Jaleiyah Ray got Lathrop rolling in the first half of its Sac-Joaquin Section Division III quarterfinal Thursday against visiting Fairfield.

Faith Allen took over in the second half, and she scored the game-winning touchdown on an electric catch-and-run sequence spanning 60 yards with 6 seconds left to lift the fourth-seeded Spartans to a thrilling 27-20 victory that sets them up for a third shot at a league rival.

“Heck of a play,” Lathrop coach Randy Baltazar said. “We have playmakers, man.”

The two sophomores accounted for 267 of their team’s 283 yards of offense. Quarterback Luz De Luna completed 12 of 21 passes for 208 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions.

The deciding play was an immediate response to No. 5 Fairfield (20-5) tying it with 22 seconds remaining. Aubrey Stewart hit Sariah Williams (95 yards receiving, 33 rushing) for a 19-yard touchdown, then spotted Katie Shaw for the equalizing two-point try.

Lathrop (20-3) had already used up both of its timeouts before its final drive.

“I said (to De Luna) if they clear out, look underneath,” Baltazar said. “But if they don’t, look over the top. I’m glad she looked underneath for Faith.”

With a rusher barreling toward her, De Luna targeted Allen running a drag route, and the elusive receiver turned up field and used her speed to avoid tugs her flags.

“I saw there was just a few seconds on the clock,” Allen said. “Had to get the win for all of us. We all put in the work since the summer. I was just in ‘go’ mode — go, go, go and get that touchdown.”

After she was limited to one catch for minus 2 yards in the first half, Allen finished with 111 yards and two touchdowns on six receptions. She also had a 6-yard run.

Five of those catches came in the final 7 minutes. Allen made a tough grab in which she leapt vertically above a defender for a 28-yard gain, and additional yards were tacked on thanks to an illegal-contact penalty. That was on the first play of a drive that ended with her clutch 19-yard touchdown catch on fourth down. The Spartans led 20-12 with 3:15 to go.

Ray did most of her damage in the first half, finishing with four rushes for 75 yards and two touchdowns along with three receptions for another 75 yards.

She provided the Spartans a needed boost with a 60-yard touchdown run after the offense was held to three-and-outs on its first two drives.

“I saw one girl there and I just had to make a little move,” Ray said. “I got the open space, and that gave me the opportunity to just run. It was big. We needed to get that spark to get the team going.”

It was a quick answer to the Falcons’ first touchdown — a 1-yard reception from Kayana Mickey (12 receptions, 82 yards, two TDs) — of the game.

Lathrop struggled to get untracked at the start, as it adjusted to Fairfield’s unique defensive alignment and man-to-man coverage. So, on the play following Mickey’s TD, Baltazar used some misdirection with a counter run play to help spring Ray toward the end zone.

“Knowing they were in man (-to-man defense), it was going to be hard for them to go opposite directions when we have two girls crossing,” Baltazar said. “Sure enough, they had two girls bump into each other, and Jaleiyah took it to the house.”

Ray was just warming up.

On the Spartans’ last drive of the half, De Luna found her with a perfect pass over the top for a 48-yard payoff. The drive was punctuated by Ray’s 12-yard touchdown run and one-point conversion catch.

Remarkably, Lathrop led 14-12 at halftime despite running just 12 plays to Fairfield’s 24.

“On offense, when we had that ball, we saw them in a defense that was (lined up) straight across,” Baltazar said. “Right away, it looked like this was man (defense).

“It’s a different type of defense than we’re used to seeing, but we were able to make the adjustments, and the girls were able to adjust on the fly. Good things happened when we got the ball to our playmakers in open spaces.”

Baltazar also acknowledged the play of his defense, which got a handle on Fairfield’s hook-and-lateral plays in the second half. The Spartans, in fact, had four straight three-and-out stands to start the second half.

Faith Butler and Kiana Quintero each had six tackles to lead Lathrop. Heiddy Camacho contributed four tackles and two pass breakups. JV call-up Melia Lewis played defense in the second half and had three tackles.

Stewart led Fairfield with 184 yards and three touchdowns on 18-of-25 passing. She also scampered for 24 yards on seven carries.

“Our defense held it together,” Baltazar said. “They’ve been our catalyst all year long. In order for us to get through Livingston, we have to make sure we play good defense again.”

Lathrop is on the road next Wednesday for its semifinal date with undefeated Western Athletic Conference rival Livingston (27-0). The top-seeded Wolves pasted Placer 39-0 in their second-round match-up and are ranked seventh overall by MaxPreps in the SJS.