It took a tie to unbind the District 12-5A boys soccer race, and despite losing a lead, Bryan was the team that felt blessed.

The Vikings and A&M Consolidated Tigers played to a 1-1 tie Tuesday, with both teams scoring in the first overtime at Tigerland Stadium.

The Vikings' Alejandro Cruz ran onto a long, well-placed pass from senior Gerardo Martinez, angled right and drove a low shot into the right corner of the net past a flat-footed Henry Denoux, the Tigers' goalkeeper, with 3:14 left in the first of two extra periods. Denoux had gobbled up every previous attempt by Bryan on long through passes, but he had no chance to make a play as the pass fell between the defense and the net.

Less than two minutes later, Nicos Georghiades one-timed a high-bouncing ball directly in front of the goal, pounding it into the top of the net to even the score. Andres Tani made the pass that set up the goal.

"We have prided ourselves in the past with playing really well in overtime," A&M Consolidated coach Chris Kovacs said. "In this district, we've done really well to not only tie, but usually come out on top. We just couldn't pull it out tonight."

Consol has gone two games without a victory, dropping to 10-1-1 in district and 13-8-1 overall. The Tigers' regular-season finale is at Belton, which rolled to an 11-0 victory over Copperas Cove and took over sole possession of first place. Temple beat Harker Heights 6-3, dropping the Knights to fifth place.

Bryan (7-10-1, 6-5-1) and Heights entered the night in a tie for fourth, with four postseason spots available from the district.

Consol kept the pedal to the metal with a brisk, high-energy attack. Unfortunately for the Tigers, a lot of their shots found metal, too. The one that hurt most came on what appeared to be the setup for a game-winner.

Ryan Armatys was taken down on the left edge of the penalty area by Martinez and had a chance to break the scoreless tie with 1:14 left in regulation, but his penalty kick ricocheted off the crossbar, the fourth post the Tigers had hit on a shot attempt.

"I was thinking we had worked so hard to get to this point, but it was a trip," Bryan coach Tommie Allmon said of the call. "You can't complain. It was a foul."

Bryan opened the second half with its best scoring opportunity to that point. Fabian Guerrero pushed a pass to Arnaldo Garcia, which required a hard approach from Denoux, who dove to make the save.

"We didn't think we were going to get many opportunities," Allmon said. "We knew they played well. Their keeper made a great save on our kid to start the second half."

Bryan nearly scored the go-ahead goal on a double-header. Daniel Balke's long corner kick was headed back to Martinez, whose header hit the crossbar.

In the final eight minutes of regulation, Kolby Graff came up with a steal for the Tigers and worked his way between two defenders for a one-on-one situation against Bryan sophomore keeper Abel Gutierrez. Gutierrez, who made a stellar play earlier to rob Armatys of an angle with a save, didn't have to make one this time as Graff's shot slid right of the goal.

There were virtually no scoring chances through the first 20 minutes of play despite a brisk pace.

The Tigers had the first good shot when a ball came free in front of the goal with Gutierrez out of position. Consol's Camilo Clavijo was unable to get his foot on the ball, which was cleared away by Bryan's Garcia.

Despite earning four consecutive corner kicks at one point, Bryan never had a good shot to score in the opening half. Their prettiest play came when Guerrero dribbled through two defenders, but Jose Cortez could not catch up to his lead pass.

"It was a great game, but that's typical," Allmon said. "The last four times we've played them we've been overtime twice, and the first time we played this year it was 3-2 and they stopped a shot on us right at the end of regulation."