GILBERT -- A Power 5 commit putting up big passing numbers, a top 20 team in the state, a blocked punt, trick plays and a 100 -yard interception return to seal the game as time expired.

Red Mountain and Gilbert High School took everyone in the crowd on a roller coaster of emotions in the second half, but  Red Mountain escaped with a thrilling 41-28 victory Friday.

Purdue commit, Jack Plummer, entered Friday night with 992 passing yards, 15 touchdowns, and zero interceptions. He added to his impressive senior season by throwing for 332 yards and four touchdowns, but he also threw his first three interceptions against a stout Red Mountain defense.

Even with the interceptions, Plummer's playmaking in a losing effort stood out.

“I’ve had the opportunity to have great quarterbacks at every stop that I’ve been, and he is a very special individual, very humble, very smart, we have a great relationship, great trust of one another in regard to play calls, [and] we discuss things," Gilbert head coach Derek Zellner said. “I couldn’t ask for a better kid to lead our program and he is going to do great things when he moves on out of here.”

Leading up to tonight’s game, Red Mountain head coach Mike Peterson had nothing but high praise for Plummer. Peterson emphasized how well he can read defenses and that if you don’t play disciplined defense he will pick a team a part.

After an emotionally draining game involving many ups and downs, Peterson kept it short and sweet when describing Plummer.

“He’s a very talented kid, very very talented,” said Peterson, whose team improved to 3-2.

Peterson and the Red Mountain defense may have given up over 300 yards passing to Plummer but they did something to Plummer that no other team has done so far, this season. They picked him off not once, not twice but three times.

Plummer's first pick came at the 10:01 mark in the third quarter when Senior defensive end Gabe Williams broke free and tipped Plummer's pass at Gilberts 36-yard line and picked it off and returned it for 16 yards to Gilberts 20.

On the next play, Red Mountain rolled the dice and called a half-back pass with senior Lance Lawson throwing to senior quarterback Cannon Griner for 19 yards, which set up a one yard touchdown run for Lance Lawson. That was his 32nd touchdown in 35 career games at Red Mountain.

The best analogy for the Red Mountain defense? They were just a bunch of animals caged up ready to let loose.

“Nasty badgers is what I could say, we’re going at it, we’re head hunting, we want to tackle, we’re ready to hit, we want to get it done with, let offense get out there and do their thing, and just get it over with,” senior defensive end Gabe Williams said.

A turning point of the game came at 8:34 mark in the third quarter, when senior defensive stud Delton Jackson, dramatically blocked a Gilbert punt that was eventually recovered by a swarm of white Red Mountain jerseys in the end-zone to give Red Mountain a 21-14 lead..

“I think we practice more special teams than anyone, because I believe it is a third of the game and it can turn games around and it finally paid off,” Peterson said.

At the 9:06 mark in the fourth quarter, Kalim Reece-Peeplez released his inner “nasty badger”and picked off Plummer.

The Reece-Peeplez interception, his first of the year, set up a gutsiest play call when Red Mountain reached back into their bag of trick plays to take a lead it would not surrender.

With five minutes and 28 seconds left to go in the fourth, Red Mountain would run a similar play they ran earlier in the game.

On a crucial third and goal at Gilberts 7-yard line, Lance Lawson received a toss to the right side of the field, and once again Griner -- the quarterabck -- would run to the opposite direction into the end-zone, where Lawson would throw a dime into the chest of Griner to give Red Mountain a 35-28 lead.

With 2:07 left, Plummer started his final drive at the Gilbert 15-yard line. With only one timeout left, he would march his team into Red Mountain territory.

With less than 30 seconds left at the Red Mountain 27, Plummer took one final shot at the end-zone on fourth down in hopes to tie the game. Plummers prayer was picked off by senior Gerald Wilbon in the end-zone, and he took interception 100 yards the other way to the end-zone to put the final touches on Red Mountains third consecutive win.

Despite the heart-breaking loss Gilbert is only looking on the bright side and hopes to use this experience as a building block for the future.

“Well, last year they kicked the turd out of us 47-0,” Zellner said. “So, coming back and fighting like we did tonight and hanging with one of the top teams in the state we proved that we are a good team and that we’ve come a long way since last year’s game. I couldn’t be more proud of our kids.”

In the1994 film Major League II, James Gammons character, manager Lou Brown, stood in front of his Cleveland Indians team and explained what was in front of them.

“We won a game yesterday, we win one today that is two in a row, we win one tomorrow that’s called a winning streak," he said.

After Friday night’s thrilling victory, Red Mountain is officially on a winning streak.