Life for Mesa Red Mountain quarterback Derek Mendoza on a tightrope is good. In fact, Friday night, his daring, high-wire act was all good.

SLIDESHOW: Friday night high school football

Mendoza reached deep, completed a pair of critical third-down passes during an important fourth-quarter drive to help the Lions defeat Scottsdale Desert Mountain, 33-22. Mendoza’s effort marked a gutsy, come-from-behind effort from the Lions, who parlayed a tough defense into the win.

Admitting “I’m not much of a scrambler,” Mendoza stood tall in the pocket and found receivers at key points in the win. The Lions managed to pull this out with two touchdowns within 17 seconds late in the final period.

'Nah, I don’t move around too much,” said Mendoza, who finished with 11-for-19 passing for 139 yards and one score. “I just hang in there, and stick it in.”

The 6-foot-2 senior kept the spark alive with strong execution during the final period.

Down 22-19, the Lions took possession on their 45 with just under six minutes remaining. Mendoza then guided the Lions on an eight-play, 55-yard drive to take the lead. On the drive, he converted a third-and-7 pass to Julian Madison for 14 yards, and a third-and-10 pass to Joseph Lancaster for 19 yards and a first down at the Wolves’ 1-yard line.

From there, Brett Cerqua powered it into the end zone with 2:18 to go and pushed the Lions into a 26-22 lead.

Lions linebacker Victor Mariano put this one out of reach when he picked off Wolves quarterback Kevin Radcliffe and returned it 57 yards for a touchdown with 2:01 left, creating the 11-point margin of victory.

“From a mental and emotional standpoint, this was an important win for us,” Mountain Lions coach Jim Jones said. “Our guys dug deep and played well, defensively.”

“Played well” could be an understatement.

The Lions defense put pressure on Radcliffe, a crafty quarterback, all night, and limited Desert Mountain to a net of 38 yards rushing on 29 carries. Through Radcliffe managed 139 yards through the air, he spent most of the night scrambling out of the pocket, and overthrowing receivers.