But costly special teams mistakes and an inability to come up with the key play at the right time brought the Belton Tigers' perfect season to a halt on Friday night.
Two punt returns by Nik Greene in the first half swung field position and Cooper Brock's interception return for a touchdown in the fourth quarter broke the game open as Belton fell to Copperas Cove in a 10-0 classic at Bulldawg Stadium.
"We played our butts off on both sides of the ball," Belton coach Rodney Southern said. "I thought the defense played a heck of a football game. They didn't get close to the end zone.
"In a game like this, somebody has to step up and make a big play. I told our defense at halftime, 'We have to get one turnover because it may come down to that.'"
The Tigers (6-1, 3-1, District 12-5A) never got that turnover as their seven-game winning streak dating to last season and first 6-0 start since 1999 ended. Belton also fell into a four-way tie for first place in the league with Cove (6-1, 3-1), Bryan - a 39-29 winner over Killeen Ellison - and College Station A&M Consolidated, which slammed Killeen Shoemaker 39-12.
Nearly every statistic was in the Tigers' favor. Belton had 277 total yards and 17 first downs compared to Cove's 108 and eight.
Tigers quarterback Jonathan Paysse - filling in for injured star David Ash, who missed his second straight game with a high ankle sprain - was 22-of-29 passing for 154 yards but had two costly interceptions. Anthony Huber recorded his second straight 100-yard rushing effort, going for 104 yards on 19 carries. Kevin Thornton had a season-high 10 catches for 78 yards, but his fake field goal attempt with less than 4 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter was stopped at the 1.
Cove's stout rushing attack that averaged 239 yards per game was held to 92. Brandin Byrd had 70 yards on 17 carries, Brelan Chancellor had 19 on seven tries and William Wright added 11 on five attempts.
"If you asked me before the game, 'If you don't give up an offensive touchdown to Copperas Cove are you gonna win,' I'd say yeah," Southern said. "I thought defensively we played well. I thought defensively they played a little bit better."
With the victory, the Bulldawgs, who fell to Bryan 34-20 last week, avoided losing consecutive games for the first time since 2003.
"I praise God," Cove coach Jack Welch said. "This was a classic high school football game. You have two teams playing their hearts out. Two very-well coached football teams. Sportsmanship. This is where you should have had TV cameras."
To start the game, the Tigers had a 16-play, 65-yard drive that ate up more than half of the first quarter. But on second-and-6 from the Cove 15, Paysse was picked off by Matthew Garrett.
The teams jockeyed for field position for most of the first half until Greene's 31-yard punt return set the Bulldawgs up at midfield. Cove turned the ball over on downs, but after Belton went three-and-out, Greene returned the next punt 33 yards to the Tigers' 10.
"He does a good job of setting his blocks up well," Welch said of Greene. "That's a gift. I've had good punt returners before, but I would classify him as on the verge of a great punt returner."
Facing third-and-10 from just beyond the 10, Chancellor took a reverse and streaked toward the end zone. Belton's Nick Alaniz went low, forcing Chancellor to leap from about the 4. Tigers linebacker Tyler Vail met him at the goal line and jarred the ball loose, which Cove lineman Sean Maier eventually pushed out of bounds at the 15. On the next play, Chris Barrick kicked a 32-yard field goal for a 3-0 halftime lead.
On Belton's only possession of the third quarter, the Tigers used 12 plays, but Paysse was sacked by Sean Harris on third-and-8 to end the threat.
In the fourth, Belton faced a third-and-6 from its 22 when Brock jumped, tipped a potential screen pass to himself and stormed in for a 10-0 lead with 8:47 left.
Trying to mount a comeback, Belton drove 13 plays and faced fourth-and-goal from the 3. Thornton's fake field goal try came up short and Cove ran out the clock from there.
"I wanted to get seven (points)," Southern said of the decision. "Because of the way we had played, you get three - if we get an onside kick - I still have got to get seven. I'd rather try to get the seven there and I thought it was there and it was. It didn't work out, but I'm not going to go down without swinging."
Belton faces Killeen Ellison at 7:30 next Friday night at Tiger Field.
cmeister@temple-telegram.com
