Floyd Gordon is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Queen Creek for AZPreps365.com

The underdog prevailed as Queen Creek handed Red Mountain its first loss of the season in a nail-biter 28-23 Friday in a 6A East Valley Region match up.

The Bulldogs were down the entire game but found a way to fight back and secure the victory with a Tait Reynolds touchdown run in the final minute to shake up the 6A playoff picture with just two weeks remaining.

Both teams now advance to 7-1 after tonight's match and the Bulldogs at 2-0 controling its own destiny for the region title.

In the first quarter, the Mountain Lions came out swinging forcing a three-and-out on defense and scoring off of a quarterback sneak from Simon Lopez for a 2-yard touchdown.

Following that drive, the forced fumble on defense by Red Mountain puts it in great field position offensively. Lopez threw a 39-yard touchdown pass to Karendus Poe and the Mountain Lions went up 14-0. 

In the second quarter, Red Mountain’s defense was able to force an interception picked off by Logan Haynie at midfield.

The mistakes meant nothing to the Bulldogs as they were able to force a three-and-out.

Later in the quarter, the Bulldogs’ offense was able to make its way into the red zone and Reynolds, the quarterback, scrambled for a 9-yard touchdown run. The Bulldogs went into halftime down 14-7.

For an average team, having some setbacks and being down a touchdown can be demoralizing. But the Bulldogs bend, they don’t break.

Head coach Travis Schureman’s message to the team during halftime was that this game is far from over. Mistakes are a part of the game, but this is a program that doesn’t let their mistakes define the outcome of the game.

“I told them to keep playing, there is a lot of football left," he said. "We felt like we were playing good at one point. We kind of shot ourselves in the foot in the first half with them and we turned the ball over a few time. We just had to play the way we were capable of playing.”

Schureman was able to speak the comeback into existence coming out of the half. After giving up a 44-yard field goal at the beginning of the third quarter for the Mountain Lons to go up 17-7, Reynolds threw a 42-yard touchdown to wide receiver Crew Leavitt to close within, 17-14.

Going into the fourth quarter, the Bulldogs’ defense was able to force the Mountain Lions into a punt situation. Reynolds scrambled for his second touchdown, a 72-yard run giving the Bulldogs their first lead of the game 21-17. 

The Mountain Lions are able to drive the ball down the field and take the lead with a 2-yard touchdown run from running back Kai Jackson. Leavitt blocks the PAT and the score is 23-21.

The Bulldogs get the ball back with 3:28 left on the clock and put together a textbook hurry-up offense with only one timeout to lead them into the red zone.

The entire team was able to keep its composure during this critical moment of the game, especially Reynolds. It was almost as if they knew the game had been won. Under a minute left, Reynolds scrambles for his third touchdown run to take the lead 28-23 with 33 seconds left on the clock.

“I just wanted to get in field goal range, just take what they give me. I always stay calm and trust in my team and our preparation. Pressure is created in our heads, just have fun and play the game,” said Reynolds. 

The Mountain Lions got the ball back and become very resourceful with the trickery with under 20 seconds left in the game. They run the famous hook a ladder to almost go the distance of the field and end up in the redzone.\

Leavitt believes that it was the resilience of the Bulldogs that helped the defense force an incompletion that ended the game.

“They are a great team and we knew that coming in, so practice was different. We were a different type of locked-in. We’ve had a lot of games where we go down, but we know we can come back. We have that belief and that faith that we’re the best team in the state. We don’t shake, we just keep playing,” said Leavitt.

The tenacity of the Bulldogs helped them silence the people who doubted them. Delivering Red Mountain’s first loss only reinforced what the Bulldogs have shown the people all year long. A humble, hardworking, and determined football team.