  The $^{1}$H($e,e^\prime \pi^+$)n cross section was measured for a range of
four-momentum transfer up to $Q^2$=3.91 GeV$^2$ at values of the invariant
mass, $W$, above the resonance region. The $Q^2$-dependence of the longitudinal
component is consistent with the $Q^2$-scaling prediction for hard exclusive
processes. This suggests that perturbative QCD concepts are applicable at
rather low values of $Q^2$. Pion form factor results, while consistent with the
$Q^2$-scaling prediction, are inconsistent in magnitude with perturbative QCD
calculations. The extraction of Generalized Parton Distributions from hard
exclusive processes assumes the dominance of the longitudinal term. However,
transverse contributions to the cross section are still significant at
$Q^2$=3.91 GeV$^2$.
