By Zack Cunningham/sportsreporter@trcle.com

JOSHUA — After Alvarado and Joshua battled to a scoreless stalemate in the first half, neither squad could keep their respective offenses off the field in the second half as the Owls escaped with a 27-21 comeback win over the Indians with 21 fourth quarter points.

Joshua’s Jesse Williamson hit Jordan Allen with a screen pass with 20 seconds remaining, and Allen raced 52 yards for the winning score, electrifying the Joshua faithful.

For Alvarado (1-3), it’s the second stomach-churning loss in as many weeks.

But it’s onwards and upwards Indians head coach Jeff Dixon said.

“The kids played hard,” Dixon said. “This loss hurts, but it’s a nondistrict ball game and it has no bearing on whether or not we’re district champs.”

Dixon gave credit to Joshua, which is now 2-1 under first-year head coach Jerry Bird.

“They’re a good team,” Dixon said. “I don’t care what anybody says, they’re not the Joshua of old. They ain’t. They’re a good ball club.”

Alvarado has run through a gauntlet of Class 4A competition in its nondistrict schedule, starting with Waco Midway in its opener, a game the Indians lost, 27-7, at Floyd Casey Stadium.

The second game against Class 4A competition came last week at home when Alvarado was stymied twice on the 1 in a 19-12 overtime loss to Boswell.

“We’ve played three 4A teams this year,” Dixon said. “And the kids played their butts off, but we’re going to take and learn from our mistakes and continue to get better.”

After both squads held each other to less than 100 yards of total offense in the first half, things changed in a hurry in the third quarter as Colton Dawson plunged into the end zone from 3 yards out to give the Owls the first lead of the game.

The ensuing extra point was blocked, which kept the Indians within 6-0.

Alvarado running back Broam Hart started to find his rhythm in the third quarter after being limited to 46 yards on nine carries in the first half.

With 5:33 left in the third, Hart capped off an eight-play, 63-yard scoring drive with a 2-yard touchdown run, his first of three on the day.

Hart scored again just over three minutes later from 2 yards out to give the Indians a 14-6 lead going into the final frame.

Bird said Joshua had to fight to contain Alvarado’s stable of backs.

“We just had to put nine guys up in there,” Bird said. “[Hart] is an incredible back. He runs hard, has great speed and he never puts the ball on the ground. We just had to make the commitments to our assignments, get nine people there and have our cornerbacks do a good job in man coverage.”

Dawson scored on a 14-yard touchdown run with 11:04 left in the fourth quarter and the ensuing two-point conversion was successful as Williamson hit Allen, delighting the large homecoming crowd.

After Hart scored for the third time to put Alvarado up, 21-14 with 8:28 remaining in the game, Williamson ignited the crowd on Joshua’s next drive with a 23-yard scoring scamper to tie the game.

The Indians attempted to mount a final drive to win the game, and marched 57 yards from their own 20 to the Owl 23 and faced a 4th-and-6.

Travis Pruitt’s pass to Brett Bridgewater fell incomplete and the Owls took over on downs.

Recovering from the sluggish start is a good reason for his team to be proud, Bird said.

“We weren’t doing the things necessary to put the ball in the end zone [in the first half],” Bird said. “I thought Jesse did a lot better job of making decisions, running and reading the defense.

“I’m proud of the coaches for making the adjustments we needed and I’m proud of the kids.”

Hart finished with 156 yards on 27 carries while Williamson was 11-of-25 for 167 yards, a touchdown and an interception.