GILBERT-An FCS commit, a top 20 -eam in the state, a blocked punt, trick plays, and a 100-yard touchdown return to seal the game as time expired. The teams of Red Mountain and Gilbert High Schools took everyone in the crowd on a roller coaster of emotions in the second half as Red Mountain escaped with a thrilling 41-28 victory Friday.

Gilbert's Jack Plummer, a Purdue commitment, entered Friday night with 992 passing yards, 15 touchdowns and zero interceptions. He added to his very impressive senior season by throwing for 332 yards and four touchdowns, but tossed three interceptions against a very stout Red Mountain defense.

Even though Plummer threw his first interceptions on the season, it doesn’t take away from all his accomplishments throughout the season thus far.

“I’ve had the opportunity to have great quarterbacks at every stop that I’ve been, and he is a very special individual, very humble, very smart, we have a great relationship, great trust of one another in regard to play calls, [and] we discuss things," Gilbert head coach Derek Zellner said. “I couldn’t ask for a better kid to lead our program, and he is going to do great things when he moves on out of here.”

Leading up to the game, Mountain Lions head coach Mike Peterson had nothing but high praise for Plummer. Peterson emphasized how well he can read defenses and if you don’t play disciplined defense he will pick a team a part.

After an emotionally draining game involving many ups and downs, Peterson kept it short and sweet when describing Plummer.

“He’s a very talented kid. Very, very talented,” Peterson said.

Peterson and the Red Mountain defense may have given up over 300 yards passing to Plummer, but they did something to Plummer that no other team has done so far, this season. They picked him off not once, not twice, but three times.

Plummers first pick of the season came at the 10:01 mark in the third quarter when senior defensive end Gabe Williams broke free and tipped Plummer's pass at Gilberts 36-yard line and picked it off, returning it for 16 yards to Gilbert's 20.

The very next play Red Mountain rolled the dice and called a halfback pass with senior Lance Lawson throwing to senior quarterback Cannon Griner for 19 yards, which set up a 1-yard touchdown run for Lawson, which was his 32nd touchdown in 35 career games at Red Mountain.

The possible turning point of the game came at 8:34 mark in the third quarter, when senior linebacker Delton Jackson made the play of the year on special teams by blocking a Gilbert punt that was eventually recovered by a swarm of Mountain Lions in the end zone to give RMHS a 21-14 lead for the moment.

“Nasty badgers is what I could say. We’re going at it, we want to tackle, we’re ready to hit, we want to get it done with. Let offense get out there and do their thing, and just get it over with,” Williams said.

“I think we practice more special teams than anyone because I believe it is a third of the game and it can turn games around ,and it finally paid off,” added Peterson.

At the 9:06 mark in the fourth quarter, Kalim Reece-Peeplez released his inner “nasty badger” picking off Plummer, which was Plummer's second pick of the season and Reece-Peeplez's first.

The Reece-Peeplez interception set up possibly gutsiest play call of the year, when Red Mountain reached back into their bag of trick plays to give the team a lead it would not surrender.

With 5:28 left to go in the fourth quarter, Red Mountain would run a similar play it ran earlier in the game. On a crucial third-and-goal at Gilbert's 7-yard line, Lawson would receive a toss to the right side of the field, and once again Griner ran in the opposite direction toward the end zone, where Lawson threw a perfect strike to Griner and gave Red Mountain a 35-28 lead.

With 2:07 left, Plummer started the team's final drive at his own 15-yard line. With only one timeout left, Plummer marched his team all the way down into Red Mountain territory.

With less than 30 seconds left at the Red Mountain 27, Plummer took one last final shot at the end zone on fourth down in hopes to tie the game. Plummer's last chance was picked off by senior Gerald Wilbon in the end zone that was taken back 100 yards for a score and put the final touches on Red Mountain's third consecutive win.

Despite the heart-breaking loss Gilbert, is only looking on the bright side and hopes to use this experience as a building block for the future.

“Well, last year they kicked the turd out of us 47-0,” Zellner said. “So coming back and fighting like we did tonight and hanging with one of the top teams in the state, we proved that we are a good team and that we’ve come a long way since last year’s game. I couldn’t be more proud of our kids.”

After Friday night’s thrilling victory, Red Mountain is officially on a winning streak. The Mountain Lions and Tigers are now both 3-2 on the season.