Three touchdowns in the first 18 minutes. All on quick,  80-yard drives. Seemed like Desert Ridge would have no problem dispatching Red Mountain in their Division I quarterfinal game Thursday night at Jaguar Stadium.

Desert Ridge did win, but by the skin of its teeth as the fourth-seeded Jaguars staved off a fourth-quarter rally by No. 5 seed Red Mountain and posted a 28-22 win.

The victory advances Desert Ridge (10-2) to another rematch next week -- in the semifinals against defending champ and top-seed Hamilton. Hamilton dealt Desert Ridge its only other loss this season season back on Sept. 23. Hamilton eliminated No. 9 Chandler in its quarterfinal contest Thursday, 28-0. That matchup is set for Nov. 18 at 7 p.m. at Chandler High School.

Had a double pass that finished with Red Mountain tight end Billy Freeman throwing across the field to a wide open Cougar Garcia been a yard or two shorter, the Mountain Lions might have had a game-winning score or at least been in position to keep a drive alive in the final minute. The incompletion halted a comeback from a 28-7 deficit early in the fourht quarter.

"Our kids have a lot of fight in them," Red Mountain coach Ron Wisniewski said. "They never think they're out of it. I thought we might get it on the double pass at the end, but it didn't work out."

Desert Ridge's multi-talented threat talent Jordan Becerra rushed for 180 yards and scored all four of the Jaguars touchdowns. One came on a 40-yard TD reception to open the scoring a minute into the contest and the other three on runs of 3, 30 and 5 yards. Becerra caguht three passes totaling 76 yards. When Becerra crossed the goal line with 5:13 to play in the third for his fourth TD, Desert Ridge had a 28-7 advantage. Red Mountain did not fold. In fact before the final buzzer sounded, it nearly scared the life out of the Jaguars.

The game's first turnover -- a fumble by Desert Ridge monster back Joey Counts (103 yards rushing on 20 carries) - gave Red Mountain the ball at the Jaguars 14 with 11:47 left in the game. A 1-yard TD run by the Lions Kory Ho and a two-point conversion cut the deficit to 28-15 with 10:14 to go.

Red Mountain (9-3) continued to come back forcing a punt and taking over at its 42 with 7:38 to play. A pass interference penalty (one of 12 penaltiess for 106 yards on Desert Ridge in the game) on fourth down kept a drive alive. A despeartion fourth-down play with 4:06 left made the finish very tense.

Red Mountain quarterback Mason Thorman's desperate pass to wide out Aeron Carr was a great catch-and-run. Carr came back to help his quarterback and make a nifty grab. Carr then added a sensational move to elude tackers and turned a first-down reception into a TD that pulled the Lions within 28-22.

"Their coaching staff does a great job making adjustments," Desert Ridge coach Jeremy Hathcock said. "A turnover, penalties  and some clutch plays and they were right back in it. Our defense did a great job. They moved the ball pretty well between the 20s. We stopped them a couple times without points when they were in position to score. I give our defense a lot of credit."

Red Mountain outgained Desert Ridge, 447-301. Desert Ridge did score on every good chance it go.

"They came out strong early and got the big lead," Wisnniewski said. "We had our opportunties on some other drives that we didn't finish."