PEARLAND — Pearland is in a more competitive district this year and the Oilers don't need to offer help to their new district opponents.

Such was the case when the Oilers traveled to face an undefeated Alief Taylor squad that was looking to upset Pearland in their initial contest.

It appeared that Pearland would take control of the game early. Neither team scored in the opening 12 minutes, but the Oilers came out in the second period with two Evan Burgess touchdowns, both covering 3-yards each.

The first one was with 10:40 left in the second quarter and the second came at the 3:54 mark of the first half.

But the Lions weren't going away as QB Dontay Warren found Brennan Eagles open on a short pass. A Pearland defensive back missed trying to get the interception and Eagles scooted in to the end zone to complete the 23-yard pass completion to cut the halftime lead to 14-7.

Pearland had an opportunity to score before intermission, but a Taylor interception put that threat out.

Taylor scored twice in the third quarter on a 3-yard run by Jesse Walker with 2:30 left in the period and then defensive tackle Kobie Whiteside came up with a 21-yard interception for a score with 16 seconds left in the third for a 19-14 advantage.

That would be all the scoring as the Taylor defense held the Oilers to no points in the second half, though they had an opportunity to pull out the game late in the final frame.

The Oilers got the ball inside the Lions 5-yard line, but failed to score after five attempts.

One of the glaring issues was the personal fouls that Pearland suffered in the second half that gave Taylor all the momentum they needed to pull out the upset.

Pearland committed four personal fouls in the second half, mostly unsportsmanlike penalties that aided Taylor's victory. The Oilers suffered 11 penalties for 135 yards.

"Right now, we're a mature enough team to play one half," Pearland head coach Tony Heath said. "We were a very immature team in the second half. When you make the personal fouls that we did, and everything else, I don't know if we deserved to win.

"That's not good football. It's immaturity on our part."

Whitehead was 14-of-19 for 162 yards passing and 28 yards on the ground on 13 carries.

Burgess had 15 yards on 10 carries while Jaelin Benefield had 12 totes for 59 yards.

Daniel Petty had three catches for 63 yards while Gibson had six grabs for 46 yards and 10 carries rushing for 30 yards. Benefield added four receptions for 18 yards.

Overall, Pearland had 294 total yards compared to 165 total yards for Taylor.

Pearland (4-2, 1-1) will look to rebound for Homecoming this Friday, October 7 at 7:00 p.m. against the Alief Hastings Bears (1-5, 1-1) at The Rig.