Lathrop was back to its dominant self on Friday, using a balanced attack and ball-hawking defense to stomp Ceres on the road, 44-7.

The Spartans (3-0, 5-1 overall) had a shutout brewing in the Western Athletic Conference clash until Nathaniel St. Macias scored for the Bulldogs (0-3, 1-5) on a 20-yard run with 9:23 remaining.

Pablo Peña once again led Lathrop on both sides of scrimmage, rushing for 103 yards and a touchdown on 11 carries. He also scored on two conversion runs. Defensively, he had team-highs of seven tackles, two for losses and two quarterback pressures to go with his forced fumble and fumble recovery.

Backfield mate Treydon Santos ran it 10 times for 91 yards and two TDs. Malachi Gonzalez (five rushes, 53 yards) also tallied a touchdown run.  The Spartans totaled 272 yards rushing, getting 7.2 per carry.

Quarterbacks Landen Nolte (5-of-9, 107 yards) and Daryion Reyno each had a touchdown completion. Nolte connected with Eric Lucatero for a 30-yard score, and Reyno found Damian Hermosillo for an 8-yard touchdown.

Cornerback Amaari Harris contributed a fumble recovery, forced fumble and pass deflection to the defense. Outside linebacker Ekam Sohal had a sack. The Spartans limited Ceres to just 111 yards.

Lathrop heads to Johansen on Thursday for a first-place battle.

Linden 32, River Islands 20

The Riptide (0-3, 1-4 overall) were able to stay within reach of one of the Mother Lode League’s tri-champions.

Host Linden (3-0, 4-2) shot out to a 25-6 halftime lead but did not put them away until Andrew Juarez scored on a late touchdown run. Quarterback Daryl Carpenter earlier completed a fourth-down pass for a touchdown to close River Islands in 25-20 following the successful two-point conversion.

Carpenter finished 18-of-31 passing for 180 yards and two touchdowns. Michael Figueroa (three receptions, 16 yards, TD) hit Christian Dell’Osso on a trick play that went for an 80-yard score. Dell’Osso ended with eight catches for 166 yards. Running back Jared Acaya, who compiled 99 yards from scrimmage, also had a receiving touchdown.

Juarez was the workhorse for the Lions, rushing 24 times for 215 yards and two touchdowns. Standout receiver DeAndre Smith caught nine passes for 121 yards and three TDs.

River Islands caps its three-week tour against the MLL champs this upcoming Friday at home against Summerville.