Mountain View (Mesa)	8	7	0	7	22
Brophy College Prep	7	3	0	7	17
September 26, 2008 - 07:00PM - Phoenix College Full box score| More Football

It looked more like a Week 1 game, with 185 yards in penalties and eight turnovers between the second-ranked team in the state and the defending 5A-I champion.

Slideshow: Prep football: Brophy vs. Mountain View (Mesa)

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And without starting quarterback Blake Decker, who was injured in the first half, Mesa Mountain View (4-0) didn’t make it easy on itself but escaped central Phoenix with a 22-17 5A-I nonregion win on Friday night over defending state champion Brophy (2-3).

“We definitely need to cut out the mental mistakes,” said Toro running back Jacom Brimhall. “The offense, we almost took ourselves out of the game with how many penalties we had. We just couldn’t seem to stay on track tonight, which is definitely a big problem.”

A total of 13 penalties for 95 yards certainly kept Mountain View from getting any separation from a struggling Bronco squad. Three turnovers didn’t help either. Outside of Brimhall’s 112 yards rushing and a big 38-yard catch in the final four minutes, the Toro offense sputtered after Decker hurt his left ankle in the second quarter. He didn’t return and was on crutches after the game.

“Blake’s a great quarterback, he does everything right,” Brimhall said. “But Brad (Heap) stepped in and did a really good job tonight and everything seemed to work out.”

Heap was glad to get the call.

“Hey, it’s my time, I got it,” he said.

The Bronco defense keyed on the run once Heap took over and hit only two of his first eight passes. But late in the game, on a fourth-and-3 at the Brophy 23, Heap got through the line, rumbled 22 yards and looked to secure the victory after punching it in on the next play.

However, Broncos running back Max Leonesio had one more surprise for the Toros. The 6-footer squeezed through the line as he did on the fourth play of the game and went 65 yards for a score to close the Broncos to 22-17 with 4:09 left.

Mountain View’s Daniel Diaz returning the ensuing kickoff 40 yards to the Toro 43 and Heap hit Brimhall on the big pass play on a third down to put the Toros on the Brophy 15 and allow Mountain View to run the clock out.

“We knew they were going to be good coming in,” said Mountain View coach Tom Joseph. “Penalties and mistakes and turnovers, giving up big plays, we just can’t do that if we are going to be a great football team.”

The teams looked like they might light up the scoreboard after scoring within seconds of each other. On the fourth play of the game, Leonesio squirted through the line and split the defense for a 62-yard TD run to give Brophy the early lead.

But Decker answered back, finding Anthony Warren behind the Bronco secondary for an 80-yard pass play.

The teams traded possessions and turnovers until Brophy quarterback Beau Maggi was looking for Sam Quinif the right side and the Toros’ Alex Salas bumped him to grab the interception at his 45, returning the ball to the Bronco 9. On the next play, Heap hit Warren in the corner of the end zone with a TD pass into triple coverage. Alex Garoutte hit a 43-yard field goal right before halftime for Brophy, cutting the Toro lead to 15-10.

The teams couldn’t find their offense in the third. Brophy missed a field goal on its big drive of the quarter.

After beating Las Vegas Bishop Gorman, Brophy lost to Chandler Hamilton and Tucson Salpointe last week but routed Scottsdale Horizon two weeks ago.

So, five weeks into an 11-week schedule, the Broncos are below .500 and even used backup quarterback Quinif late in the game in place of Maggi.