Ekam Sohal was in too much pain to celebrate the biggest play of the game with his teammates Friday at Bennie Gatto Field,

And that’s all right with him.

Lathrop’s senior outside linebacker cramped up after forcing a fumble near the goal line as visiting Central Valley threatened to score with a minute remaining, and the Spartans held on for the 20-12 homecoming victory that keeps them in the running for the Western Athletic Conference title.

The Hawks (3-1 WAC, 5-2 overall) host first-place Johansen next week, and a win would force a multi-team tie for the top spot. They had won their previous five games in succession, averaging 45.2 points along the way.

On Friday, Central Valley’s final offensive play from scrimmage was also its third turnover of the game. Sohal earlier had an interception that set up a vital scoring drive at the end of the first half.

On second-and-10 from the Lathrop 24-yard line, Julian Gonzalez (five receptions, 103 yards) took a screen pass from Roberto Gomez (six of 10, 139 yards) and had open field in front of him. Sohal chased down and shoved Gonzalez inside the 5-yard line. The ball came loose and bounced through the end zone and out of bounds for a touchback.

“I came from all the way across the field, and coaches are always telling us, don’t give up on the play, even if you’re across the field,” Sohal said. “I just tried to push him before he went for it, and then he had his hand out for that thing. I just pushed him, and I guess the ball came loose.

“I didn’t see anything after that, though — I was on the floor dying with muscle spasms.”

Lathrop (3-1, 5-3) ran two plays — hand-offs to running back Roman Duvernay, who hit the century mark for a third straight game since his mid-season debut — for a first down, before kneeling out the clock.

It was a wild ending to a physical battle that got chippy, and the Spartans battled through costly penalties and injuries to key linemen to get the win. Right tackle Malachi Joseph went down with an early ankle injury, which affected Lathrop’s ability to run the ball until the second half.

“That’s a good team over there,” Lathrop coach Justin Muschott said. “We had a great week of practice and had to overcome a lot of stuff you don’t like to see, but hats off to them. We just played hard and found a way to get it done.”

Lathrop did it with a bend-don’t-break defense and some hard running from Duvernay. The senior running back, who transferred from Manteca High and had to miss the first four games, scampered for a team-high 125 yards and two touchdowns on 14 carries. He capped an 11-play drive midway through the fourth quarter with a 16-yard touchdown for the eight-point lead. On the previous play, he ran for 28 yards on a fourth-and-2.

“With homecoming going on, we had to win,” Duvernay said. “If we would have lost this, we had no chance at (making the) playoffs. We had the loss to Johansen, that was devastating, so we just played with some emotion. Had a good talk at halftime and kept bringing it.”

Lathrop forced two turnovers in the first half but came away empty-handed early in the first quarter after Dasani Brown recovered a muffed punt by Central Valley’s Diego Quintanilla.

The Spartans made the next giveaway hurt, even though Sohal’s interception came with a dead-ball unsportsmanlike penalty that pushed them back to their own 19 with 1:58 to go in the second quarter.

That’s when DJ Reyno (6 of 12, 81 yards) and the passing game came to live. A hook-and-lateral play involving receiver Damian Hermosillo (three catches, 33 yards) and running back Jaylen Santos (35 rushing yards, 37 receiving) went for 32 yards. Reyno again hit Hermosillo up the middle for a 23-yard gain that got Lathrop into the red zone.

Santos ended the series with a 9-yard catch-and-run, bouncing off hard contact from cornerback Maxwell Melchner before falling forward through the goal line for the touchdown with 4 seconds to go.

Lathrop, which had three false-start penalties on the drive, had another unsportsmanlike penalty after the touchdown, but Santos still nailed the 35-yard point-after kick to give the Spartans the 13-6 halftime lead.

“That’s about as even a match as you can expect, so just like any other football game, it comes down to the turnovers and who makes the play at the end,” Muschott said. “That touchdown at the end of the half was huge.”

Jeremiah Moreno (10 rushes, 35 yards) accounted for both of Central Valley’s touchdowns on 1-yard runs. Melchner had an interception in the third quarter, when the Hawks had 11 minutes of the possession.

Elizjha Casteel contributed 66 yards on nine carries for Central Valley, which outgained the Spartans overall, 300-252.