Avery Brown threw three touchdown passes, two in the second half, as Elma rallied past Tenino, 26-13, in an Evergreen 1A League contest Friday on Oct. 14 at Tenino.

Down 13-6 at the half, the Eagles (1-1, 2-5) erupted for 20 unanswered points in the final two quarters.

Brown’s 64-yard touchdown pass to Ira Hartford and Alejandro Hernandez’s conversion kick at the 7:59 mark of the third quarter tied it at 13.

The Eagles then moved in front to stay on Brown’s 6-yard TD throw to Liam Baxter with 1:49 remaining in the third period.

Elma added an insurance touchdown, on Hartford’s 3-yard run, early in the fourth quarter.

Brown also hooked up with Hartford on a 30-yard scoring pass with the game less than two minutes old. Tenino quarterback Miles Cannon ran for one touchdown and passed for another to give the Beavers the halftime lead.

Calling this performance his team’s finest of the season, Elma coach Ron Clark gave most of the credit to the defense.

“We did things defensively that we haven’t done all year,” Clark said. “I think we had three goal-line stands, we defended an onside kick, just a lot of good things. We hung in there and played pretty close to a flawless second half, didn’t make a lot of mistakes.”

A.J. Brown and Brandon Tyler were each credited with 8 1/2 tackles, with Brown’s output including three stops for losses.

Particularly effective on play-action passes, Avery Brown threw for 127 yards. Hartford rushed for 96 yards and had three receptions for 109 yards.

The Eagles host Forks on Friday, Oct. 21, in a contest critical to their playoff hopes.