Winners of its previous five games, Central Valley’s football team rode a wave of momentum into last week’s game against two-time defending Western Athletic Conference-champion Lathrop.

Hurt by three turnovers, the Hawks fell short in their quest to spoil the Spartans’ homecoming as they suffered a gut-wrenching 20-12 road loss on Friday at Bennie Gatto Field.

Central Valley lost 42-7 at Lathrop in 2025.

“We didn’t do a great job taking care of the ball,” Hawks’ head coach Derrick Goblirsch said. “We battled through that and put ourselves in position to possibly tie it.”

“We knew it was going to be a close game,” Hawks’ running back/defensive back Jeremiah Moreno added. “We were prepared. We were really motivated. We wanted revenge from last year. Mistakes cost us.”

With the loss, Central Valley (5-2, 3-1) dropped into a three-way tie for second place in the WAC standings with Lathrop (5-3, 3-1) and Grace Davis (4-3, 3-1).

“That’s a good team over there,” Lathrop coach Justin Muschott said. “We just played hard and found a way to get it done.”

“Our focus is always about us - what we need to do,” Goblirsch said. “We need to clean up some of our mistakes.”

The Hawks outgained the Spartans, 333-252.

Central Valley amassed 188 yards on the ground.

Moreno ran for 40 yards and two touchdowns on 11 carries.

Elizjha Casteel added 67 yards on nine carries.

Ivan Quezada (35 yards on six carries), Sergio Torres (33 yards on seven carries) and Victor Altamirano (13 yards on five carries) contributed as well.

Quarterback Junior Gomez completed 6 of 10 passes for 145 yards with no touchdowns and one interception.

Gonzalez caught five passes for 109 yards.

Adrian De La Hoya caught one pass for 36 yards.

Altamirano tallied a team-high eight tackles on defense.

Antonio Louis registered five tackles and forced one fumble.

Maxwell Melchner had one tackle and one interception.

“Other than the turnovers, I thought we played pretty well,” Goblirsch said. “Our line, running backs, receivers and quarterback did a good job.”

“We expected it to be a physical game,” he added. “We knew it was going to be close at the end. We put ourselves in position to tie it even with the mistakes.”

Down by eight points, Central Valley threatened to score with less than one minute to play.

On second-and-10 from the Lathrop 24-yard line, Gonzalez caught a screen pass from Gomez and had open field in front of him.

Spartan linebacker Ekam 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.

The Hawks turned the ball over for the third time on their final offensive play.

“I watched the air get taken out of our sidelines,” Goblirsch said. “It was tough to watch. I feel bad for Julian. He played such a great game.”

Central Valley trailed 13-6 at halftime.

The Hawks managed to keep the game close despite committing two turnovers.

“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.

“They’re a good team,” Goblirsch stated. “We knew we couldn’t make a ton of mistakes. We had three turnovers. They had one. That was the difference in the game.”

“It’s disappointing,” Moreno added. “This loss will fuel us for (this week).”

The Hawks will play host to the first-place Johansen Vikings (6-1, 4-0) this Friday at 7 p.m.

Manteca Bulletin Sports Editor Jonamar Jacinto contributed to this report.