No. 9 Gilbert Perry prevailed against No. 3 Phoenix Brophy College Prep Friday night in Gilbert, 35-27.

The loss left Brophy in last place in the 6A Premiere Section at 1-2, eliminating them from an outright section title. Brophy (7-2) now has to travel to play first place Chandler next week before the state playoffs.

Brophy, which lost to Basha last week, once again had no answer for a pass attack. Perry quarterback Brock Purdy exploited a shaky Brophy pass defense, throwing for 302 yards and two touchdowns.

Purdy also ran for 76 yards on 12 attempts, keeping Brophy's defense on its toes when he dropped back to pass. Brophy led 24-13 after Matt Ryan's 1-yard quarterback sneak with about seven minutes remaining in the third quarter.

But that was the final touchdown Brophy scored, as Perry outscored Brophy 22-3 down the stretch. Perry answered the Ryan touchdown with an 11-play, 80-yard touchdown drive, capped off by a successful two-point conversion.

Brophy came back and kicked a 44-yard field goal, pushing its lead to six points. But Perry (7-1) responded with another 80-yard scoring drive to take the lead, 28-27, for good.

On that drive, Purdy was a perfect 7 for 7 for 60 yards and actually caught the go-ahead touchdown, a 6-yard pass from wide receiver Colby Dickie. On the final scoring drive for Perry, running back Clayson Conrad ran for 55 yards on five attempts, scoring on a 21-yard touchdown run.

Brophy had the ball with about four minutes left in the game, but after a couple of big gains, its drive stalled, leading to a turnover on downs. Brophy got off to a good start, taking 10-0 lead after scoring on its first drive and converting a field goal after Perry turned the ball over on downs.

Brophy’s defense was stellar during Perry's next four possessions, forcing an interception, a three-and-out, a fumble and another three-and-out. But Brophy's offense failed to score during that span.

After its first drive, Brophy rotated quarterbacks Ryan and Caleb Moore after every down. Perry was finally able to get in the end zone after a 66-yard touchdown connection from Purdy to D’Shayne James with 4:39 left in the second quarter.

But Brophy then responded immediately with a 54-yard touchdown run by Bronco’s running back Noah Pittenger. Pittenger followed that by running for his second touchdown, helping give the Broncos a 17-7 lead late in the first half.

But Perry went into haltime with the momentum. Purdy was able to make it a one-possession game after hitting wide receiver Nate James twice on Perry's last first half drive, including a wide-open 11-yard touchdown pass to close out the half.

Perry's Purdy tried to pick up where he left off just before haltime but threw an interception to free safety Marquis White, putting the Broncos in Puma territory early in the third quarter. 

Viss is covering Brophy this semester for azpreps365.com.