Desert Ridge picked itself up off the deck in the second half on Friday night and turned what could have been a second straight loss into a momentum- building victory.

Big wide out Jalen Harris hauled in a 26-yard touchdown pass from CJ Fowler with 1:03 to play to give visiting Desert Ridge a come-from-behind 24-20 win over Red Mountain in a Division I battle of top-eight teams. Harris' score gave Desert Ridge its only lead of the game.

Desert Ridge, No. 6 in this week's power-rankigns, won despite four turnovers (three interceptions) and looked to be a beaten team as the teams exited to the lockerroom at halftime. The second half proved otherwise. Desert Ridge improved to 6-2 on the year with the bounce-back win from last week's 25-17 loss to Mountain Pointe. Red Mountain, No. 8 in the power rankings, had its two-game winning streak broken and dropped to 3-5.

"To win a game like this shows our kids character and ability to overcome adversity," Desert Ridge coach Jeremy Hathcock said. "We made a couple changes at halftime, but put it on the kids backs to get it done."

Getting it done after Desert Ridge went to halftime down 20-3 and at one time 20-0 were senior Tavian Patrick and Harris. Patrick was the offensive catalyst scoring on a pair of fly sweeps around left end in the second half -- a 22-yarder early in the third and 5-yarder on the first play of the fourth. Patrick gave the Jaguars their only running threat of the night as they were limited to 18 yards on the ground in the first half.

Patrick set up the winning TD drive on special teams. His 39-yard punt return from Desert Ridge's 29 to the Red Mountain's 33 with 2:01 left in the game was crucial as the Jaguars had used up all their timeouts. Patrick caught one pass for a first down at the 21 and four plays later Fowler, who was intercepted twice in ther game, lofted an attempt for the second successive play to the 6-foot-3, 200-pound Harris down the left sideline. Harris used his size to get open and nabbed the game winner igniting a celebration on the visitor's sideline.

Patrick finished with 88 yards rushing on seven carries and Harris added seven catches for 67 yards. Desert Ridge's defense  limited Red Mountain to one scoring chance in the second half -- a 38 yard field goal that was short and wide left midway through the third period.

Red Mountain's first half was a solid one. The defense totally shut down Desert Ridge, came up with two picks with the first one by Isaiah Tucker setting up the Mountain Lions first score. That was courtesy of Dominic Pereira, who took a shovel pass from wildcat quarterback Lance Lawson 4 yards to paydirt midway through the quarter.

Lawson's first half was much like Patrick's second half for Desert Ridge. Lawson accounted for 113 yards of offense in the first half. He scored on an 8-yard pass from quarterback Kyle Buckles with a nifty, left-handed grab in the corner of the end zone early in the second period that made it 14-0. Red Mountain pushed the margin to 20-0 in with 3:16 left in the half on a 1-yard run by Dezmond Ethridge. Ethridge's plunge capped an eight-play, 82-yard drive.

It was a disheartening loss for Red Mountain, who with a win could have been sitting prettty with rival Mountain View up next and possibly a section-title showdown with Mountain Pointe in its regular-season final. Red Mountain had Hathcock's admiration, especially after the narrow triumphant escape. 

"Their record doesn't show how good they are," Hathcock said.

By winning Desert Ridge kept pace with Hamilton (9-0), Mountain Pointe (8-0), Chandler (7-1), Centennial (6-2)  and Chaparral (6-2) as the top six teams in the power-rankings.