Following the third critical special teams breakdown by Lathrop, Mountain House took over with the ball on the Spartans 48-yard line with 3:26 remaining in the fourth quarter and trailing by three points. Ten plays later with 11 seconds showing on the Bennie Gatto Field clock, the Mustangs had fourth down and 2 yards to go with no time outs remaining at the at the Lathrop 9.

The last-gasp throw into the end zone was off the mark, and the Spartans escaped the Western Athletic Conference regular-season finale with a heart-stopping 25-22 win.

Lathrop must now wait until Sunday when the Sac-Joaquin Section will announce the playoff brackets.

“They took advantage of a couple of special team mistakes and that has hindered us,” Spartans coach Ryan Teicheira said. “Mountain House has some special kids, and their coach is able to put the ball into playmakers’ hands, but offensively we moved the ball and we did what we wanted to do.

“The freshman (Pablo) Pena came in and stepped up. Jeremiah Green did a good job running the ball and Kam (Jones) was outstanding running and catching the ball. Our O-line the whole third quarter and fourth quarter pushed and that is a credit to our big boys in the trenches. We put Sean Teu at wingback to go in and block and we had Pena and Green blocking and running the ball. Just smash-mouth football.”

Leading 19-15, Lathrop (5-2 WAC, 6-4 overall) started the fourth quarter on its own 20 and embarked on a 13-play drive capped off with a 5-yard scoring run by Green (16 carries, 97 yards) that appeared to put the game out of reach at 25-15 with 3:40 left in the game.

Mountain House (2-5, 5-5) answered back with a 70-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Orlando Syph to come within 25-22. The Mustangs recovered the ensuing onside kick which led to their final drive.

The Spartans outgained Mountain House 401-186 and was led by Jones with 162 yards on 12 carries with a rushing and a receiving touchdown.

“We knew what we had to do,” Jones said. “We took advantage of whatever they gave us. They weren’t covering the flats that how I was open on that touchdown pass. And once they started covering the pass, we would run.”

Green added 97 yards on 16 carries with a touchdown for the Spartans and recent freshman call-up Pena came on in the second half to gain 45 yards on seven carries with a touchdown.

“It felt good,” Pena said. “It was a little nerve racking at first but after those first few snaps that all went away and I just played my ball game and it felt good.”

Teagan Shevlin directed the Lathrop offense, completing three of five passes for 92 yards and a touchdown.

“We had a game plan and we executed it,” Shevlin said, “Everyone played so hard and everyone played so good.”

The game started as if it was going to be a shootout. With 10:01 left in the first quarter, the Spartans capped off a four-play 65-yard game-opening drive with a 40-yard touchdown pass from Shevlin to Jones. Roy Gardner (12 carries, 105 yards) got the Mustangs on the board on the next play from scrimmage with a 47-yard scoring run and Lathrop answered one play later when Jones galloped 77 yards for a score with 9:10 left in the quarter for the third touchdown in less than a minute for a 13-8 Spartans lead.

In the third quarter, Syph scored on an 8-yard run and Lathrop answered back with a 4-yard touchdown run by Pena to make the score 19-15 Spartans going into the fourth quarter.