Stunned after watching a 24-7 lead disappear in 26 seconds, the Tigers converted four second-half fourth-down plays to send their Class 5A Division II bi-district playoff game with Mesquite Horn into overtime.

After a quick touchdown, Belton's defense made a stand to lift the Tigers to a thrilling 45-38 victory over the Jaguars at Vernon Newsom Stadium.

"There's a lot of ways to measure a team," said junior quarterback David Ash, who went 30-of-50 and unofficially broke the school record for passing yards in a game with 403. "One of them is to see how they handle adversity. We had this team down, then they scored 17 points in a short amount of time and we got kind of down, but we rose to the occasion and overcame adversity.

"Everyone rose up and started making plays. The line started blocking, the receivers starting catching balls, the defense got stops. We just came together and refused to lose."

With its first playoff win since 2000, Belton (10-1) advanced to face South Garland (7-3) in the area round at 7:30 next Friday night at Waco ISD Stadium.

"It just feels amazing. We fought through it," said defensive back Nick Alaniz, who batted down Horn's final pass attempt at the goal line.

Ash broke Toby Rumfield's mark of 400 yards set in 1990. He also tied his own school record for TD passes in a game with four, one he shares with three others, and broke his own record with 30 completions.

Kevin Thornton had seven catches, breaking the school record of 119 set by Darren Brinkley from 1991-93. His 7-yard touchdown reception on fourth-and-5 tied the game at 31 with 10:25 left in the final quarter. Jeff Lepak had seven catches for 133 yards and Anthony Huber nine for 77.

"For this team and for me personally, this was big because there were three or four opportunities where these kids could have quit and they just kept fighting," said Belton third-year coach Rodney Southern, who improved his career playoff record to 9-2.

cmeister@temple-telegram.com