Pete Wahlheim said this week was not a good one to be a Highland football player.

The veteran Highland coach watched his team get thumped 35-0 last week in its opener by Queen Creek. A spring and summer of preparation was missing in action after the Hawks trailed 28-0 in the first period.

As can happen, Week 2 was a turnaround as host Highland won an offensive showcase with a helping hand in second half by the defense in beating Mesa High, 44-35, in a Division I contest.

A game that saw the lead change hands seven times in the first half with plenty of scoring drives and a long punt return, became one defined after intermission by Highland takeaways -- four in fact that made the difference in the outcome.

"We didn't stop them a lot, but we created some turnovers," Wahlheim said. "Sooner or later I thought the team that made stops on defense would win it. We won this game with hard practices Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday."

Highland led the see-saw battle 24-21 at halftime thanks to a Weston Wallin touchdown pass to Rhett Rasmussen with nine seconds left in the second period.  Mesa got the ball to start the second half and the first of four turnovers in the final 24 minutes began to haunt the Jackrabbits (1-1).

Highland (1-1) recovered a Mesa fumble on the third play of the third period and five plays later capped a 45-yard march culminating with Preston Guzman's 4-yard touchdown run. That put Highland up 31-21 and was the first time either team scored twice in succession.

Much of Highland's success offensively revolved around running back Josh Chadwick. Chadwick scored only once, but his workhorse evening (35 carries for 221 yards) was huge. The complement to Chadwick was quarterback Weston Wallin, a junior, making his first start.

Wallin completed 10 of 17 passes in his varsity debut for 106 yards and three TDs. The final two TD tosses brought Highland back from a 35-31 deficit in the fourth period. One went to Tyler Johnson and the other to Marlin Russell to cap the comback.

They were set up by two takeaways -- a fumble recovery by Brent Clemons and an interception by linebacker Cougar Parmiter.

"We decided to make a change at quarterback to give us more of a threat in the passing game," Wahlheim said. "Weston did a nice job for this first time."

Mesa took some of Highland's thunder after it fell behind 31-21. Mesa quarterback Turrell Pietz-Noble fired his second long slant-route TD of the night to slot receiver Draven Taylor 18 seconds after Highland took a 31-24 lead. Pietz-Noble then marched Mesa 72 yards in 13 plays to a go-ahead score that he did the honors on from 4 yards out. Mesa led 35-31 for the final time with 11:55 to play. Pietz-Noble rushed for 131 yards and passed for 188. The two TDs to Taylor were for 71 and 70 yards.

Mesa took possession at its 35 with four minutes left and down 38-35. Pietz-Noble tried a third time to hit Taylor on a slant, but this time Parmiter stepped in the passing lane for the pick. It set up the final TD that gave Highland a two-score lead.

"We went to the well one too many times on that one," Mesa's first-year coach Scott Hare said. "I don't think we deserved to win this game. We made too many mistakes (turnovers) on offense and didn't tackle well. These kids fight hard. They're a good group. Highland made adjustments that paid off."