Trailing by three scores midway through the third quarter, Ceres High School’s football team appeared headed for a blowout loss versus Lathrop during the opening week of Western Athletic Conference play.

The Bulldogs cut the deficit to seven points with 46 seconds to play before falling 28-21 to the Spartans on Friday at Bennie Gatto Field.

Lathrop’s Adrian Padilla thwarted Ceres High’s comeback attempt with a game-sealing onside kick recovery.

“I’m proud of my team,” Ceres High quarterback Donovan Osuna said. “We battled back. We gave them a scare at the end. If there were two to three more minutes, the score would have been different. We could have won the game.”

The Bulldogs dropped to 1-3 overall and 0-1 in the WAC standings.

The Spartans improved to 2-2 and 1-0.

“We’ve gotten better each week,” Osuna said.

Ceres High generated a season-high 261 yards on offense.

Osuna completed 8 of 21 passes for 159 yards with two touchdowns and one interception.

Senior Manny Mendoza totaled 109 yards and one touchdown on four receptions.

Reis Smith’s lone carry resulted in a 67-yard touchdown and lone catch resulted in a 15-yard score.

Chris King caught one pass for 18 yards.

Daniel Davis grabbed two passes for 17 yards.

Lathrop’s Andre Muqhar rushed for 114 yards and two touchdowns on just nine carries.

Pablo Pena ran for 103 yards and one touchdown on 13 carries.

Julio Garcia had a 2-yard rushing touchdown.

Oscar Ruvalcaba booted a 33-yard field goal.

Linebacker David Diaz Deleon led the Bulldogs’ defense with a career-high 14 tackles and three sacks.

Michael Solis had 11 tackles and one forced fumble.

Ben Leota and sophomore Nathaniel Macias both had 11 tackles.

Junior Manny Mendoza had eight tackles and one forced fumble.

Nikahli Garcia had seven tackles.

Ernie Miranda had five tackles.

“Our defense played outstanding,” Osuna said. “Our offense needs to get it going in the first and third quarters.”

Ceres High faced a 28-8 deficit at the end of the third quarter.

The Bulldogs outscored the Spartans 13-0 in the final period.

Osuna tossed a 15-yard touchdown pass to Smith at the 5:10 mark of the fourth quarter.

Osuna’s 70-yard TD strike to senior Manny Mendoza brought Ceres High within seven points with 46 seconds to play.

“They thought they had the game won,” Osuna said. “Momentum picked up for us. We started playing a little harder. That helped out, too.”

The Bulldogs trailed 16-8 at halftime.

Smith accounted for Ceres High’s lone touchdown when he scored on a 67-yard run with 1:27 to play in the second quarter.

“There were times that they got us and they took advantage of their opportunities,” Lathrop coach Ryan Teicheira said.

Padilla helped get the Spartans storm out to a 22-8 third-quarter lead early in the period when he snagged an interception that led to an eight-play, 85-yard scoring drive capped by Andre Muqhar’s second touchdown of the night, this one coming on a 59-yard run to go with his second-quarter 3-yard scoring plunge.

Muqhar recovered the ensuing squib kick giving Lathrop the ball at the Ceres 24-yard line. Pena scored four plays later to put the Spartans ahead by 20 points.

Down 28-8, Ceres High scored back-to-back touchdowns in the final five minutes to make the game interesting. The Bulldogs nearly recovered the onside kick following their second TD.

“It was pretty close,” Osuna said.

Ceres High will play host to Beyer (0-4, 0-1) this Friday at 7 p.m.

Bulletin correspondent Dave Campbell contributed to this report.