Mesa High School, the No. 14 seed in the 5A-I state playoffs, tried to exchange points with No. 3 Salpointe Catholic on the road Friday night but saw its season come to an end in a 55-28 defeat.

SLIDESHOW: Friday night football action

The aggressive Salpointe defense scored three of the Lancers’ five touchdowns before halftime as Salpointe took a 35-7 lead at the break.

“Initially … we scored and our kids got some confidence back,” Mesa coach Kelley Moore said, “But we had a meltdown for four minutes there.”

High snaps to punter Tyler Ryan caused two Jaguar turnovers in the second quarter.

Ty Harmon blocked Ryan’s first punt of the evening and ran in a touchdown for 34 yards. On the next drive, the snap traveled over Ryan’s head and the ball was recovered by Salpointe’s Sean Craig in the end zone.

Two plays later on offense, Keoni Kalama fumbled a pass that Salpointe’s Joe Sayre picked up and ran for a score to go up 35-7 at halftime. Sayre had also picked off quarterback Kyler Fackrell early in the first quarter.

Mesa came back swinging after halftime.

Two minutes into the third quarter senior Rudy Fierros intercepted Salpointe quarterback Trevor Eggleston to put the Jackrabbits on offense on their own 27-yard line.

On first down, senior Greg King skipped over a Salpointe defender who almost snatched him at the ankles and ran for a touchdown.

On Mesa’s next possession, the offense ran five plays inside the red zone before King scored again.

Mesa trailed by only 14 points with 3:47 left in the third quarter. Salpointe put it away with 20 points in the fourth.