Lathrop’s senior leaders worked tirelessly in the offseason, motivated by the few sour moments in what was an otherwise successful and historic 2023 campaign for the program.

The redemption tour began Friday with a 28-24 win at Sierra, avenging the frustrating season-opening loss from a year ago. The Spartans forced four turnovers and came back from a 10-point deficit in the second half, getting two unanswered touchdowns from Andre Muqhar.

“This is just the start,” Sean Teu said. “We’re coming.”

The third-year senior defensive lineman was one of the many stars for the Spartans on a night that Sierra welcomed former players and coaches to mark the school’s 30-year anniversary.

Among the alumni was 2001 graduate Ryan Teicheira, an assistant on Sierra’s 2015 state championship team and now head coach for Lathrop.

“We have a good core of leaders, and they want it,” Teicheira said. “We talk about last year and that pain, and those guys, as soon as we got back in, were in the weight room training and going to parks.

“They worked all offseason, and there’s a lot of trust in what we’re doing. They’re playing fast, they’re playing physical and they’re playing like there’s no tomorrow. They want this to be a special season.”

Muqhar led Lathrop’s balanced Wing-T attack, rushing 14 times for 65 yards and the two touchdowns. He also caught a pass from Jordan Blase (3-of-9 passing, 62 yards) for 31 yards on the Spartans’ scoring drive late in the third quarter. Muqhar capped the series with an 8-yard run followed by a conversion run that closes Lathrop in, 24-21.

Muqhar’s go-ahead score on a 5-yard scamper came with 8:50 left. Ramon Rivas keyed the drive with a 37-yard dash on a reverse. It was Rivas’ only touch of the game, and it was one of the most important.

“Rivas is a good athlete. We missed him last year, so coming in this year, we’re trying to get him caught up and into a rhythm,” Teicheira said. “We want to give him the ball in certain situations and let him figure it out. Not that I thought I knew it would happen, but he saw the cutback and took it. I hope he continues to grow from that and seize the opportunities.”

Lathrop totaled 289 yards from scrimmage, 227 on the ground. Plowing fullback Pablo Pena ground out 57 yards on 15 attempts. Even Teu saw some action offensively at fullback and wingback, contributed 45 yards and a touchdown on five carries.

“It’s been four years coming,” Teu said. “I’m just glad to touch the ball, man. And thanks to the line, because without them nothing would happen.”

Teu did his usual damage on defense.

The Spartans defense as a whole did well to slow down Sierra’s spread offense spearheaded by quarterback Zak Willson, who completed his first seven passes but struggled down the stretch. He wound up completing 16 of 30 passes for 174 yards and two touchdowns and was the Timberwolves’ leading rusher with eight carries, 66 yards and a TD. Tali Vaipuna (six receptions, 65 yards) and Trevor Sutton (3-21) each caught a touchdown.

Willson also had interceptions on Sierra’s final two drives, which included dropped passes by open receivers. Pena clinched the win with his pick in the final minute.

“I was supposed to just mirror the quarterback, but while I was floating, I saw him look straight at the post,” Pena said. “I already knew he was going there; he didn’t take his eyes of it, so I just jumped it and it came straight to my hands.”

Casyn Hopping and Teu chipped in big plays in the second half.

The 6-foot-6, 221-pound Hopping had a sack and a deflected pass at the line of scrimmage that got intercepted by Trey Miller.

On the last play of the third quarter, Teu forced a fumble that was recovered by Michael Adams. He later sacked Willson the play before Pena’s interception.

Willson gave Lathrop fits with his escapability, but the constant pressure from the Spartans’ pass rushers eventually took its toll.

“We’re rushing out of a three-man front, so it was very tough,” Teu said. “But those sacks flipped the game.”

Earlier mistakes hurt Sierra more than the interceptions at the end.

The defense forced what should have been a three-and-out on the opening drive, but a personal foul penalty on the fourth-down punt gave Lathrop new life. The Spartans later converted a fourth-down on Blase’s 16-yard toss to Teu, and Chris Ramos punctuated the 7-minute, 42-second drive with a 4-yard TD run.

Late in the second quarter, Sierra missed a chance to score points after losing a fumble on the Lathrop 11-yard line with 16.4 seconds left. The Spartans were able to preserve their 13-10 lead going into halftime.

“Turnovers killed us,” Sierra coach Jeff Abrew said. “We self-destructed, and Lathrop made fewer mistakes. They kept pounding the ball at us, but our defense stepped up and created a lot of stops, we just couldn’t capitalize on it.

“We either had some penalties, or had issues in the red zone. Definitely had a lot of first-game mistakes that are very correctable. This one stinks, because we thought we were in the game and had opportunities to win. I’ll take the blame. We have to coach the smaller details better, and our ball security has to get way better.”