With the regular season winding down, Mountain View beat John Paull II 29-7 on senior night on Tuesday and now the Mountain Lions will wait to see where the team falls in the final rankings heading into the state playoffs that start on Tuesday, October 24.

Mountain View (8-2) came in ranked No. 9 in the 5A Conference and the Lions (1-9) were ranked No. 27. Mountain View suffered a 22-0 loss to 6A Marana and a 20-0 loss at 5A Southern Region rival Casa Grande in the regular season and, if the season ended now, Mountain View would travel to Play No. 8 Casa Grande (8-3) in the first round of the state playoffs but several 5A and 6A teams are still scheduled to play on Wednesday and Thursday and the rankings could shift.

“I went into the season thinking that we would do well after our first practice and saw how athletic the girls were,” Mountain View head coach Jane Nova said on a playoff run in the first year of the program. “We have to find out who we end up playing and then get one at a time.”

(John Paul II standout Nevaeh Arner. Andy Morales/AZPreps365)

 

The game started with an interception from Mikayla Gleason to stop the Lions on their first drive but Mountain View was stopped on the next possession after Nevaeh Arner came up with her interception with 7:04 left in the first quarter. The Mountain View defense held and forced a punt and the Lillian Gradillas put Mountain View up 6-0 on a 30-yard run up the side and Alyssa Valencia hit Holly McLemore on the two-point conversion to make it 8-0 with 5:23 left in the quarter.

Both teams punted and Gradillas collected an interception with 47.8 seconds left and then Valencia threw to McLemore from 11 yards out to make it 14-0 and Laeyah Lujan kicked the extra point to make it 15-0 with 11:48 left in the half.

Maggie Garverick picked up an interception for the Lions with 4:53 left in the half but McLemore returned the favor with 3:32 left. The Mountain Lions punted but then McLemore returned her second interception back for a touchdown to make it 22-0 with a kick from Lujan with 1:25 left in the half.

Alyssa Valencia scored on the opening kick of the second half on a 70-yard reverse and Lujan made it 29-0 Mountain View. Valencia came up with an interception with 3:19 left but John Paul II scored after a forced turnover on downs with Diana Valencia Rodriguez hitting Garverick for 28 yards and later for 29 yards to set up a touchdown pass to Arner and a kick from Garverick to cut the lead down to 29-7 with 4:27 left.

Mountain View ran out the clock with Valencia hitting Lilyanna Rios for 22 yards on a fourth-and-13 to keep the clock running.

The Lions threw for 92 yards with three quarterbacks taking snaps including Arner, Shariffa Piamonte and Rodriguez with Rodriguez finishing with 60 yards. Garverick ended the game with 66 yards receiving on four catches under head coach Mario Jimerson.

Mountain View went with two QBs with Gradillas throwing for 44 yards and Valencia for 48. Dyani Stoddard had 25 yards receiving, Hope Valles had 24 and Rios had 22. McLemore had her 11-yard TD catch to go with her two interceptions and return for a score. Lujan made all three extra point attempts which is remarkable considering she only recently learned the skill.

“We got a really good kicker so we decided to give her some shots tonight,” Nova added. “We will see what happens next.”