A big defensive play early. Steady running from plucky Jeff Castillo. And an incessant game of pitch and catch between Chase Funk and Joe Clark .

Those were the ingredients Friday night that allowed Mesa Mountain View to break a five-game losing streak and end Skyline's three-game winning streak, 27-14, at Skyline High.

"The monkey's off our back," Mountain View coach Chad DeGrenier said, a few minutes after his team presented him with his first win at Mountain View. "We still have a lot of work to do."

Castillo, a 5-foot-6 senior running back, churned out 63 yards rushing in the first half getting most of those yards up the middle. He added another 40 or so in the second half and finished unoffiicially with 108 yards and two touchdowns. Funk hooked up with Clark, a 6-4, 190-pound senior,  unofficially nine times for 160 yards, including a 79-yard TD. Funk completed 11-of-118 for 178 yards. Clark was awarded a game ball as the offensive player of the night for the Toros by DeGrenier.

After a couple of punishing defeats at the hands of Desert Mountain and Desert Ridge, Mountain View (1-2) got its defense to get things going in a pivotal first-quarter sequence.

With Skyline marching on its first possession of the game to the Mountain View 30, Coyotes quarterback Michael Amado was looking to throw on a fourth-and-5. Amado fumbled on a hit by the Toros Jake Thomas. Defensive back Brandan Banker scooped the ball up near midfield and went the distance for a 7-0 Mountian View lead midway through the period.

"That was a back-breaker," Skyline coach Pete Jonovich said. "It was early in the game, but getting to score first and having momentum was important. It was deflating."

That was the only score of the first half. Mountain View threatened in the second period twcie. The Toros drove inside the Skyline 10, but were denied on a fourth-down play at the 8. The Toros go the ball back with just over a minute left in the half and had possession in Skyline terrtory. An interception thrown by Funk ended that threat.

"That stand and interception kept us going," Jonovich said. "We came out in the second half and had too many penalties. Those kill you. And they put together a good drive."

Casillo's first of two TDs -- a 7-yard run -- made it 13-0 after a 40-minute delay of the game by lightning. Two minutes later Funk hooked up with Clark on their 79-yard scoring toss to make it 19-0 with 4:25 left in the third period.

Skyline (2-1) had a pair of fourth-quarter scoring drives of 80 yards or more sandwiched around another Castillo TD run. Vern Farmer had a 7-yard TD run and Braedon Bowman made a fine catch in the corner of the end zone from Amado for Skyline's other score.