Belton holds off late Waco charge to notch 27-21 district win

WACO — Belton erased a slim halftime deficit to build a 20-point lead late in the third quarter, and then the Tigers held on for dear life to stave off Waco for a 27-21 District 8-5A-II victory Friday night at Waco ISD Stadium. The Tigers (5-2, 2-0) — who forced five turnovers and recovered a muffed punt — awoke in the third quarter after compiling only 70 first-half yards to turn a 7-6 halftime disadvantage into a 27-7 lead entering the final frame on the strength of three Will Shepard touchdown passes. But the gritty Lions (1-6, 0-2) refused to go away, using a 73-yard touchdown run from Travis Walker to trim the margin to 13 less than 2 minutes into the fourth then forcing and recovering a fumble for a touchback as Belton tried to put the game on ice with about 3 ½ minutes left by punching it in on third-and-goal from the 1. After getting its lone turnover of the game, Waco needed just four plays to get within six points when Zay’drian Johnson — who subbed in at quarterback for Eric Taylor Jr. after he left with an injury earlier in the half — scooted 62 yards up the middle to pay dirt with 2:10 remaining. It was his second TD of the night after he put Waco ahead 7-3 in the second quarter with a 43-yard scoring run. With two timeouts and the 2-minute stoppage, the Lions forced Belton into a fourth-and-1 with 1:44 left when Shepard got them to jump off-sides on a hard count. Three kneel-downs followed to seal the hard-fought win for the Tigers. “They’re such a gritty, resilient team and you can’t look at overall records when you get into district play. We came in a little banged up, and we didn’t execute very well and didn’t capitalize on opportunities in the first half like we should’ve offensively,” Belton head coach Josh Mann said. “But for our resiliency to hold on and win a game like this, for this group, is big. They had to trust, they had to dig in and we had to win one ugly. We’ve either been way up and won big or we’ve lost, but we hadn’t won ugly, so I’m going to count this as a win ugly, and that’s really a credit to Waco High, because they did a hell of a job.” After the Tigers managed only Morgan Pascoe field goals of 27 and 22 yards over the first 24 minutes, Shepard fired touchdown tosses of 23 yards to Gavin Ross, 35 yards to Josh Brown and 20 yards to Evan Echipare to vault his team in front by the biggest margin of the night. Two of those TDs were set up by interceptions from Azian Wilkinson and Anthony Garcia while Graham Chambley also picked off Taylor once in the third quarter. Wilkinson and Oakley Torres had fumble recoveries in the first half for the Tigers. Shepard finished 22-of-31 for 227 yards and no interceptions while completing passes to eight receivers, but Belton rushed for only 90 yards on 38 carries against a stout Lions defensive front. Both teams struggled to move the ball in the first half when a stiff wind put a lid on each passing game. The Tigers threw for 28 yards in the first half compared to Waco’s 24. The Lions punted twice and fumbled twice in the first quarter, but put together a six-play, 80-yard drive that led to the half’s only touchdown to start the second quarter, which proved enough to keep them in front at the break. The march culminated in Johnson’s 43-yard dart along the left side during which the senior made one tackler miss to put Waco in front at 7-3 with 8:18 left in the second frame. Johnson finished with 85 yards on five carries while Walker led all players with 105 yards rushing on 14 totes as Waco rushed for 287 yards, but threw for just 24. Outside of that possession, Waco managed only one other first down and 60 yards on 19 plays as Belton’s front produced nine plays of a 1-yard gain or less for the Lions over the first two quarters. “It really just took us coming together, understanding what we had to do, understanding our mistakes in the first half, and just playing our brand of football,” said the senior safety Wilkinson, whose Tigers will host Killeen Ellison next Friday.

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Belton High School Athletics

BELTON HOLDS OFF LATE WACO CHARGE TO NOTCH 27-21 DISTRICT WIN

JON BROOKS

Temple Daily Telegram | 10/19/2026