KILLEEN — From one game to the next, running back Darrell Harris is proving to be an indispensable threat for Waco High this season.

He put on yet another exhibition Thursday against Ellison.

Harris rushed for more than 300 yards for the second time in three games, propelling the Lions to an ugly but effective 21-10 victory over Ellison at Leo Buckley Stadium.

Harris rushed for 319 yards on 35 carries and a touchdown, strapping the Lions on his back when the big play never materialized.

But when it comes this easy, that’s no problem.

“Sometimes it feels like a video game,” Harris said.

It has certainly looked like it this season. He’s now rushed for 892 yards and nine touchdowns in his first three games, and once again, he pulled the Lions to victory. He’s rushed for at least 200 yards in all three of the Lions’ games this year, all of which have been against Class 5A opposition.

“That’s a heck of a deal right there,” Waco High coach Danny Ramsey said. “He just decides to put us on his back. That’s a good thing. He tried to do too much early too. He and (quarterback) Deonte’ (Phillips) took too much pressure early, and they needed to let the team just take what they could get.”

Instead of popping huge gainers like they’ve done most of the year, Harris and the Waco High (2-1) offense bit off small chunks all night. The Lions finished with 432 rushing yards and negative-3 passing yards, a sign of where the Lions placed their emphasis Thursday.

“It was basically just taking what they gave us,” Harris said. “They came out to play hard.”

Harris was a key component in the drive that put the Lions up 14-3 in the second quarter, rushing eight of the 11 plays and picking up all but 14 yards, including the five-yard touchdown run just before the half.

But the key was the Lions’ response to Ellison’s only touchdown of the night.

The Lions spotted Ellison (0-3) with abysmal field position for most of the night, and the Eagles made good use of their first reasonable starting spot at their own 35.

On the fourth play of the drive, Isiah Cowan crashed through a hole up the middle and burned down to the Waco High 1, diving in a play later to cut the Lions’ lead to 14-10 with 6:19 left in the third.

Ellison’s offense increasingly turned into Cowan’s show. Quarterback Greggory Bryant was making his first start, and he went on a run of nine straight incompletions in the third quarter. Of his last 16 throws, two were completions, two were interceptions to Josh Porter and the rest were incomplete.

Bryant was 9-of-35 for 155 yards and three interceptions. Cowan finished with 145 yards on 15 carries, but his scoring drive more or less represented the end of his night.

Indeed, the Lions found a response when they needed it. On the next drive. Harris picked up three first downs on the first three plays, including a 48-yard scamper, his longest of the night, that got the Lions to the Ellison 9. A play later, Phillips pitched wide to Chase Hobbs for an untouched score with 5:10 to go in the third.

“There’s no bad wins, there’s just ugly wins,” Ramsey said. “That’s exactly what that was.”

Waco High bumbled its way through the first quarter and somehow managed to hang on to its lead despite just about everything.

Ellison, shut out in its last game, drove 60 yards on its first drive and converted on a field goal for a 3-0 lead less than three minutes in.

Tough sledding

Meanwhile, the Lions struggled to generate much of anything offensively, and it took a generous shove from the Eagles to get them on the scoreboard.

Bryant muffed a handoff on the second play of Ellison’s next drive, and Hobbs gladly hopped on the loose ball at the Ellison 15. Four plays later, Phillips leaned over the goal line from a yard out with 6:50 to play in the first quarter for a 7-3 advantage.

The Lions’ discipline was on the wane for the rest of the quarter. They racked up a whopping 31 penalty yards on one drive, finishing the quarter with 36 penalty yards to 35 total yards. And yet they kept the lead.

Ellison dealt with offensive issues of its own. Phillips lost a fumble on the Ellison 21, but the Eagles gave it back a play later on a Porter interception at midfield. Not to be outdone, Phillips fumbled again a play later — three turnovers in three plays — but Ellison went three-and-out on their second gifted possession in five minutes.

Waco High then took advantage and cobbled together a cohesive drive behind Harris, who finally found the flow of the game.

Harris led the Lions on an 11-play, 81-yard march in the final minutes of the half. He carried on eight plays and accounted for 67 yards, including the final four when he picked through the middle with 16 seconds left in the half for a 14-3 lead at the break.