MOUNTAIN HOUSE — The “Battle for the Paddle” was also a tussle for the title for Mountain House on Friday.
The Mustangs defeated Lathrop 42-14 to wrap up the debut season in the Western Athletic Conference for both teams. It was also the start of a new Week-10 rivalry, and Mountain House (6-1 WAC, 9-1 overall) had another reason to celebrate its big win.
That’s because the Mustangs are part of a three-way share of the championship thanks to Los Banos’ 28-21 upset win over rival Pacheco.
The visiting Spartans (3-4, 3-7) scored all of their points in the second quarter. With 11:37 left in the half Maurice Saulsbury II pulled in a 71-yard touchdown pass from Mikey Page to tie the game at 7-7.
With 7:34 left in the half, Lathrop’s Daniel Navarro completed a 20-yard pass to Paul Kiggins to tie the game at 14. Mountain House went on to score 28 unanswered points to close out the game.
Isaac Ramos picked up 75 yards on 15 carries for the Spartans. Saulsbury had five receptions for 90 yards and White was 5 of 9 passing for 91 yards. Navarro completed nine of 16 passes for 62 yards.
Lathrop’s Sebastian Iniguez was in on 14 tackles. Justino Kantun added 10 stops, Adrian Corona seven, Saulsbury six and Felipe Renteria five. 
Mountain House racked up 321 yards on the ground and was paced by quarterback Jesse Jordan (16 rushes, 93 yards), Vladik Sutherland (13 rushes, 91 yards, touchdown) and Elijah McLaurin (7-48-2).