Skyline football has never had it so good. A generous schedule the first half of the season to be sure, yet overall solid play on both sides of the ball contributing to what has evolved into a five-game winning streak dating back to last season.

Skyline outscored Gilbert 21-0 in the second half Friday night to improve to 4-0 in turning back the Tigers, 28-7, in a Division I game at Gilbert High. 

Skyline received a boost on offense Friday with the return of last year's top rusher, senior Francisco Avitia, who missed the first three games. Avitia carried 20 times for 114 yards and tallied two second-half touchdowns -- 1- and 5-yard runs. Those snapped a 7-7 deadlock and broke the back of Gilbert (0-4), which was trying to notch its first win for new head coach Tim Rutt. Avitia took the work load off smaller and lighterrunning mate Logan Ruppert, who had taken a pounding the first three weeks with 474 yards on 47 carries. Ruppert had a decent game without leading in carries.Ruppert put the game out of reach taking a swing pass from Amado 50 yards for the game's final points with 2:57 left. Ruppert finished with 62 yards receiving and 24 rushing.

"The schedule has gotten a little tougher each week," Skyline coach Angelo Paffumi, a former assistant at Gilbert for a decade from 1999-2008, said. "St. Mary's was very young. Then Cibola threw the heck out of the ball and Corona was tough against the run and did some good things against us. Tonight Gilbert came out in an offense we hadn't practiced for. They shocked us. Itook us some time to adjust to it.....

"We know things are going to get tougher the second half of the season. We have Maryvale next week, but we're going to be practicing for Mountain View the next two weeks."

Skyline expected Gilbert to operate out of the spread as it had done most of the time in its previous games. Instead Skyline got a heavy dose of double-tight, I-formation from the Tigers. After Skyline's promising first drive of the game fizzled inside the Gilbert 10, the Tigers took over and began chewing up yardage primarily from the churning legs of tailback Dylon Gillette. Gillette, a 5-foot-8, 165-pound junior, carried 21 times for 140 yards.

Gilbert penetrated Skyline territory on its first three possessions, but didn't score until the third one early in the second period. A 64-yard scoring march that was all Gillette except for the scoring play - a 2-yard touchdown pass from Tyler Stevenson to fullback Hunter Lane with 7:12 left in the first half. Austin Carver's extra point made it 7-0. That was the second time Gilbert led in a game this season and again that lead lasted less than a minute -- 19 seconds to be exact.

A good kickoff return by Ruppert set Skyline up at its 46. On the next play, Skyline quarterback Michael Amado zipped a backward pass to wide out Truman Tucker. Tucker wasted no time in heaving a forward pass to wide open wide out Cory Anderson for a 54-yard TD. Game tied at 7. That's how it remained at halftime.

Skyline, which game-planned to work out of double-tight formations, shifted its plan as the game wore on to more spread that still was run heavy. Led by Avitia and Ruppert, drives of 57 and 35 yards finished with touchdowns late in the third period and early in the fourth, respectively. Gilbert advanced into Skyline territory three times in the second half (twice just past midfield and at the Skyline 34 when the game ended). Gilbert didn't help itself, amassing 125 yards in penalties, 90 yards in flags in the second half.