BELTON — Going into Friday night’s matchup against district-leading Georgetown, the Lake Belton Broncos knew how tough the task at hand was. Despite a 48-minute fight, the Eagles came out on top in the form of a 50-40 win in District 8-5A-I action at Tiger Field.

The Eagles (8-1, 6-0) churned out 500 yards to power past the Broncos (4-5, 3-3) in an offensive showcase between the teams. Quarterback Kaleb McDougle was 18-of-21 for 245 yards and three touchdowns while star running back Jett Walker led the ground game with 104 yards on 13 carries and a trio of scores.

“They’re the number one offense in the district,” Lake head coach Brian Cope said. “I thought we made them earn the yards. The margin of error that you have when you’re playing that kind of team is slim, and so I’m just really proud of our kids and staff tonight who fought for 48 minutes.”

Lake Belton’s offense was led by sophomore quarterback Jessiah James, who was 17-of-24 for 278 yards and three TDs.

“He did a really good job of making sure that coverages went the right way and understand where he needed to attack,” Cope said. “I’m so proud of him and that whole (quarterback) room.”

Lake’s rushing attack was led by sophomore back Zyien Dupree, who totaled 156 yards and three scores on 14 carries.

“It’s just fun to watch him continue to grow,” Cope said. “That’s what makes high school coaching fun because you get to watch kids continue to improve.”

The Broncos trailed 42-20 after Walker’s 49-yard scoring run in the third quarter but answered immediately when Dupree dashed 70 yards to the end zone on the next play from scrimmage to cut the gap to 42-27.

Lake continued to rally in the fourth, when it trimmed the deficit to 42-33 when James threw a 23-yard TD strike to Davion Peters.

After Georgetown padded its cushion to 50-33 on a 45-yard scoring run by Zechariah Guyton, the Broncos responded again with James’ 5-yard TD toss to Zion Harness with 3:24 remaining before the Eagles drained the clock.

Lake Belton closes the regular season Thursday at Killeen Chaparral, likely needing a victory to assure itself a playoff berth.

Georgetown opened the scoring with a three-play drive that went 64 yards and was capped with a 19-yard touchdown pass to Brayden Bratton from McDougle for a 6-0 edge after the missed PAT.

The Eagles extended their lead to 14-0 when McDougle found Xavier Warren on a 44-yard strike, and Walker converted the 2-point run midway through the opening period.

Lake got on the board with a 12-play, 68-yard drive that elapsed about six minutes of game clock. The march was capped with a 5-yard TD run from Dupree that cut the Georgetown lead in half with 45 seconds to go in the first quarter.

The Eagles quickly responded with a seven-play drive that covered 62 yards and was highlighted by a 27-yard pass from McDougle to Copeland Madray that put Georgetown on the Lake 22. A personal foul against the Broncos gave Georgetown first-and-goal from the 8, and Walker posted his first TD on the night from there to make it 21-7 with 9:55 left in the half.

The Broncos answered with an 87-yard drive that was capped with a 44-yard scoring pass from James to a wide-open Peters for a score that cut it to 21-13 after the PAT was blocked.

The Eagles tacked on two more scores before the break, the first on a 3-yard run from Walker and the second on a 36-yard connection between McDougle and Bratton with 15 seconds left in the half.

Lake added one more score before the break on a 19-yard run from Dupree that made it 28-20 with 39 seconds left, only to be answered by Bratton’s TD grab that made it 35-20 at halftime.

GEORGETOWN 50, LAKE BELTON 40

Georgetown 14 21 7 8 — 50

Lake Belton 7 13 7 13 — 40

Geo — Brayden Bratton 19 pass from Kaleb McDougle (kick failed)

Geo — Xavier Warren 44 pass from McDougle (Jett Walker run)

LB — Zyien Dupree 5 run (Aiden Lassich kick)

Geo — Walker 8 run (Samuel Galaviz kick)

LB — Davion Peters 44 pass from Jessiah James (kick failed)

Geo — Walker 3 run (Galaviz kick)

LB — Dupree 19 run (Lassich kick)

Geo — Bratton 36 pass from McDougle (Galaviz kick)

Geo — Walker 49 run (Galaviz kick)

LB — Dupree 70 run (Lassich kick)

LB — Peters 23 pass from James (kick failed)

Geo —Zechariah Guyton 45 run (Guyton run)

LB — Zion Harness 5 pass from James (Lassich kick)

TEAM STATISTICS

Geo LB

First downs 24 20

Rushes-yards 24-255 34-221

Passing yards 245 278

Comp.-Att.-Int. 18-21-0 17-25-1

Punts-average 2-34 2-28

Fumbles-lost 0-0 0-0

Penalties-yards 9-65 14-102

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Georgetown: Walker 13-104, Weston Steward 6-59, Guyton 2-48, Warren 2-35, McDougle 1-9; Lake Belton: Dupree 14-156, Peters 7-40, AJ Alexander 8-27, Harness 1-4, James 4-(-6).

PASSING — Georgetown: McDougle 18-21-0-245; Lake Belton: James 17-25-1-278, Rosenbaum 0-1-0-0.

RECEIVING — Georgetown: Warren 7-97, Brattan 4-62, Braylon Westfall 5-48, Copeland Madray 2-38; Lake Belton: Harness 6-111, Peters 4-92, Luke Phillips 3-55, Christian Onchweri 2-11, Alexander 1-9, Zavian Rodriguez 1-0.

dtaylor@tdtnews.com