KILLEN — Brooks overcame a sluggish first quarter to take control of the game and claim a 38-27 win over Haleyville on Friday night.

Trailing 14-0 after the first quarter, Brooks scored three unanswered touchdowns in the second quarter to take the lead and control of the game.

“We got off to a very slow start,” Brooks coach Jerry Hill said. “We were sluggish and just couldn’t seem to get things going.”

Haleyville (4-2, 2-2) took a quick lead in the first quarter when Tanner Ivey passed eight yards to Bennett Richards. The kick by Carlos Herrera made it 7-0.

Haleyville recovered the onside kick but was unable to capitalize on the opportunity.

Just before the end of the quarter, Jason Self, who finished with 101 yards rushing, scored on a 14-yard run. Herrera’s kick gave the Lions a 14-0 lead.

The Brooks’ defense got things going for the Lions in the second quarter.

After Deion Bonton scored on a 4-yard run with 11:02 left in the half to cut the lead to 14-6, Jerrod Martin recovered a fumbled Haleyville pitch and ran 11 yards for a score cutting the lead to 14-12.

Haleyville took the kickoff and drove down to the Brooks’ 13-yard line.

With less than a minute to go in the half, Brooks took the lead for good when Ricardo Maston stepped in front of an Ivey pass and ran 90 yards for the touchdown, giving the Lions a 20-14 halftime lead.

“The defense was the key for us,” Hill said. “They made some big plays that got us back in the game.

“The defense kept us in the game and our offense was finally able to feed off that defensive effort.”

The Lions, (5-1, 4-0) extended the lead to 26-14 in the third quarter when Rae Beasley scored on an 8-yard run.

Haleyville came back, making it 26-20 on a 6-yard run by Self.

However, Brooks put the game away in the fourth quarter when Beasley scored on a 21-yard run and quarterback Skyler Beck passed 14 yards to Mason Castile for another touchdown.

Conner Kiser passed five yards to Matt Smith for Haleyville’s final score.