Desert Vista got its defense to pick up the offense in the first half and its offense to pick up the defense in the second half.

That tag-team effort propelled Desert Vista to a 31-14 victory over host Mesquite in a Division I football matchup Friday night that pretty much guaranteed the Thunder a postseason berth and makes it extremely difficult for the Wildcats to extend their season beyond October.

"Our defense kept us in it," Desert Vista coach Dan Hinds said after watching his team improve to 7-1 and rebound from last week's loss to Hamilton. "We had a couple nice drives in the the last quarter when we needed them."

Desert Vista, which never trailed in the game, built a 17-7 hafltime lead thanks to defense. That unit foced three turnovers in the first 24 minutes, leading to all 17 points. Ten of those points came in the final minute of the first half.

A fumble recovery at the Mesquite 38 five minutes in led to a quick touchdown march capped by Mike Arredondo's 10 yard run with 4:54 left in the opening period. Mesquite's big-play weapon -- running back Anthony Lopez -- ripped off an 86-yard run up the middle in the final minute and change of the period to tie the game at 7.

Mesquite (3-5) pretty much dominated play from the line of scrimmage in the first half. The Wildcats outgained Desert Vista, 156-63. But a second fumble late in the second period -- recovered by the Thunder's Cody Peterson -- set Desert Vista up at the Mesquite 23. A 37-yard field goal by Scotty Goldfein made it 10-7 with 54 seconds left in the half.

Then on Mesquite's second play from scrimmage after the ensuing kickoff, defensive back Nick Farina intercepted Mesquite quarterback Steven Bevan and raced 40 yards to paydirt with 30 seconds left in the half. Mesquite's statistical edge was wiped out and momentum was clearly in Desert Vista's corner.

"You take five plays away and there's a 20-point difference in this game," Mesquite coach Matt Gracey said. "We were playing hard on both sides of the ball. The turnovers hurt no doubt. We didn't give up because of them."

Mesquite showed the miscues had little effect by marching 59 yards in 15 plays for a score that sliced the lead to 17-14 with 2:06 left in the third quarter on a 1-yard run by Penili Pulotu. Mesquite consumed more than seven minutes of clock to get back in the game.

But the Wildcats, who have more than half their starters playing both ways, couldn't stop Desert Vista in the final period. Marches of 73 and 54 yards for touchdowns left Mesquite down 17 with 3:06 to play and no timeouts. Desert Vista quarterback Hunter Rodriguez wrapped up the 73-yard drive with a bootleg run of 18 yards. Dominic Kereluk finished off the 54-yard march with a 1-yard run.

The Wildcats fourth turnover of the game ended their final shot at a comeback inside the Desert Vista 20 with 1:36 to go.