Slow Start Dooms Belton Again in Loss to East View

GEORGETOWN — Following another slow start Thursday night, Belton head coach Brett Sniffin was adamant that his team would keep looking for ways to solve the issue as the Tigers push into the back half of their non-district slate. For the second week in a row, Belton fell into a big first-half hole from which it was unable to recover as Georgetown East View turned a quick offensive start into a 48-14 victory over the Tigers at Birkelbach Field. Belton (0-3) came out sluggish in its first road test of the season, trailing 34-0 at halftime as Patriots quarterback Ty Blair threw for 311 of his 431 passing yards over the first 24 minutes. That included all four of his TD passes as the senior ended the night 24-of-32 passing. “We come out here timid, and I’ve not seen it in my 30 years of coaching like this. But we’re going to fix it. I’ll tell you that. We have three weeks to get it right before (the district opener against Killeen) Ellison, and we’re going to get it right,” Sniffin said. “Now we have some guys that are playing hard, and we had some good things that happened. But we have to have multiple things. It can’t just be one and we’re done.” The Tigers travel to San Angelo Central next Friday then host Cuero before an open date leads them into their District 10-5A-II opener. Coming off a 51-0 rout of Burnet last week, East View (2-1) continued that momentum by amassing a 21-point lead less than 6 minutes into the game. The Patriots’ first eight plays were passes — seven of which were completed — that covered 170 yards and included two touchdowns. Blair’s first TD throw was gathered by Tanner Namken, who finished with game highs of nine catches for 168 yards, along the right sideline after he slipped behind a Belton defender and covered 70 yards to provide the lead for good less than a minute into the action. After forcing a three-and-out, the Patriots scored again on their next play when Keiston Rainey crossed the middle to register a 40-yard touchdown catch. Rainey had 140 yards (92 receiving, 48 rushing) on 14 touches while Luke Martin contributed 148 yards on seven receptions. Blair’s eighth throw of the night was a 20-yarder to Rainey to set up the tailback’s 3-yard scoring run on the next play that pushed the gap to 21-0 with 6:56 left in the first quarter. Belton’s Josiah Martinez busted loose for a 43-yard gain — one of four plays of 35-plus yards for the Tigers — on a pass from Will Shepard on the ensuing drive, but the march ended when Benjamin Thompson was stopped for a loss on fourth-and-3. Belton struggled to run the ball overall, finishing with 64 yards on 34 carries. “We’re predicated on trying to run the ball and give our defense some rest, and we weren’t able to do that,” Sniffin said. “We did get the ball down the field, but we couldn’t finish, so next time we’re going to get it right.” The Tigers were intercepted once, punted twice and turned it over on downs three times on six first-half possessions. Martin closed East View’s scoring in the first half by going 42 yards down the seam for a TD reception early in the second quarter then finishing a six-play drive set up by Noah Herrera’s interception of a Shepard pass by taking a screen 37 yards down the left sideline for a 34-0 cushion. It swelled to 41-0 after Rainey’s second rushing score, this one a 2-yarder with about 8 minutes left in the third, before the Tigers responded when Graham Chambley connected with Gavin Ross for the third of their big-yard strikes. The pair earlier accounted for pass completions of 37 and 40 yards on drives that didn’t materialize in points before Ross took care of it himself when he juked a defender near the Tigers 35 after gathering a Chambley pass and took it the rest of the 66 yards for Belton’s first touchdown. Ross finished with five catches for 153 yards. Chambley was 4-of-7 passing for 151 yards, and Shepard completed six of 13 passes for 75 yards with two interceptions. The Tigers finished their scoring when Shepard snuck in from 2 yards out with 48 seconds left to finish a 12-play, 79-yard march that included two first-down completions to Collin Taylor. The drive was set up by a James Barrera interception, which marked the second turnover Belton generated. GEORGETOWN EAST VIEW 48, BELTON 14 Belton 0 0 7 7 — 14 East View 21 13 14 0 — 48 EV — Tanner Namken 70 pass from Ty Blair (Aaron Reyes kick) EV — Keiston Rainey 40 pass from Blair (Reyes kick) EV — Rainey 3 run (Reyes kick) EV — Luke Martin 42 pass from Blair (Reyes kick) EV — Martin 37 pass from Blair (pass failed) EV — Rainey 2 run (Reyes kick) Bel — Gavin Ross 66 pass from Graham Chambley (Cole Angell kick) EV — McKennon Thorp fumble recovery (Reyes kick) Bel — Will Shepard 2 run (Angell kick) TEAM STATISTICS Bel EV First downs 11 23 Rushes-yards 34-64 26-98 Passing yards 226 454 Comp.-Att.-Int. 10-20-2 26-36-1 Punts-average 3-25.6 1-29 Fumbles-lost 0 2-1 Penalties-yards 4-30 7-70 INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING — Belton: Gino Zecca 13-27, Jaden Lopez-Rodriguez 4-13, Khy Griffin 3-12, Josiah Martinez 1-8, Shepard 3-8, Benjamin Thompson 7-6, Ross 1-4, Chambley 2-(-14); East View: Blake Honeycutt 9-51, Rainey 9-48, Blair 5-11, Caleb Hill 1-5, team 2-(-17). PASSING — Belton: Chambley 5-7-0-151, Shepard 5-13-2-75; East View: Blair 24-32-0-431, Ryan Miley 2-4-1-23. RECEIVING — Belton: Ross 5-153, Martinez 1-43, Collin Taylor 2-22, Griffin 2-(-2); East View: Namken 9-168, Martin 7-149, Rainey 5-92, Hill 3-22, Alejandro Rodriguez 1-18, Honeycutt 1-6.

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SLOW START DOOMS BELTON AGAIN IN LOSS TO EAST VIEW

JON BROOKS | TELEGRAM STAFF

Temple Daily Telegram | 9/13/2024

PHOTO CREDIT: Jon Farrow/Special to the Telegram