Lathrop occasionally stepped out of its run-oriented offense Friday night in completely dominating visiting Johansen 34-14 on Bennie Gatto Field. 

The win tightens the Spartans’ grip on first place in the Western Athletic Conference, putting the, a game ahead of Grace Davis and Livingston. Lathrop (4-0 WAC, 6-1 overall) has already beaten Grace Davis and faces Livingston next Friday.

“We had to throw, at times.” Lathrop coach Ryan Teicheira said. “We faced nine in the box. Our pass game was there. We connected later, and we had the potential to connect earlier and could have broken the game wide open in the first half.

“Our defense has stepped up great. We practice hard all week long. Our interior picked off their guards and our ends played great. (Michael) Adams at our shield spot turned everything back in.”

The Spartans ditched their ground-and-pound attack for the run-and-gun to go up 20-0 with 18 seconds left in the first half. Lathrop picked up 43 passing yards in four plays on an eight-play, 62-yard drive capped by Jordan Blasé’s 15-yard touchdown pass to Trey Santos. Blasé finished 5-of-12 passing for 52 yards.

“In the beginning of the game, the passing game wasn’t really working,” Blasé said. “But I eventually calmed my nerves down and felt comfortable passing the ball."

Lathrop held the Vikings (2-2, 3-4) to just six first-half offensive yards on 10 plays and yielded a total of 94 yards on the night.

Casyn Hopping led the ferocious Spartans defense with six tackles and a forced fumble. Pablo Pena added four stops, and Trey Miller three.

“I saw opportunities, so I took them,” Hopping said. “The whole game plan was, if the guard pulls I am supposed to block and make a whole pile, and every time I looked to my left and my right when the guard wasn’t pulling, I just pushed up field.”

Pablo Pena scored twice for Lathrop, gaining 49 yards on 11 carries. Treydon Santos led the Spartans ground attack with 74 yards on just three carries.

“The O-line opened the holes for me the whole time,” Pena said. “Chris Ramos at running back made a lot of stuff happen on the lead blocks, so I give all the credit to him and the O-line.”

Ramos finished with 31 yards on 12 carries, and Malachi Gonzales came off the bench in the second half and added 33 yards on seven carries.

Johansen won the coin toss to start the game and deferred their reception to the second half, giving the Spartans the first possession of the game. Lathrop made the best of it, doing so quickly.

The Spartans moved 65 yards on eight plays in less than four minutes for Andre Muqhar to bull a score in from the 1-yard line for a 7-0 lead.

Defense led to the second Lathrop score. With 8:01 remaining in the second quarter, Hopping busted into the Vikings backfield, forcing a fumble for teammate Sean Teu to recover at the Johansen 42. Six plays later, with 4:45 showing on the second-quarter clock, the Spartans had their second 1-yard touchdown, this one by Pena to double the lead.

After their miserable first half, the Vikings came out in the second half, and buoyed by a dead-ball out-of-bounds call on fourth down went 65 yards on 12 plays, capped by Jairus Vasquez’s 3-yard touchdown run to come within 20-6.

Pena added a 9-yard touchdown run in the third quarter and Ramon Rivas scored on a 14-yard run in the fourth quarter for Lathrop midway through the period.