An all-Spartans battle at Modesto Junior College this Friday could be what ultimately decides the Western Athletic Conference championship.

Lathrop (3-0, 5-1 overall) is off to its best start in school history and is all set to square off with Grace Davis (3-0, 6-0), which hasn’t been undefeated this late into a season since the late 1990s when current head coach Tim Garcia starred at quarterback.

Lathrop is one of three area teams hitting the road for pivotal games with title implications, as Ripon looks to stay unbeaten in the Trans-Valley League against Livingston, while Ripon Christian travels to Le Grand for a must-win in the Southern Athletic League.

As for Lathrop, first-year head coach Ryan Teicheira said the growing excitement from the team, school and community is palpable but urges his players to remain focused after a lackluster 28-6 road win over winless Beyer.

“Our message since the beginning has been ‘one game at a time.’ You can’t get to 10-0 without being 1-0,” Teicheira said. “Grace Davis is a good matchup for us but we’re not focused on Grace Davis, we’re focused on playing our game. There’s a lot of build-up for this game, but we need to play our game and control what we can control.”

Teicheira is not concerned about any carry-over effects from the Beyer game, which multiple starters missed because of illness. All of Beyer’s previous losses were by far wider margins, but the Patriots were in the game coming out of halftime down, 14-6.

“It was a good wake-up call,” Teicheira said. “That is a team that hasn’t had much success this year, but they came out ready, they wanted it and they punched us in the mouth. It was an eye-opener to some of our players, but the kids have a better understanding that every team we play now is coming after us.”

Grace Davis features a senior class that went 10-0 at the JV level two years ago. Running back/inside linebacker Isaac Martinez has been its multi-faceted standout this season, while junior quarterback Adrian Gallegos steers the spread offense.

Teicheira said Grace Davis has a physical defensive front that will challenge his offensive line and Wing-T attack.

“We’re going to have to play our best game,” he said. “Grace Davis is 6-0 for a reason. They have weapons and play good defense. It will be a fun matchup for us.”

In other Week 7 contests:

Weston Ranch (1-6) at Manteca (6-0): After surviving a homecoming scare against rival East Union, the Buffaloes want to get right with a difficult closing stretch to the regular season on the horizon.

It took Manteca 2 ½ quarters to get the offense going while the defense struggled to get off the field against EU’s dangerous spread attack. The Buffs trailed 27-7 in the third quarter and rallied to win 40-34 in overtime.

Weston Ranch is on a five-game losing streak following its 3-0 setback against previously-winless Sierra. The Cougars have been shut out three times and average 5.3 points in their losses.

Manteca has won all 16 of its previous meetings with Weston Ranch. Its final three opponents are Central Catholic (away), Kimball (home) and Oakdale (away).

Oakdale (4-2) at Sierra (1-6): It wasn’t pretty, but the 3-0 triumph on Weston Ranch’s homecoming was a shining moment in what has otherwise been a trying season for Sierra.

Now, the Timberwolves face an extra-motivated Oakdale team coming off two tough losses in a row. The Mustangs were edged out by still-unbeaten Kimball 63-56 on the road on Sept. 24, then shut out in the second half by Central Catholic in a 32-14 defeat. It’s the first time the storied program has dropped back-to-back since 2005.

Sierra has beaten Oakdale just three times since they began squaring off in VOL play in the 1990s, the most recent win coming in the SJS Division IV championship game in 2019, 22-19.

Ripon (5-2) at Livingston (4-2): The Indians can take a six-game winning streak into their bye week, but they’ll have to get past Wolves squad that is also brimming with confidence.

Livingston had already put the TVL on notice with its competitive 28-24 loss to Hilmar, which had to rally for the come-from-behind win. Last week, the Wolves administered a stunning 27-0 beatdown of Hughson.

Livingston’s balanced spread offense was led by QB Rocklin Baptista (13 of 19, 205 yards, two TDs; 82 rushes, TD), RB Carlos Baez (124 yards, TD) and WR Cain Ambriz (96 yards, TD), and the defense limited the Huskies to 109 yards.

Ripon blew out Riverbank 55-6 on its homecoming last week after fending off Hilmar in its league opener, 7-3. Against Riverbank, the Indians were able to give transfer quarterback Adam Berrera a look in their Wing-T offense, and he finished with 51 yards passing along with 87 rushing yards and three touchdown scampers.

Ripon Christian (4-2) at Le Grand (3-3): Ripon Christian’s first two SAL games were doozies, and this one may be no different.

The Knights opened league with a hard-earned 45-42 win over Orestimba but then came up short against undefeated Waterford, 28-21. Le Grand has also split against those teams, holding off Orestimba 14-12 and losing at Waterford, 49-33.

Julian Bucio leads the Bulldogs’ pistol offense (934 yards, 14 TDs, seven interception).