To knock the king off the hill, it takes a super-human effort. And sometimes that’s not even enough.

Mesa Westwood threw all it had and then some at top-ranked Chandler Hamilton on Friday night and still came up short in a 5A-I state quarterfinal game.

Justin Peters’ 50-yard touchdown pass to Gerell Robinson with 1:10 remaining proved to be the difference as the host Huskies survived another playoff scare, 21-14.

Peters and Robinson alternated quarters at quarterback, with Peters getting the call in the final frame. He finished just 5-for-14, but converted a pair of third-down passes on the game-winning drive.

“We’ll have to take the pacemaker with that one,” Hamilton coach Steve Belles said after his two-time defending state champs exhaled a collective sigh of relief.

The Huskies will meet Phoenix Brophy in a semifinal game in two weeks.

Hamilton (12-0) never trailed against the ninth-seeded Warriors (7-5), but it also never threatened offensively until the game’s final two minutes.

The Huskies scored on a 33-yard interception return by Ryan Milus in the first quarter and a 57-yard punt return from Terrell Drew in the third quarter. Other than the winning play, Hamilton had only 145 yards of offense.

“Collectively we just couldn’t throw the ball,” Belles said. “Neither of our quarterbacks could do anything, which is uncharacteristic of us. But they combined to make the biggest play.”

Facing a third-and-17 at midfield, Peters hit Robinson on a crossing route at the Westwood 30-yard line. From there, Robinson went untouched to score.

“For 47 minutes we were the better team,” Westwood coach Eddy Zubey said. “But for that one minute, we let them get a big play.”

Westwood had its chance to take the lead before halftime. The Warriors had a first-and-goal at the 5, but two penalties and a missed 32-yard field goal left the score tied 7-7 at half.

After Hamilton took a 7-0 lead, the Warriors tied it up in the second quarter with an 11-play, 80-yard drive that was capped by a 1-yard run from Ben Ochoa (112 yards) on fourth down.

Drew’s punt return put Hamilton back on top, but Westwood responded on fourth down again with a Brandon Large 8-yard TD pass with 9:43 left in the game.

The Warriors got the ball once more, but they had to punt from their 36. Hamilton then scored the game-winning touchdown on the next possession.

“In the playoffs, records do not matter,” Belles said. “We take everyone’s shots. We need to come out with more fire and we will.”