Ben Parks is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Desert Ridge High School for AZPreps365.

The Desert Ridge Jaguars varsity football team lost to the Mountain View Toros on Friday night in Mesa 30-22, falling to 1-4 on the season.

This was the first game of regional play in the 6A Fiesta region. The Jaguars opened with a loss to start their five-game regional stretch.

“In our eyes, every region game is the region championship,” Desert Ridge head coach Roy Lopez said.

It was a high-scoring game with penalties flying out throughout the game. Mountain View won the coin toss and elected to defer, leading to an opening drive touchdown for the Jaguars where Major Wootan connected with Creed Hallows for an 8-yard touchdown pass.

After a couple more touchdowns from both teams, the game was tied. Near the end of the first half, Mountain View scored 2 points on a safety, but also missed a field goal. The Jaguars eventually found themselves down 16-14 at halftime.

Unfortunately for Desert Ridge, they would lose the game after an incomplete pass on 4th and 9 on the Toros 20 yard line. Quarterback Wootan finished with 183 passing yards and two touchdowns, along with 36 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown.

Hallows continues to be the top receiving threat for Desert Ridge, with 90 receiving yards and hauling in both touchdowns. Running back Isaiah Palmer had over 100 all-purpose yards between rushing, receiving, and return yards. Palmer also shined in crucial, 3rd and 4th and long moments, where he was not only able to make plays, but extend them for yards after the catch to pick up first downs.

When asked about his ability to create yards after the catch, Palmer said, “You gotta keep your eyes open, someone’s going to be somewhere.”

Desert Ridge scored three touchdowns. Although it missed one extra point, it completed two 2-point conversions with direct snaps to the captain Logan Rogers. In the first half, penalties against the Jaguars on both ends of the field continued to give the Toros big plays. Yet the Jaguars showed resilience. The penalties in the second half took a step back, but they also created room for Mountain View to commit penalties of its own, evening out the advantage in the second half.

Desert Ridge finished with seven penalties against them for 95 yards and Mountain View finished with 11 penalties for 81 yards. Defensive coordinator Sammy Johns said he thought the flags evened out as the game went.

“It’s frustrating getting flags no matter what,” Johns said. “There’s some things you just can’t control, we try to remind them to use your fundamentals and techniques.”

The Desert Ridge defense forced a fumble early in the first, and a turnover on downs in the second half. Johns said the goal for the defense is to reach the 4 turnover mark in a game.

“We’re a play away from making that one big game to turn the corner,” he said. Johns also said he believes the Jaguars learned a lot from this game, and will look to build on it with four regional games left to play. They’ll play their two last home games against Cesar Chavez and Tolleson before finishing the season with three road games.