Adrian Carbajal is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Red Mountain for AZPreps365.com 

A fumble by star receiver Ja’kobi Lane on the first play from scrimmage and another by quarterback Carter Crispin on the first drive of the game dug Red Mountain into an early hole, but an outstanding final three quarters of play by Crispin and Carson Mauterer led the Lions to a 35-25 home win against the Jaguars.

Lane recovered from his rocky start by recording two critical touchdowns in the second quarter, which jump-started the Mountain Lions’ offense after a sluggish beginning to the game. 

The  Lions’  two fumbles weren’t the only miscues made in the first quarter. A shanked punt and multiple sacks by the Desert Ridge defense held the Lions scoreless throughout the first.

“It was a very sloppy game,” Coach Kyle Enders said. “We have to clean up a lot of things if we want to continue winning with the teams we have coming up on our schedule, but regardless, I'm proud of our guys for playing with a lot of effort despite our start.” 

One of those high-effort players was Crispin, who despite struggling last week, threw four passing touchdowns on 13 of 17 attempts, and also added a 19-yard touchdown on the ground late in the third quarter. 

Crispin’s other two passing touchdowns were caught by wide receivers Brandon Allen and Gunner Moore for 53 yards and three yards, respectively. 

Crispin’s backfield partner, Mauterer, was a jack of all trades, filling in for the injured Lenox Lawson at running back and giving the Lions whatever they needed on both sides of the field. 

Whether it was running back, punter or quarterback for a play, Mauterer made the winning plays when it mattered most. 

“I knew that we were down a bunch of players and that it was going to be the next man up, so I was ready to put the work in to help my team fill the gaps,” Mauterer said. “I’m just lucky to have a teammate like Lenox, who was in my ear all week teaching me little things that ended up helping me in the game.” 

For Lawson,  there was never a doubt in his mind that his teammates were going to get the job done. In fact that’s what he kept stressing all week. 

“I told them to just run strong and not show the defense that you’re scared,” Lawson said. “I know that we have the guys capable of making plays and they went out there and kept the momentum going throughout the game and that helped us win.” 

Despite Red Mountain’s surging second-quarter offense, Desert Ridge managed to make things close, fighting back from what was at one point a 21-3 deficit late in the first half. 

Quarterback Major Wooten found wide receiver Demarcus Sanchez open in the end zone for their first of two touchdown connections of the game as time expired to cut the lead to 21-10 at the half.

“He’s athletic and he’s obviously worked extremely hard,” Jaguars Coach Roy Lopez said about Sanchez.  “But as a team we missed on key opportunities to score which we should’ve converted and that hurt us.” 

Sanchez finished the game with four receptions for 89 yards to go along with 47 kickoff return yards to keep the Jaguars in it late. 

However, a touchdown pass from Crispin to Moore with 4:59 left in the game upped the score to 35-18 and left the Jaguars with little time to come back. 

With 1:48 left in the game, the Jaguars scored on a 14-yard pass from Wooten to tight end Jacob Condie and made the score 35-25. 

But the onside kick was recovered by the Lions and they ran out the clock. 

Red Mountain (2-1, 0-0 6A East Valley) will travel to Tucson on Friday to face the Mountain View Mountain Lions at 7 p.m. 

Mountain View (0-2, 0-0 5A Southern) is currently coming off of a bye week but lost its last matchup at Higley on Sept. 9, 49-7. 

Desert Ridge (0-3, 0-0 6A Central) will look to get in the win column Thursday at 7 p.m. traveling to Gilbert to face Williams Field (2-1, 0-0 6A East Valley).