CARLSBAD — The inability to finish cost the La Costa Canyon High School football team four wins last season.
The Mavericks have pulled complete 180 this season. They finished last week with a last-second win over Mission Hills, and worked to a hard-fought 21-11 win over Carlsbad on Friday, stopping the Lancers twice after they had pulled to within three points with 9:49 to play.
With the win, LCC secured the Avocado League championship.
“We’re resilient. We have grit. We can finish. We didn’t have that last season,” said LCC coach Sean Sovacool. “We play with great effort. We’re able to produce because we play together.”
Carlsbad (6-3, 2-2), ranked No. 7 in the county, had beaten LCC six years in a row, outscoring the Mavericks 226-83. The last LCC win in the series was 2017.
The last league championship for No. 2-ranked LCC (9-0, 4-0) was in 2011, going 4-0 in league and winning the Avo West.
The last time LCC was 9-0 to start a season was 2009, when the Mavericks started 11-0, but lost to Vista in the playoffs.
La Costa Canyon dominated the first half, scoring twice and holding Carlsbad to 54 yards total offense.
LCC took the opening kick and went 88 yards on 12 plays with Quinn Roth hitting Nathan Viemeister with a 26-yard scoring .
After a Carlsbad punt, the Mavericks went 61 yards on five plays with Roth throwing the final 39 to Diego Botron, who was wide open down the middle.
The Mavericks got to the Carlsbad 13 on a hook-and-ladder on the last play of the half.
Roth completed 13 of 14 es for 160 yards and a pair of TDs in the first half.
Carlsbad ate up all but 1:33 of the third quarter, going on a 70-yard drive, but had to settle for a 26-yard Tyler Prasuhn field goal.
The LCC offense stalled with star running back Coby Herman injured. He returned on crutches with what appeared to be a left ankle sprain.
Carlsbad took advantage of a short field, taking over at the LCC 44 and scored five plays later on a 1-yard run by quarterback Eli MacNeal. The 2-point conversion was good.
LCC went three-and-out on its next series, but stopped Carlsbad, forcing a 52-yard field goal attempt by Prasuhn that would have tied the game
However, the snap was bobbled and Prasuhn never got a chance to kick.
“Deep down, we had to get it done,” said LCC defensive lineman Nolan Sullivan. “This was where we had to trust in each other, trust that we could finish even with Coby out.”
And that’s exactly what the Mavericks did. Roth put the game away with a 38-yard scoring to tight end Nolan Keeping with 3:35 to play.
Carlsbad got down to the LCC 16 late in the game, but penalties pushed the Lancers back to the 42 where three straight MacNeal es fell incomplete.
Roth finished 16 of 20 for 211 yards and three TDs. Herman had 12 rushes for 66 yards and caught six es for 45 more.
MacNeal, who was 4 of 6 for 23 yards at the half, finished 18 of 26 for 207 yards.
Connor Hawk had seven catches for 78 yards and Angel Ramos caught five es for 89 yards.
Star running back Jake Morrison was hurt on Carlsbad’s first offensive play and didn’t return to the game. The Lancers rushed for just 59 yards on 23 attempts.
La Costa Canyon is one of only four unbeaten teams in the San Diego Section. The others are Holtville (9-0) which finishes the season next week against Calipatria; Imperial (8-0), which played Brawley on Friday and Southwest-El Centro next week; and Scripps Ranch (8-0), which played Mira Mesa Friday and faces Mount Miguel next week.
At the start of play Friday, LCC was the No. 2 seed in the four-team Open Division. Carlsbad was the No. 4 seed in the 12-team Division 1. LCC finishes with a road game next week at Torrey Pines.
Carlsbad hosts El Camino in the regular-season finale.
La Costa Canyon 21, Carlsbad 11
Carlsbad 0 0 3 8 — 11
La Costa Canyon 7 7 0 7 — 21
LCC — Viemeister 26 from Roth (Stringfellow kick)
LCC — Botron 39 from Roth (Stringfellow kick)
C — Prasuhn 26 FG
C — McNeal 1 run (Hawk from MacNeal)
LCC — Keeping 38 from Roth (Stringfellow kick)
