Mesa Desert Ridge played down to its competition through almost three quarters of football before putting away visiting Yuma, 39-13, Friday night.

 SLIDESHOW: Friday night high school football

“I hate these kind of games,” coach Jeremy Hatchcock admitted. “We tried to come out in a power-I and all of a sudden we didn’t have any clock left. We had to stretch the game with the spread.”

Chris Heldore put the Jaguars (1-1) back on track with an 83-yard touchdown run after appearing to be stopped for a short gain back at his 30. He spun away from two tacklers and raced down the field for a 12-7 lead.

Heldore had a 30-yard run to set up Desert Ridge’s score on its opening possession. Junior quarterback Kevin Pantastico connected with Wes Duaz from 20 yards to cap that drive.

A 20-yard holding play killed what could have been a big gainer on the Jaguars’ next possession and penalties and sacks tripped up Desert Ridge throughout the half.

Yuma (2-1) took the lead when Dante Jackson connected with J.C. Baker on a TD pass at 5:21 in the second quarter.

But Heldore’s big run opened the gates. Chris Jamison scored on a 27-yard run with 26 seconds left in the third quarter. Sam Papa recovered the ensuing onside kick and Pantastico took advantage with a 20- yard TD pass to Heldore.

Pantastico connected with Jamison for his third touchdown pass at 7:46 to stretch the Desert Ridge lead to 33-6.

“It’s getting easier,” said the junior quarterback, who only saw mop-up action last season. “I wasn’t too worried at half time.”

Dustin Childs returned an interception 12 yards for Desert Ridge’s final score.

Oscar Marin scored on a halfback option with 39 seconds left for the 39-13 final.

The Jaguars, who lost to top-ranked Peoria Centennial last week, face another tough test in 5A-I Red Mountain next week.