No. 17 Desert View beat No. 11 Mountain View 3-0 on Saturday on a 24-yard field goal from backup kicker Jaelyn Saenz with 7:12 left in the game. The kick came after senior Nohemy Espinoza came up with an interception to stop another Mountain View drive.

Besides the kicking situation for the Jaguars, both squads went with third and fourth options at the quarterback position due to injuries. Desert View has only one more game left in the regular season, a trip to 4A No. 34 Goldwater on Nov. 7, and Mountain View still has four more games left, starting with a visit to 5A No. 6 Buena (9-2) on Tuesday, Oct. 29.

Desert View (4-6) is an independent program in the 5A Conference but still playoff eligible and it will all depend on the rankings the rest of the way and how the team does at Goldwater (1-8). The Jaguars are on the edge with only the top 16 teams advancing but the victory at Mountain View helps.

Mountain View (4-5) had plenty of chances on Saturday, especially with Keora Graham ripping off a 28-yard run to the Desert View 10 with about 9:30 left in the first quarter but the Mountain Lions were forced to give the ball back on downs, losing 13 yards on the drive. Mikayla Gleeson came up with an interception to get the ball back three plays later but the Desert View defense forced another turnover on downs to end that threat.

Both teams struggled to move the ball from there and the half ended with a 0-0 tie. Lilyanna Rios gave the Mountain Lions some life with a 38-yard kick return to start the second half but the Jaguar defense forced a punt on another drive. Gleeson came up with her second interception one play later to put the team at the 22 but freshman AJ Bernal ended another deep Mountain View drive with an interception three plays later.

Nohemy Espinoza ended another Mountain View drive with an interception with 11:05 left and it led to the field goal from Saenz. Mountain View was forced to punt on the next drive but the team got the ball back with 2:42 left only to have Saenz come up with an interception with 1:51 left. The Mountain Lions had one more shot with 44.4 seconds left but Espinoza collected her second interception with 9.3 seconds left to preserve the 3-0 win.

The first round of the 4A, 5A and 6A playoffs are set for Wednesday, Nov. 13 at the home of the higher seed.

BIG PLAYS