It was a packed stadium at Perry High School in Gilbert as the Highland Hawks and the Perry Pumas met Friday night. Both teams looked to come out of the non-region contest undefeated.

The fast-paced game, with both teams going no-huddle offense, ultimately favored the Pumas who came out with the 56-6 victory.

The usually solid defense that Hawks have had for the first five weeks of the season struggled to contain the Perry offense. The Pumas were the first to get on the board with still 9:18 left in the first quarter, making the score 7-0.

It was a fast first quarter with both teams trying to take advantage of the clock and going no huddle. They Hawks did get on the board in the first with a field goal from kicker Austin McNamara after a big sack from the Perry defense on third and goal.

The only other points from Highland would come in the second quarter as the Hawks were forced to use McNamara to kick another field goal on 4th and 15 from the 25.

Perry coach Preston Jones said this was the first time Perry had really been put in adverse situations.

“As far as offensively goes they did a good job defending us, and they (Highland) put us in some adverse situations that our kids hadn’t see this year and so that was great for us to get to go through that," Jones said. "My hat is off to Highland. They play hard, and they fight. It’s a hard-nose football team.”

The Hawks defense was lacking in ways that this team hasn’t seen this season, allowing 524 yards during the game, but when pressure did come down on the Pumas, quarterback Brock Purdy did a good job on the read or finding a hole on quarterback keeps.

On the opposite side, starting quarterback Kaleb Herbert saw a lot of pressure in the pocket and took a couple of sacks for big losses, forcing the Hawks to punt the ball away.

Perry (6-0) led 21-6 at the half, and the Hawks needed to come back strong for the second half if it wanted the cut the Puma lead. But it was an all Perry second half in which the Pumas scored 35 points.

While Highland (5-1) would get pretty good field positon on kickoff returns, the Hawks failed to capitalize. This showed in the third quarter as the Hawks started close to midfield at the 40 but was forced to kick the ball away after being pushed back to the 32 by the Pumas' defense.

“Our defense is ridiculous," Perry junior wide receiver D'shayne James said. "Day in and day out they are working harder than any defense I’ve ever seen. So I mean they are big dudes, they work hard in and out the weight room and on and off the field and in the classroom. They are just really great guys that know where the ball is and how to get to it real fast.”

Highland and Perry have a bye week in the schedule after this game. Highland coach Brock Farrel said his team will take this time to heal, rest, take a couple days off and come back with a game plan for their Oct. 13 game against Mountain Pointe.

Perry will come back from the bye week to play Chandler.

“We’ve got Chandler so that’s going to be a great test for us, and we are all excited for that," Purdy said. "We’ve all been looking forward to this since we lost to them last year in semis. It will be a good game, but we are going to work hard in practice and in the weight room and in the film room.”