BELTON — The Lake Belton Broncos needed a District 8-5A-I victory Friday night and worked overtime to make sure they got it.

Georgetown East View battled back from a 17-0 halftime deficit to forge a 24-all deadlock that forced overtime, but Lake Belton (3-2, 1-1) dominated the extra session to pull out a 27-24 win at Tiger Field.

Lake’s defensive front came up big on the first possession of overtime as it pushed the Patriots (3-2, 1-1) into fourth-and-24 by putting constant pressure on quarterback Ty Blair, whose fourth-down heave into the end zone was batted out of the air.

A pair of Tekoa Martin runs on Lake’s possession set up a 23-yard field goal try for Tommy Stephens, who was 1-of-3 on attempts to that point but sent the ball through the center of the uprights to give the Broncos a homecoming victory.

“Big drive there at the end with a big kick,” Broncos head coach Brian Cope said. “Just really proud of a group of young men that are trying to learn how to come together as a team and very fortunate to coach this program.”


The Broncos had a 17-0 lead at the break, but East View quickly cut into the advantage. A blocked punt gave the Patriots the ball on the Lake 25 and they took full advantage by covering the distance in just five plays, with Blair connecting with Luke Martin on a 7-yard pass to put East View on the board.

A 3-yard pass from Blair to Tieson Ejiawoko made the deficit 17-14 later in the third quarter.

Lake struck back when Martin found a hole in the heart of the defense and broke free for a 32-yard TD run to extend the Broncos’ advantage to 24-14. The running back finished with 14 carries for 82 yards.

“The O-Line was blocking really well tonight,” Martin said. “They had a (heck) of a game. My job isn’t a one-man job. It’s a six-man job and the other five people did a (heck) of a job tonight.”

East View pulled within 24-17 with a 28-yard field goal by Aaron Reyes on its first drive of the fourth quarter.

On the ensuing kickoff, Reyes recovered his onside kick and Blair drove the Patriots down the field, completing three of four passes for 33 yards and capping off the drive with a 16-yard touchdown run.

Blair finished with 238 yards passing. His primary target was Luke Martin, who had 12 receptions for 92 yards.

Both teams got the ball one more time in regulation and reached enemy territory but didn’t get into field goal range, sending the contest to overtime.

Zion Williams was the beneficiary of three Patriots turnovers in the first half — two fumbles and an interception — as the Broncos’ pass rush gave East View’s passing attack fits. The Patriots turned over the ball four times on the night.

Williams’ first fumble recovery came in the second quarter when he ripped the ball out of the hands of Patriots running back Blake Honeycutt and ran 33 yards to pay dirt, extending the Broncos’ lead to 14-0.

An earlier Lake takeaway came on a pass that was batted in the air by a pass rusher and hauled in by Williams, who rumbled to the East View 41 before Blair tripped him up. The Broncos came close to scoring on the following play as Ty Green lobbed a double-pass to Martin, who was open behind the defense but didn’t control the ball.

The Broncos recovered quickly as quarterback Maverik Maddux — filling in for Eli Mascarenas — connected with Davion Peters on a 31-yard pass on the next play then found Peters for a 10-yard touchdown throw to give Lake its first advantage at 7-0.

A 37-yard field goal by Stephens gave the Broncos a 17-0 lead before the break.

Blair struggled to combat constant pressure from Lake’s defense in the first half. He was 11-for-31 through the first 24 minutes with 126 yards passing. A last-minute drive accounted for 53 of those yards.

LAKE BELTON 27,

GEORGETOWN EAST VIEW 24 (OT)

East View 0 0 14 10 0 — 24

Lake Belton 7 10 7 0 3 — 27

LB — Davion Peters 10 pass from Maverik Maddux (Tommy Stephens kick)

LB — Zion Williams 32 fumble return (Stephens kick)

LB — Stephens 37 field goal

EV — Luke Martin 7 pass from Ty Blair (Aaron Reyes kick)

EV — Tieson Ejiawoko 3 pass from Blair (Reyes kick)

LB — Tekoa Martin 32 run (Stephens kick)

EV — Reyes 28 field goal

EV — Blair 16 run (Reyes kick)

LB — Stephens 23 field goal

TEAM STATISTICS

EV LB

First downs 22 16

Rushes-yards 28-113 27-142

Passing yards 238 138

Comp.-Att.-Int. 25-55-1 13-30-0

Punts-average 4-36.5 5-31.6

Fumbles-lost 3-3 0-0

Penalties-yards 10-95 10-102

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — East View: Blair 20-87, Blake Honeycutt 8-26; Lake Belton: Martin 14-82, Peters 8-61, Kellen Scarborough 1-10, team 1-(-5), Maddux 3-(-6).

PASSING — East View: Blair 25-54-1-238, Ryan Miley 0-1-0-0; Lake Belton: Maddux 13-29-0-138, Ty Green 0-1-0-0.

RECEIVING — East View: Martin 12-92, Caleb Hill 4-56, McKennon Thorpe 2-45, Tanner Namken 5-40, Ejiawoko 1-3, Honeycutt 1-2; Lake Belton: Peters 5-79, Zion Harness 3-25, Christian Onchweri 2-18, Zach Dodd 1-16, Chance Scott 1-2, Joey Read 1-(-2).