Brock Purdy (center with water bottle) takes a breather in 4th quarter vs. Highland (AzPreps365.com photo)

 

Offensive-minded Perry against defense-led Highland.  The monikers stuck for much of the first half, but when the 6A showdown between unbeatens was complete it was Perry with dominion.

The Pumas were stymied on back-to-back possessions in the first quarter, but proceeded to score the final seven times they had the ball in pulling away to a 56-6 romp over Highland at John Wrenn Stadium.

Perry is now the only unbeaten team in 6A at 6-0 and will enjoy a bye next week before visiting Chandler High on Oct. 6. Perry's players will get Saturday off, a reward cinched by Friday's outcome. Highland suffered its first loss under new coach Brock Farrel and is 5-1.

Perry's offense was unstoppable the final three quarters behind quarterback Brock Purdy, junior receiver Colby Dickie and in the second half, senior running back Kenny Fultz.

Purdy was pretty much his usual self. The senior was unofficially 18 of 27 passing for 268 yards and three touchdowns. He also rushed 16 times for another 116 yards. Dickie found paydirt just once on a 12-yard reception in the second quarter, but was the favorite target of Purdy with eight catches for 102 yards -- all in the first half. Fultz carried eight times for 63 yards and scored on four times on runs of 2, 9, 2 and 47 yards. All of that came in the second half.

"Our defense has played well this year, they haven't surprised me," Highland coach Preston Jones said. "We started slowly on offense, but the defense stepped in and gave us time to get going." 

While Perry started slowly on offense, credit given Highland by Jones after the game, Purdy was superb from the second period forward. He led Perry on a scoring drive on the game's first possession  (67 yards in eight plays), capped by a 8-yard  pass to D'Shayne James for  7-0 lead.

The next two possessions ended in an interception that set up the first of two field goals by Highland kicker Austin McNamara that pulled Highland within 7-3. The next Perry possession was a three-and-out and Highland followed with McNamara's 42-yard, three-pointer that shaved the lead to 7-6 with 8:16 left in the second quarter. 

That's when Perry flexed its muscles. The Pumas scored on their next two possession to take a 21-6 lead to hafltime. Purdy's passing was the culprit as he completed 11 of 12 attempts in the quarter.

Perry outgained Highland 256-68 in the first half. Two more TD drives by Perry pushed the margin to 35-6 after three quarters and those were highlighted by the legs of Purdy. Highland totatled  minus 7 yards of offense in the third period while Perry tacked on another 176. Highland barely finished with 100 yards of offense for the game.