The Tigers’ prize for their fourth straight postseason bid was a long road trip south to visit undefeated district champion Richmond Randle, the team that eliminated them in 2023.
Though Belton notched an early touchdown on a fumble return to tie the game with 5 minutes elapsed, the rest of the night belonged to the Lions, who left little doubt to the outcome while making it two straight years of ending the Tigers’ season by rolling to a 63-7 victory in a Class 5A Division II bi-district contest Thursday night at Traylor Stadium.
Landen Williams-Callis had three touchdowns before the end of the first quarter — finishing the night with 162 yards rushing on six carries, all of which came in the first 24 minutes — and Randle (11-0) almost hit 60 points by halftime as the Lions recorded touchdowns on eight of their first nine possessions to quickly create distance from Belton (2-9), which was turned over twice and had two punts blocked.
The Lions faked a punt deep in their territory on the only drive Belton stopped them in the first half, and the Tigers’ Graham Chambley scooped up a fumble and returned it 37 yards for a TD down the right side to knot things at 7 with 7:01 left in the first.
It marked the first points the Lions surrendered since Oct. 17. They entered the playoffs riding a streak of three straight shutouts and yielding an average of just 7.6 points per game.
The sophomore Williams-Callis responded on the next play from scrimmage with a 66-yard touchdown run down the right side during which he was untouched to give the lead back to Randle for good midway through the opening frame.
Williams-Callis also went untouched up the middle for a 69-yard touchdown on the night’s first play from scrimmage as the Lions topped 60 points for the sixth time and moved on to face San Antonio Jefferson or Elgin in next week’s area round.
Williams-Callis’ final TD jaunt capped a four-play drive and covered 10 yards to make for a 28-7 edge to finish the first quarter.
Randle quarterback Tyler Skrabanek heated up in the second frame by finding Jaxon Montelongo for a 14-yard touchdown and Maxon Mixon on a 50-yard scoring strike while also finding paydirt on a 12-yard run to help his squad to a 56-7 halftime edge before the teams agreed on a running clock in the second half.
Skrabanek was 10-of-12 passing for 180 yards and three scores. Belton’s Will Shepard completed 23 of 37 passes for 179 yards with two interceptions. Gavin Ross had eight catches for 78 yards to lead Belton.
RICHMOND RANDLE 63, BELTON 7
Belton 7 0 0 0 — 7
Randle 28 28 7 0 — 63
Ran — Landen Williams-Callis 69 run (Christian Munguia kick)
Bel — Graham Chambley 37 fumble return (Cole Angell kick)
Ran — Williams-Callis 66 run (Munguia kick)
Ran — Jalyn Burton blocked punt recover in end zone (Munguia kick)
Ran — Williams-Callis 10 run (Munguia kick)
Ran — Sincere Timpson 5 run (Munguia kick)
Ran — Keilan Sweeny 35 pass from Tyler Skrabanek (Munguia kick)
Ran — Skrabanek 12 run (Munguia kick)
Ran — Jaxon Montelongo 14 pass from Skrabanek (Munguia kick)
Ran — Mason Mixon 50 pass from Skrabanek (Munguia kick)
TEAM STATISTICS
Bel Ran
First downs 11 14
Rushes-yards 21-10 24-288
Passing yards 215 213
Comp.-Att.-Int. 24-38-2 13-16-0
Punts-average 4-31.2 1-25
Fumbles-lost 2-0 1-1
Penalties-yards 1-10 5-45
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — Belton: Gino Zecca 9-28, Damien Tiumalu 1-1, Will Shepard 11-(-19); Randle: Williams-Callis 6-162, Timpson 6-68, Da’Shawn Burton 7-36, Skrabanek 1-12, Jace Norman 3-10, Jeffery Thomas 1-0.
PASSING — Belton: Shepard 23-37-2-179, Josiah Martinez 1-1-0-36; Randle: Skrabanek 10-12-0-180, Eric Strickland 1-1-0-27, Brady Bratscher 2-3-0-6.
RECEIVING — Belton: Gavin Ross 8-78, Shepard 1-36, Collin Sallee 3-29, Collin Taylo... Click here to read full article
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