Mountain Pointe wins shootout over top-ranked Chandler

• Mountain Pointe's Paul Lucas ran for 244 yards and Brandyn Leonard ran for 224 yards and four TDs.
• Chandler's Bryce Perkins threw for 244 yards and four TDs in the loss.
• Chandler committed three turnovers to Mountain Pointe's one.

Top-ranked Chandler tried to go smash-mouth on the game's first play and fumbled it away.

Phoenix Mountain Pointe went smash-mouth throughout the game with Paul Lucas and Brandyn Leonard taking turns tearing off big runs, and visiting Chandler couldn't catch up in a 45-42 loss that had both sides exhausted afterward on a humid Friday night before a packed crowd.

These two top-ranked teams in Division I feature outstanding track teams, and for most of the game it was a track meet with second-ranked Mountain Pointe (5-0) racking up 404 rushing yards in the first half alone.

It attempted only one pass in the first half — with a minute left.

Lucas ran for 244 yards and two touchdowns; Leonard 224 yards and four TDs on 26 carries.

"What a great game," Mountain Pointe coach Norris Vaughan said.

It was the Lucas showcase in the first half.

Chase Lucas, Chandler's junior running back, had the half of his life, scoring on a 71-yard run on a third-and-1 play and later returning a kickoff 99 yards for a touchdown. He was done by halftime, though, his stomach cramping up.

Coach Shaun Aguano said that Lucas was battling a stomach flu, and the humidity made it worse.

Even without Chase Lucas, Chandler was moving the ball, behind quarterback Bryce Perkins and his talented receivers, Justin Jan, N'Keal Harry and Danny Mahan.

Perkins threw for 244 yards and four touchdowns, finding Jan twice for scores in a 42-28 first-half lead for Mountain Pointe.

Perkins' last strike — a 21-yard touchdown to Harry a couple of plays after Harry made a remarkable catch in traffic over the middle — got Chandler the closest it had been since opening kickoff, 45-42, with 6:27 left.

But Mountain Pointe didn't let Chandler have the ball back until 14 seconds remained. It was too late and too deep — at the Chandler 9 — for Perkins to whip up a last-ditch miracle.

"We just ran out of time," Aguano said.

Chandler (3-1) can look back at three turnovers and an interception called back by a hold during Mountain Pointe's final drive.

Mountain Pointe committed only one turnover.

"We're as explosive as anybody, but we've got to stop the run and not turn the ball over," Aguano said.

Chandler tried to load up the box, sometimes with nine defenders, in the first half. But it did no good. Lucas would get around the corner and be gone.

Lucas scored on runs of 44 and 64 yards. Leonard tore off a 71-yard run.

"My gosh, I thought we were going to score 90," Vaughan said. "Cramps got to both teams."