Lathrop’s first Western Athletic Conference championship will have to wait at least another season.

Los Banos dashed the Spartans’ title hopes on Friday, scoring two second-half bangers in a 2-1 victory. The result helped Pacheco capture sole possession of the crown with one game remaining.

Lathrop (8-4-1 WAC, 14-7-4 overall) was in contention but has lost three straight since tying Pacheco last week. The Spartans still managed to clinch one of three Sac-Joaquin Section playoff spots, thanks to Grace Davis’ loss to Johansen on Friday. They’re still trying to hold off Los Banos to remain in second place for a more favorable postseason seed. Their regular season ends next Monday at Mountain House.

“We’re trying to find our way out of this hole,” Lathrop coach Alfredo Reynaga said. “I know we have a good team. Two and a half weeks ago, you’re looking at everything a lot differently. This is how the WAC is, man.”

Senior Night started with a bang for the Spartans. Jorge Garcia nearly scored on a through ball following the opening kickoff, but he converted later in the first minute of the game when a loose ball rolled toward him at the top of the penalty box. He put it away with a strong left-footed strike.

Lathrop remained on the front foot for the rest of the half, creating several scoring chances with methodical build-up or quick counterattacks.

“That’s what we’ve been preaching as we’re trying to get ourselves out of this hole,” Reynaga said. “We wanted to be sure that if we found ourselves in that situation where we put the ball in the back of the net, we want to squeeze that neck a little bit and get that second one. Unfortunately, we were not able to capitalize.”

Lathrop finished with an 18-7 shot advantage and had seven corner kicks against two for Los Banos (8-5, 12-7-4). The Tigers’ best shot in the first half was a long-distance missile from Carlos Castro. Lathrop goalie Jashanbir Bhuee punched it over the crossbar for the save.

Los Banos made the most of its few opportunities in the second half. Castro evened the score in the 55th minute, taking a negative ball and blasting it past Bhuee on the first touch.

Derek Santayo’s go-ahead goal was a beauty from about 30 yards out, as he controlled a cross with a chest trap and crushed it with a left-footed volley. His shot initially hit the bottom of the crossbar before bouncing beyond the reach of Bhuee and through the goal line.

“I thought we kept good control of the game,” Reynaga said. “We had a lot of corner kicks we could not capitalize on. In the second half, they took shots and caught us slipping.

“They showed up and fought hard in the end. I don’t want to take any credit away from them. In the second half, we did have some opportunities again.”

Lathrop was able to get into dangerous areas but lacked the finishing touch. Forwards Ociel Mora and Juan Diego Morales were involved in multiple scrambles in the box, only to be thwarted by last-second deflections from Los Banos goalie Pablo Garcia or his defenders.

Alan Hernandez delivered two great corner-kick crosses in stoppage time, the last of which bounced off the 6-yard line and into the arms of Garcia. That was the last play of the game.

“It’s unfortunate this happened on Senior Night,” Reynaga said. “Hopefully we take care of business on Monday. The big thing is getting into the dance. You get into the playoffs and it’s a whole new season. Hopefully that will give us a new state of mind to kind of hit the reset button on what we need to do.”