The Lathrop Spartans flag football season came to an end Monday night, as they fell to visiting Placer of Auburn 7-6 in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division III quarterfinals and Paul Wiggin Stadium.
“Obviously, not the way we wanted our season to end,” said Spartans head coach Randy Baltazar. “Credit to them, they came out and executed their scheme and made things really difficult for us.”
The offenses for both Lathrop (18-4) and Placer (15-5) struggled to get going early on. Penalties and dropped snaps derailed early Hillmen drives, while the Spartans, just five days after putting up 46 points against 15-seed Ripon, found moving the ball much more difficult in their quarterfinal match-up playing without their second leading receiver in Faith Allen, who missed the game due to a sprained ankle she suffered in practice last week.
“Faith adds an element to our offense I think we were missing tonight,” said Baltazar. “When you don’t have that big-play threat that can take the top off of a defense, they can play closer to the line of scrimmage and stop the run.”
While points were difficult to come by throughout the game, senior quarterback Luz De Luna (193 yards passing) did manage to find some success through the air, spreading the ball to seven different receivers, led by junior running back JaLeiyah Ray, who hauled in seven receptions for 116 yards on the night.
It was De Luna and Ray who would combine for the biggest play of the game for Lathrop late in the first half. After a Placer punt pinned the Spartans back at their own 10-yard line, De Luna got Lathrop to midfield with just seven seconds left before the break.
Baltazar took a timeout, and drew up a deep ball to Ray that De Luna delivered perfectly — 42 yards through the air to put the Spartans up 6-0 as time expired in the second quarter. The point-after attempt from Lathrop failed, as De Luna’s pass fell incomplete in what would end up being one of the biggest plays of the game.
“Luz has been our heart and soul all season long,” said Baltazar. “She has been our MVP and made an MVP play there showing off her arm. JaLeiyah made a great play on the ball, and we were thrilled to go into the break on top.”
Placer started the second half with the ball after winning the opening coin toss and deferring possession to the Spartains. Led by quarterback Paige Denniston (83 yards passing), the Hillmen showed the fight that helped earn them a third-place finish in a very tough Foothill Valley League. After a long completion to Addison Riddle (30 yards receiving) set the Hillmen up with first and goal from the 19-yard line, the Spartans defense responded by forcing a fourth and 13 after a big flag pull by Aaliyah Thompson, who was big for Lathrop all game long.
With Lathrop needing a stop to turn possession and all momentum back over to the hosts, Denniston rolled to her left and found sophomore receiver Halle King, who caught the ball at the goal line and scored just before getting her flag pulled to tie the score at 6-6. Denniston and the Hillmen were able to do what Lathrop could not after their score, as the junior signal caller called her own number on the point-after attempt, running it in to go up 7-6 for what would be the last point of the game.
“Ultimately, they just made a few more plays than we did,” Baltazar said. “Even after going down there early, we still had a bunch of opportunities to take the lead, and we just weren’t able to do so.”
De Luna and the Spartans would have two big chances in the fourth quarter to go back on top. After getting the ball at their own 20 with just over five minutes to go, De Luna got Lathrop into Placer territory before the Hillmen defense came up big with a sack on fourth down by Amelie Emerson.
Poor clock management by Placer on the ensuing possession meant the Spartans got the ball back one final time with 1:44 left in the game. De Luna was once again able to get Lathrop back to mid field before yet another big play by Emerson stopped the Spartans on fourth and 18 to seal the game for the 7-seed Placer Hillmen.
For Baltazar, the focus is on the future and continuing to build the program.
“I couldn’t be more proud of this group of girls, getting over the hump and winning a league title something we hadn’t done before,” he said. “We will bring back a ton of talent next year and I am really excited to see how we learn from this experience here tonight and make another run next season.”
