Mihir Sinhasan is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Sunrise Mountain High School for AZPreps365.com

In a game that featured touchdowns and trickery, the Sunrise Mountain Mustangs fell 48-45 at home in a triple overtime thriller to the Cactus Cobras on Friday night.

“Way too penalties killed us,” Sunrise Mountain head coach Steve Decker said. “[We] can’t have 12 penalties and seven 15-yard penalties and give them the game. That’s what we did.”

After a gritty start, the Cobras struck first with a 1-yard rushing touchdown from sophomore quarterback/defensive back Antonio Casias with 1 minute, 19 seconds left to go in the first quarter.

Cactus would double the lead late in the second quarter. The Cobras took advantage of a Sunrise Mountain interception with a Casias 21-yard passing TD to junior wide receiver Julian Stubblefield to make the lead 14-0 with 3:11 left to go in the second quarter.

The Mustangs regained momentum towards the end of the half. They had a two-minute drive concluding with a 16-yard passing TD from Dugger to junior wide receiver Elijah Mendez. Sunrise Mountain trailed 14-7 at halftime.

While the first three drives of the second half resulted in zero points, the next five drives resulted in touchdowns. Junior quarterback Vanden Dugger found senior wide receiver Jason Keplinger for a 19-yard touchdown with 3:02 left to go in the third quarter to tie the game at 14 apiece.

Cactus responded with a 40-yard TD pass from Casias to junior wide receiver/cornerback Nikko Boncore-Montoya 64 seconds later to retake the lead.

On the next offensive play, Dugger pitched the ball to sophomore wide receiver Logan Russell. Running towards the right, Russell threw the ball downfield to senior wide receiver Doug Hall, who took the ball into the end zone for the 80-yard TD.

“We thought we would probably run that outside zone more to [Russell], but we didn’t,” said Sunrise Mountain offensive coordinator Taylor Mazzone, who is the Mustangs’ play caller. “But the play [downfield] was there, and the guys did a great job executing.”

Cactus responded with Casias finding Montoya in the end zone once again. This time, from Sunrise Mountain’s 26-yard-line. The Cobras took the lead with 9:40 left in the fourth quarter.

The Mustangs once again equalized the game off a Dugger deep throw. Keplinger hauled in the 67-yard touchdown, his second touchdown of the night, with 6:29 left in the fourth.

With no score during the rest of regulation, the game headed to overtime.

Sunrise Mountain started the period with Dugger lobbing the ball to Russell for a 6-yard touchdown. Cactus responded with Casias finding sophomore running back/linebacker Robert Cordova for the 10-yard score.

The teams would once again trade touchdowns. The Cobras struck first with Casias’ second rushing TD from the 10. The Mustangs answered with Russell hauling in a 5-yard catch for his second receiving TD of the night.

After the Mustangs kicked a 19-yard field goal to start third overtime, the Cobras took the ball. On third down, Montoya handed the ball off to Stubblefield. He rolled into the end zone untouched for the 3-yard game-winning TD.

The victory marked Cactus’s first overtime win since 2010.

“We’ll take it any way we get it,” Cactus head coach Brian Belles said. “I’m just proud that even when things weren’t going our way, we stuck to it. And we found a way in the end.”

Sunrise Mountain (3-5) and Cactus (5-3) will play their final home games of the season Friday against fellow playoff contenders. The Mustangs will host the Millennium Tigers while the Cobras will host Desert Edge.