HENDERSON, Nev. — Southern Nevada is just another place that has helped mold the underdog tale we know as San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy.

Long before leading the 49ers to the Super Bowl at Allegiant Stadium in 2024, Purdy began proving his doubters on a soccer field not too far from Raiders headquarters, where the 2023 Pro Bowl quarterback returned Thursday for a joint practice with the Silver and Black.

Purdy hails from Arizona, where he starred for Perry High School in Gilbert. He played college ball at Iowa State, and now he’s arguably the face of the 49ers.

And yet one of his favorite moments will be at a remote soccer park outside of Las Vegas.

Purdy was a junior in high school in February of 2017, when he and a group of “no-names” from Perry HS brought a 7-on-7 team to the Pylon Nationals at Heritage Park and shocked the nation with an improbable championship.

Along the way, Tucson Turf’s run included a win over the then-defending 7-on-7 national champs and national high school powerhouse Bishop Gorman, which included Houston Texans tight end Brevin Jordan and Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson.

“Whenever the guys are together, and we get bragging about high school days or whatever, I (say), ‘Well, there was this one time in 7-on-7 my high school team went up against the Bishop Gorman guys like DTR and Brevin and a bunch of other guys going D1, and this little Perry High School team came in and upset them,” Purdy said after practice.

Purdy, known as “Mr. Irrelevant” after being drafted last in 2022, has built his career on proving doubters wrong.

He wasn’t flashy in high school and was overlooked in favor of many others from the same class. Just a three-star recruit out of Perry, he went on to break almost every passing-related record at Iowa State.

In just his second year with the 49ers, he took them to the Super Bowl, where they lost to the Kansas City Chiefs in overtime.

Purdy said his mindset hasn’t changed as he enters his fourth season as the 49ers’ starting quarterback, hoping he can take the storied franchise back to the Super Bowl.

“It’s all part of the story, like that’s sort of just been the story of my life and where I’ve come from,” Purdy said. “Being the underdog. And then you look back on those moments when no one believed in you, you believed in yourself, and you go get it done.”