Mesa Mountain View wasn’t clearly the better team Friday night. But the Toros came out the winning team.

SLIDESHOW: Basha vs. Mountain View football

SLIDESHOW: Friday night high school football

Mountain View got a pair of big plays from defensive lineman/tight end Nate Birtcher in the second half that helped fuel a 23-21 victory over upset-minded Chandler Basha in a 5A-I nonregion game at Toro Stadium.

Mountain View (7-0) scored what proved to be the game-clinching touchdown with 2:10 to play when Birtcher combined with quarterback Blake Decker on a 55-yard catch-and-run. It set up a Casey Mack 1-yard plunge that stretched a 15-13 lead to 23-13 after the Toros added a two-point conversion.

The Decker-to-Birtcher connection came on a third-and-16 at Mountain View’s 44. Decker stepped up from a blitz and got just enough time and space to throw a perfect strike to Birtcher, who added about 25 yards after the catch. This was Decker’s first game back since he injured an ankle against Brophy three weeks ago. Decker completed 8 of 14 passes for 123 yards.

“The play was ‘waggle,’” Birtcher said of the key completion. “The coaching staff made a great call, Blake made a great throw.”

The reception was the only one Birtcher had in the game. But he added a sack late in the third period that went a long way in repelling a Basha drive that if successful early in the fourth period might have put the Bears ahead and given them momentum for the final 12 minutes.

“Again the coaches made a great call,” Birtcher said. “They had me blitz, and I shot through the gap and got a clean shot at the quarterback.”

The sack came on the final play of the third period. It turned a third-and-6 situation to fourth-and-12, which Basha failed to convert on the first play of the fourth period.

Basha (4-3), which has struggled to score points in its losses to quality teams Tucson Salpointe and Phoenix Brophy (six total in those two games), came out looking anything but offensively challenged. They outgained Mountain View 384-256 on the night, outrushing and outpassing the Toros.

A heavy dose of running back Will Still, who rushed 28 times for 147 yards and a touchdown, keyed a nine-play, 80-yard drive that ended with a 35-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Mike Benjamin to John Baty for a 7-0 lead with 9:57 left in the first period. Still had 43 yards on four carries on the drive.

Mountain View answered and took the lead for good, 8-7, with 52 seconds left in the opening period after the second of two Basha turnovers in the opening period and what would be four in the first half. Jacom Brimhall (18 carries for 91 yards and two touchdowns) tallied on a 21-yard run that had not only the Basha defense faked out, but probably 90 percent of the fans as well.

Decker actually handed the ball to Brimhall after the snap, but Brimhall covered it up and delayed moving for a couple counts. The flow of the play went to the right while Brimhall took off all alone up the middle for the score.

“Our offense was better but didn’t do enough,” Basha coach Tim McBurney said. “The four turnovers really hurt us in the first half. … They made big plays when they had to. They are tenacious and go at you hard every down.”