It was Rashie Hodge's night on Friday to carry a heavy load for top-ranked and unbeaten Mountain Pointe and the senior linebacker-running back was up to the challenge.

Hodge carried 23 times for 203 yards (unofficially) and scored all four of the Pride's touchdowns in a 27-13 triumph over Desert Ridge in the 6A matchup of the week in the Valley.

Mountain Pointe (8-0 overall, 3-0 region) essentially wrapped up the Central Region title with the victory. It prevailled thanks to a dominating first period that saw the Pride outscore Desert Ridge 20-0 the first 12 minutes. Three of Hodge's four TDs were tallied in the opening period. Mountain Pointe ran the ball exclusiively in the opening quarter and rushed for 152 yards on scoring drives of 56, 70 and 32 yards.

Mountain Pointe coach Norris Vaughan decided to distribute more carries to Hodge in the wake of losing leading rusher Gary Bragg a couple weeks ago. Until Friday night it was backfield by committee among Anthony Stephens, Hodge, Antwaun Woodberry and Delano Salgado. Hodge doubled the carries of the any of the others and posted a consistent effort across all four quarters.

The outcome figured to hinge on the better rushing attack and Mountain Pointe demonstrated its superiority most of the night and particulalrly the first half. The Pride outrushed Desert Ridge 205-42 in the first half. They also converted the only turnover of the opening half -- a Kenny Churchwell interception -- into a touchdown. The pick halted Desert Ridge's march into Mountain Pointe territory and instead turned a 7-0 lead to a 13-0 advantage midway through the quarter.

Hodge's TD's were in the first period were on runs of 24-, 3-and 11 yards -- the latter with 2:07 left in the period. Meanwhile Desert Ridge's 1,000-yard rusher Tyrese Allen was bottled up to the tune of 23 yards on eight rushes the first half. Allen churned for bigger chunks iof yards in the second half. He finished with 87 yards in 23 attempts.

Desert Ridge trailed 20-3 at the half and pulled within 20-6 after Antonio Decozio's second field goal (39 yards and 26 yards). But Mountain Pointe spoiled any chance of a comeback marching 68 yards to open the final period, capped by Hodge's 4-yeard TD run. with 8:46 to play.

Desert Ridge scored its lone TD on a 14-yard pass from CJ Fowler to Jalen Harris with 34 seconds left  Before that drive Desert Ridge was 3-of-21 passing for 3 yards. Fowler, who played most of the second half at quarterback in relief of freshman Matt Purnell, completed  6-of-6 passes for 80 yards on the scoring drive.