Down 21-17 with 7:59 left, Cody Cropp engineered the high school version of "The Drive" Friday night. The senior quarterback guided Pusch Ridge 79 yards in 14 plays to defeat Flowing Wells 24-21 to all but claim the Division III/Section VI championship.

John Elway engineered the original version of "The Drive" almost 30 years ago but his drive included a balanced passing and rushing attack while Cropp found success by keeping the ball on the ground.

Matthew McLeod gained seven of his game-high 125 yards rushing on the first play of the drive. And then he gained five more. James Raica took the ball and he gained 10 yards. Run. Run. Run. The Lions could not be stopped.

Cropp capped off the drive by taking the ball himself from 1-yard out on a 3rd-and-goal with 1:33 left in the game. Pusch Ridge (6-1, 4-0 in section) had only two third downs on the drive while the Caballeros (7-1, 3-1) did all they could with an injured Dionte Flores guiding an already depleted defense.

Flores came into the game with 1,516 yards rushing and 23 touchdowns but he was limited to 47 yards. Flores plays almost every down on offense and defense but the constant banging took a toll and he had to leave the game for several plays at a time. His brother Elijah was also injured early in the game.

Still, the Caballeros led most of the game after taking a 7-3 lead with 5:44 left in the first half. Julio Sandoval hit Tyler Stiltner on an 8-yard strike on that score and that's how the half ended.

"I wanted to be the guy who stepped up and helped," Stiltner said. "We wanted to beat a great team tonight but we came up short. Give them all the credit in the world. I hope we see them in the playoffs. It will be fun."

Stiltner finished with 53 yards receiving and 35 yards rushing while Dylan Valenzuela added 71 more on the ground. While Stiltner and Valenzuela helped pace Flowing Wells in the first half, it was the defensive play of Devin Marcus that set the tone.

Marcus recorded two sacks and three tackles for losses to help keep the Lions out of the end zone in the first half.

Sandoval extended the lead to 14-3 after he hit Bailey Caron on a 44-yard pass with 9:09 left in the third quarter. It looked like Flowing Wells was going to take control of the game but Cropp responded with a 71-yard throw of his own.

Ben Walker caught Cropp's pass some ten yards down the field but he broke through a couple of tackles and was off to the races. Walker finished the game with 119 yards receiving.

But Stiltner came alive on the next drive and he followed up on a 45-yard reception with a 5-yard run to give Flowing Wells a 21-10 lead with 6:02 left in the third.

McLeod came right back and ripped off a 58-yard scoring run to cut the lead down to 21-17 with 4:40 left in the third quarter.

Flowing Wells gave the ball back on downs on the next drive after getting down to the 13-yard line. Pusch Ridge was forced to punt but Flowing Wells gave the ball back on downs again after stalling at the 21.

Then came "The Drive."

"We are all brothers," Cropp explained. "No one is better than anyone else. All thanks to God. We played a tough team tonight."

Pusch Ridge was discouraged after opening up with a loss to Division V power Benson but that loss turned out to be acceptable considering the level Benson (7-0) has played.

Pusch Ridge has three games remaining on their schedule with only two of those being section games. The Lions would have to lose both and have Flowing Wells or Sahuarita (3-4, 3-1) win out to give up the section championship.

You can pencil Pusch Ridge into the playoffs because those scenarios are unlikely.