rouse (2-2) took the ball 25 yards in five plays when it reached fourth-and-2 from the 50. Reyes got the handoff but was stopped at the line of scrimmage by the Broncos’ Gavin Owens to set up Lake at midfield with 6 1/2 minutes to go.

After a 2-yard loss and back-to-back incompletions, the Broncos faced fourth down. Maddux’s pass to Zion Harness fell incomplete, but a defensive pass interference call kept the drive alive. After a 5-yard loss, Maddux connected with Brock Von Racjs to put Lake on the Rouse 7-yard line. Zyien Dupree ran it in from there to put the Broncos up 42-38 with 4:38 remaining.

Rouse went for it again on fourth down, and again it was Owens who made the big play by sacking London Morgan for a 12-yard loss to give Lake the ball on the Raiders 20.

AJ Alexander for 12 yards then scored from the 8 to give Lake a 10-point cushion, and the Broncos’ Christian Onchweri sealed it six plays later with an interception.

“I told the team all week it was going to take 48 minutes for us to have this victory and this team played for each other tonight and we won when it counted on all phases,” Lake head coach Brian Cope said. “Just a total team win.”

Lake opened the game with a nine-play drive that took the Broncos 68 yards and was capped with Maddux running for a 1-yard score and an early 7-0 edge.

Rouse responded quickly with a four-play drive that went for 82 yards and ended with Reyes’ 25-yard TD run to tie the game at 7 with 6:09 left in the opening quarter.

Lake fumbled on its next possession but got back the ball six plays later when Gavin Stewart picked off Morgan at midfield and returned the ball down to the Raiders 28.

A 5-yard pass followed by three incompletions from Maddux, however, ended the scoring threat.

Rouse used a 10-yard rush from Reyes followed by a 66-yard run from Morgan to set up shop on the Broncos 1, and Reyes punched it in from there to extend Rouse’s lead to 14-7 with 59 seconds left in the opening quarter.

Lake muffed the following kickoff, and the Raiders recovered the ball on the Broncos 27. Four plays later, Morgan connected with Aubryn Davis for a 13-yard TD and a 21-7 Raiders advantage 11:54 before the half.

Maddux found Peters twice for scores before the break, first on 23-yard connection then again from 29 yards out.

With the game knotted up at 21, Rouse took the ball 66 yards and a defensive pass interference gave the Raiders first-and-goal at the 2. Three straight stops by the Broncos led to a 15-yard field goal as the first-half clock expired and a 24-21 lead for Rouse at halftime.

LAKE BELTON 49, LEANDER ROUSE 38

Rouse 14 10 7 7 — 38

Lake Belton 7 14 7 21 — 49

LB — Maverik Maddux 1 run (Long Chung kick)

Rou — Anthony Reyes 25 run (Matheus Zocca kick)

Rou — Reyes 25 run (Zocca kick)

Rou — Aubryn Davis 13 pass from London Morgan (Zocca kick)

LB — Davion Peters 23 pass from Maddux (Chung kick)

LB — Peters 29 pass from Maddux (Chung kick)


Rou — 15 kick

LB — Luke Phillips 32 pass from Maddux (Chung kick)

Rou — Gavin Gaston 51 pass from Morgan (Zocca kick)

Rou — Reyes 2 run (Zocca kick)

LB — Josh Lighthall 50 kick return (Chung kick)

LB — Zyien Dupree 7 run (Chung kick)

LB — AJ Alexander 8 run (Chung kick)

TEAM STATISTICS

Rou LB

First downs 24 17

Rushes-yards 36-218 20-82

Passing yards 294 331

Comp.-Att.-Int. 19-40-2 21-34-0

Punts-average 2-34 3-44

Fumbles-lost 0-0 2-1

Penalties-yards 8-69 10-68

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Rouse: Reyes 29-148, Morgan 6-61, Davis 1-9; Lake Belton: Dupree 8-57, ALexander 6-22, Maddux 4-2, Peters 2-1.

PASSING — Rouse: Morgan 19-40-2-294; Lake Belton: Maddux 21-34-0-331.

RECEIVING — Rouse: Davis 9-121, Alfredo Lopez 3-70 Gaston 2-53, Peter Mietus 5-50; Lake Belton: Peters 6-156, Brock Von Rojcs 2-57, Phillips 2-38, Zion Harness 6-32, Logan Winkler 2-30, Christian Onchweri 1-16, Braxtan Cope 2-2.

dtaylor@tdtnews.com