5 takeaways from Red Mountain's wild 6A football playoff win over Brophy Prep

Mesa Red Mountain dug itself out of a 17-0 first-quarter hole, figured a way to corral running back David Lopez, got its playmakers going, and survived No. 11 Brophy Prep’s upset bid on Friday night.

After a wild final four minutes, in which three touchdowns were scored, No. 6 Red Mountain will get another home 6A playoff game next week in the football quarterfinals with 45-38 win.

Whew!

This game had everything. Big plays on offense and defense from both teams, but Red Mountain wouldn’t let Brophy make a miracle in the end.

Here are five takeaways from the first-round game:

Ja'Kobi Lane's circus catch

Brophy Prep bracketed the 6-foot-5 Ja'Kobi Lane, a USC commit, all game, like most teams have done this year. That frees others to make plays. But when quarterback Carter Crispin, playing on a gimpy knee, needed a touchdown, he knew who to dial up. No. 89.

Lane's incredible, leaping one-handed SportsCenter-like Top Play of the Day catch in the corner of the end zone as a Brophy defender ran into him with 3:20 to play gave Red Mountain (7-4) a 38-31 lead. This came after King Griffin intercepted a Charlie McGinnis pass.

"I've made circus catches before," Lane said. "It's more of getting an opportunity to make those catches. When I see the ball in the air, I'm really good at hand-eye coordination. I worked those drills time and time again. I'm really confident at tracking where I am and get my feet inbounds and throw one hand up in the air. Just be grateful to go up there and get the ball."

Brophy's resiliency

The 38 points were the most Brophy (3-8) scored this season. The Broncos were helped by three Red Mountain turnovers that led to the 17-0 lead in the opening quarter. After the offense bogged down in the second quarter, the defense came trough with two defensive touchdowns. First, Devan Kennedy intercepted a batted pass and returned it 72 yards for a score that gave Brophy the lead 24-21 with 5:18 left in the third quarter.

After Lane's reamarkable TD catch, Red Mountain got the ball back, but Brophy was able to get to Crispin in the end zone. Trey Markham made the sack and forced fumble and David Sweetman recovered for the score to tie the game at 38-38 with 2:29 left.

Red Mountain took the lead back on Crispin's 33-yard touchdown pass to Bode Wagner with 1:34 to play.

Out of timeouts, McGinnis moved Brophy to the Red Mountain 20 after a 15-yard penalty on a high hit by the Lions on the receiver on a fourth-down play. But the Broncos couldn't make one more play. McGinnis ran out of bounds for no gain and had his last two passes come short of his receiver and Red Mountain celebrated with the win.

"We played sloppy," Red Mountain first-year head coach Kyle Enders said. "We didn't get too down. And momentum is huge. We made some big plays and got some stops and that changed the game."

Enter Lenox Lawson

Lenox Lawson was making plays running the ball and catching the ball. He was Red Mountain's momentum buster. Every time it looked like Brophy was going to pull away or bounce back, Lawson answered. After Brophy's long interception TD return, Lawson broke loose for a 50-yard scoring run that gave Red Mountain a 28-24 lead in the third quarter. He had a 12-yard run, before Lane made a 33-yard catch that led to female kicker Shekaina Rigrish's 35-yard field goal to extend Red Mountain's lead to 31-24 in the final two minutes of the third quarter.\

Lawson had runs of 10 and 7 yards, before Crispin found Wagner for the game-winning touchdown.

"All the critics were against us," Lawson said. "I knew we were coming in with the right mindset. Personally, I was going to come out and win. Things didn't go our way, getting down 17-0. We had a lot of turnovers. And I really didn't get the ball yet. Halfway through the second quarter, we finally started clicking."

Crispin's gutsy performance on injured knee

Red Mountain wasn't even sure Crispin could go Friday night. He got banged up in the last game and didn't finish it. But he gutted out four quarters on an injured knee and made the big plays when he had to. Every time he made a turnover or got sacked, he was never rattled. He knew he had playmakers to go to in the end.

"My knee is a little banged up," said Crispin, who became Red Mountain's all-time leading passing for yardage during the game. "Luckily, my ligaments were stable. I was just working through something. I'm just grateful to be out here and play and be with the team. It was one heck of a game.

"That's our game plan, get the ball to our athletes. We can spread the ball to whoever we want. They're going to get yards, make a play."

Two Mesa teams in the quarters

Only two Mesa Unified School District schools made the state playoffs. And both are still standing after Friday. Red Mountain will host Mesa next Friday in a quarterfinal, after the Jackrabbits' upset No. 4 Tempe Corona del Sol.

"We were a six seed and people wrote us off," Enders said. "Brophy's defense is top three, four. We heard it all week. Our kids don't buy into that stuff. Our kids keep fighting."

To suggest human-interest story ideas and other news, reach Obert atrichard.obert@arizonarepublic.com or 602-316-8827. Follow him on Twitter@azc_obert

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: 5 takeaways from Red Mountain's wild comeback win over Brophy Prep