BELTON -- The Belton Tigers claimed a share of the District 12-5A football championship convincingly with a 34-14 win over the Bryan Vikings on Friday.

Bryan showered the co-champions with gifts. Mistakes by the Vikings set up all three Tiger touchdowns in the first half, helping Belton build a 21-0 lead.

A fumble, a missed field goal and a pop-up kickoff that was caught by Belton provided the jumping-off point for three scoring drives, each finished with touchdown passes by junior quarterback David Ash.

"We had two major mistakes in the kicking game that involved just catching a football," Bryan coach Bob Bellard said. "We needed to catch a punt and catch a kickoff. Those two turned into points on the other side and we've got to do a better job making those plays. We can't miss those plays."

Both Bryan and Belton advanced to the Class 5A playoffs. The Vikings (5-5, 4-3) will play DeSoto at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Waco ISD Stadium. The Tigers (9-1, 6-1) take on Mesquite Horn, also at 7:30 Friday, at Mansfield ISD Stadium.

"I told [the team] that we've still got another opportunity when most of the football teams in Texas are done," Bellard said. "You've got another chance and you earned it."

Bryan never got back in contention after its miscues, but the Vikings had chances. Junior running back Nate Jones ran for 111 yards in the game, but 100 came in the first half. He scored his only touchdown 41 seconds before halftime to cut the deficit to 21-7, but Bryan was turned aside on its opening drive of the second half and never recovered.

The Vikings were in great position to score when Tigers kicker Tyler Pate nearly whiffed on the second half's opening kickoff, with the ball traveling slightly more than a yard. Bryan moved as close as the Belton 14-yard line but lost five yards on one of their three penalties.

Mike Martinez nearly made a sensational one-handed grab for a touchdown, but he couldn't hold the ball. A fourth-down pass in his direction was off the mark.

Belton junior quarterback David Ash connected on 10 of 20 passes for 177 yards and three first-half touchdowns. Ash started time-consuming marches with short passing but finished them by finding open receivers down the middle, starting with a 39-yarder to a wide-open Beau Heitmiller. That drive began after a Jones fumble that defensive lineman Zac Sakaria covered.

"There were two drive that we had early that we got nothing out of, and we needed those points," Bellard said. "We needed to finish those drives and got nothing. Against that good of a football team, you need to make the most of those opportunities. We knew that going into the football game."

Krey Bratsen's missed field goal was followed by an eight-play, 80-yard drive that ended with a 46-yard touchdown pass to T.J Sholars. Belton ran off six more plays and scored again when Sholars ran under Pate's bloop kickoff on the sideline, as if catching a pass on the run.

Both teams lost quarterbacks. Kesnick Taylor returned from an ankle sprain, but backup Aaron Eike finished at quarterback for the Vikings. Eike threw a touchdown pass to Jeremy Zdunkewicz, who fought off a defender and dived back toward his quarterback for the catch with 7 seconds left in the game.

Ash was involved in a collision on a running play. He left the field and returned with his left arm in a sling.

Belton's Anthony Huber rushed for 126 yards, and his 10-yard run with 1:14 left in the third quarter gave Belton a 27-7 lead.