The only freshman to play for Queen Creek coach Joe Germaine in his decade tenure on staff was Porter Reynolds last season. Porter Reynolds began his sophomore season with the biggest play of his career in the fourth quarter on Friday night. It led to the Bulldogs pulling off a 35-28 victory over Perry in the 6A opener for the schools at Perry High.

Reynolds, a 6-foot, 245-pound defensive end, made a play he felt he was honing in on as the game progressed. He stripped Perry running back Kolton Cunningham of the ball as Cunningham was being wrapped up near midfield. It stopped a Perry drive in Queen Creek territory with just more than six minutes to go that could have put the Pumas up two scores.

"I noticed they were carrying it loose a lot of times," Porter Reynolds said. "I got the chance to take one. I had to make a play to help us win."

 Perry led 28-27 at the time. Porter Reynolds rambled some 30 yards with the strip and set Queen Creek up at Perry's 20. Four plays later junior quarterback Devin Brown whistled a dart into the gut of tightly-covered tight end Colby Garvin to put the Bulldogs up 33-28 with 3:53 to go. Brown added a two-point conversion for the game's final points.

"Stripping it, that was a game-changer," Germaine said. "They had the momentum. If they keep going and score, it would have been tough for us. Really proud of the poise we showed when we had to have it at the end."

Perry coach Preston Jones was disappointed his team fell short, but with his youngest team in years playing against a veteran team there was a bright side.

"We have a lot of young kids," Jones said. "We made some mistakes. We're not good enough to make many. I was happy with the way (quarterback) Dane (White) played. He made some mistakes, but it was his first chance to start. Experience should help him."

Perry fought back from a 21-14 hafltime deficit to take the lead in the third period with a pair of TDs two minutes apart. A two-play, 60-yard drive was the first score. White, making his varsity starting debut in the Pumas' first game since 2016 without a Purdy manning the controls, threw 50 yards to Hunter Martinez (game-leading six receptions for 103 yards) and the final 10 yards hitting tight end Lance Barrett. Perry pounced on a Queen Creek fumble (recovery by Trevor Swan) to set up the next TD. White scored the second of his two rushing TDs three plays later and Perry led, 28-21. White's varsity debut saw him complete 21 of 27 passes for 193 yards.

Queen Creek showed its resilience cutting the lead to 28-27 less than a minute later. Running back Payton Barlow bolted 29 yards to paydirt for the score. Barlow scored from 19 yards out the play before, but had it wiped out by a holding penalty. Barlow finished with 100 yards on 13 carries. 

The Bulldogs led 21-14 at half and neither team led by more than a touchdown at any point in the contest. The Bulldogs scored as time expired in the half on Brown's first TD hook-up with Garvin from 5 yards out. Perry opened the scoring marching 69 yards in 14 plays on the game's first possession. Queen Creek came back with two TDs three and a half minutes apart in the second period for a 14-7 edge on a pair of runs - 1 and 6 yards -  by senior linebacker Trey Reynolds. That second TD was setup by a pick by safety Hunter Barth. Trey Reynolds, who has committed to Utah and is older brother to Porter, led the defense as usual in tackles.

Perry goes on the road to face Hamilton (1-0) on Oct 9. Queen Creek plays its home opener next Friday against  Williams Field (1-0).