Brother Martin trailed Easton by 21. Then came a second-quarter surge to spark a shootout.

Brother Martin pulled off a dramatic comeback against Warren Easton in a District 9-5A game on Saturday at Tad Gormley Stadium.

Easton led by 21 points at the end of the first quarter, but Brother Martin’s offense found life by scoring 21 points  in the second quarter. It was a back-and-forth shootout from then on that resulted in a 45-42 Crusaders victory.

Explosive sophomore wide receiver Easton Royal helped get Brother Martin back in the game but injured his hamstring at the beginning of the second half, which forced Crusaders quarterback Seth Dazet to find other skill players.

Dazet, a senior, found Rowan Lipscomb on a 48-yard touchdown pass to tie the game at 42. Dazet then led another fourth-quarter drive that resulted in a 33-yard field goal by Grayson Smith to give the Crusaders their first lead.

“It was a crazy game,” Crusaders coach Mark Bonis said. “Like I told them, a lot of teams would’ve quit, would’ve given in, but we talk about toughness. That’s one of our program principles. For four quarters they battled play after play. Our guys were resilient in the face of adversity.”

Dazet completed 12 of 26 passes for 249 yards and two touchdowns. The first  was an 81-yard pass to Royal, who finished with 107 yards receiving on three receptions before leaving the game.

“We knew our offense needed to step up being down 21-0,” Dazet said. “We needed to make something happen, and Easton (Royal) made a big play to put us back in the game. Our whole receiving corps is really good. If Easton goes down, people are going to step up.”

Things started smoothly for Easton, as quarterback Carl Reed found Mark Garrison on a 16-yard touchdown pass. A blocked punt was then recovered in the end zone by Kaleb Gibson before Reed completed a 19-yard pass to Thomas Vaughn to go up by 21.

Brother Martin broke though thanks to a 19-yard touchdown run by Julian Cutter. Vaughn, who finished with 188 yards rushing on 25 carries and three total touchdowns, responded with a 13-yard score of his own to keep the lead at 21.

Royal then returned a kickoff for a touchdown, and the momentum shifted in Brother Martin’s favor from that point on.

“I just think we ran the offense real well,” Bonis said. “I think we did a very good job of taking what the defense gave us. When (Easton) tried to outnumber us in the box, we were able to take advantage in the passing game. Our offense is a thing of beauty when it’s clicking.”

Easton took advantage of a Brother Martin turnover to begin the second half that resulted in a 1-yard touchdown run by Reed, but the Crusaders responded quickly when Alex Diaz scored from 6 yards out.

Vaughn followed with a 30-yard score for Easton, but Brother Martin did all the scoring after that. Diaz scored again from a yard out before the Lipscomb touchdown catch and the Smith field goal, who was also six for six on point after attempts.

“My team was counting on me,” Smith said. “I knew before (the field goal) that it might come to that situation, and I was ready for it. We practice it every week, so it’s nothing new.”

Brother Martin (5-4, 2-4) snapped a three-game losing streak and will close the regular season on Friday against Holy Cross. Easton (3-6, 0-6) will face Jesuit next Saturday.