In their home opener Friday, the Bryan Vikings stopped playing pinball and started playing football.

A monumental defensive improvement by the Vikings kept them in contention against the Leander Lions, but an untimely penalty coupled with gritty effort from the opponent kept Bryan out of the win column in a 25-21 loss.

Leander's Jon Henderson caught a 20-yard scoring pass with 1 minute, 57 seconds left to provide the winning margin.

"We made a bunch of strides as a total football team," said Bryan coach Bob Bellard, whose team (0-2) had a terrible time tackling in a 52-42 season-opening loss to Cy-Falls last week. "We lined up against a very good 5A opponent and played 5A football. We went toe-to-toe with them and made some plays to go win the ballgame.

"They made one more at the end."

This was just plain tough football, with hard hitting from the get-go.

For Leander, it was defined by the play of free safety Bradley Tanton, who was the last line of defense against the Vikings' option game. Tanton led a secondary that withstood Bryan's last test with outstanding defensive coverage to preserve the victory for the Lions (1-1).

"We were doing a lot to get to their free safety," Bellard said. "Their free safety made a lot of plays for them, but we made some big plays offensively,"

Until late in the game Bryan had been penalized only 10 yards, but the Vikings picked up 30 yards on flags during the Lions' game-winning drive. The crucial one came on fourth-and-10 at the Bryan 45-yard line.

Chase Keltgen was forced to roll out to his right and failed to get past two defenders to get a first down, but he was thrown down by his face mask. That kept Leander's march alive.

"We were in great shape to make that play," Bellard said. "We had him at four [yards] and he's got to make 10, and we had two guys there. It's just unfortunate that we grabbed the face mask, but when we did, it gave them a first down, and they made a play."

Two plays later Collin Chapman threw his only pass in relief of beleaguered starter Keltgen, who the Bryan defense chased all over the Merrill Green Stadium field. He dropped straight back and hit a 20-yard scoring strike to Jon Henderson, who slanted to his right and made a move, picked up a block and scored.

Bryan led at halftime, 14-13, but lost the lead in the third quarter. A punt pushed the Vikings to the 1, and fullback Chris Watson was caught in the end zone for a safety. That was Bryan's lone play from scrimmage in the midst of a string of 17 by the Lions.

Leander padded its lead to 18-14 on a towering 43-yard field goal from Rocky Nino de Guzman. Guzman had missed a potential game-winner against Pflugerville in the season opener last week.

Senior Krey Bratsen keyed the Vikings' go-ahead march, running 17 yards for a first down out of a punt formation. Bratsen gave the Vikings a 21-18 lead later in the drive, edging away from coverage in the back of the end zone and catching a 22-yard scoring pass from Kesnick Taylor with 6:24 left in the game.

"It was a great throw and Krey just ran it down," Bellard said of his senior receiver's speed. "We had good routes inside that got him in one-on-one coverage. He got good protection and KT put it about the only place he could put it."

Taylor also led the Vikings in rushing, carrying 15 times for 99 yards.

Leander scored the game's first touchdown on Donald Taylor's 1-yard run, which completed a six-play, 45-yard drive. At that point the Vikings were losing the exchange of punts, but Kevin Jefferson fixed that with a brilliant 57-yard return for a score.

Jefferson fielded the ball on the run and raced past the first wave to the right sideline, where he combined quick moves with some tackle-breaking before working back across the field and into the end zone. He had a 95-yard kickoff return for a touchdown last week against Cy-Falls.

"He's amazing in grass," Bellard said. "It makes you think we need to get him on the offensive side of the football more, just to get the ball in his hands. Those are decisions we need to make, but he's making a pretty good corner for us, so he's helping out on the defensive side and he's great in the kicking game."

The Lions moved 80 yards in seven brisk plays to regain the lead. Keltgen threw 45 yards to fellow junior Henderson. Keltgen scored three plays later when he faked a handoff and sprinted to his left for the final five yards. A bobbled extra-point try left the Leander lead at 13-7.

Bryan's response was just as impressive. From his 23, Bryan quarterback Kesnick Taylor ran an option to his left, bluffed a pitch and ran to the Leander 44. Nate Jones scored on an 11-yard run with :30 left in the first half to give the Vikings a 14-13 advantage.

BRYAN FOOTBALL

* Friday's game: Leander 25, Bryan 21

* Records: Bryan (0-2), Leander (1-1)

* Next: Bryan at Round Rock McNeil, 7 p.m. Thursday