WATSONVILLE — San Lorenzo Valley High’s football team made several huge stops on defense over the course of its Pacific Coast Athletic League Mission North Division win on Thursday night.

One of its most crucial, came on the same play that host Monte Vista Christian made its biggest gain. It helped the Cougars make a potential 14-point swing and secure a 30-14 victory to remain unbeaten in division play with two games remaining in the regular season.

MVC trailed by nine points, 23-14, with 10 minutes left in the fourth quarter, when Mustangs senior receiver Isaac Loredo hauled in a long pass from junior quarterback Evan Vessey and had an empty field in front of him as he sprinted toward the end zone on a 52-yard pass play.

But, Cougars junior safety Landon Pifer caught up to Loredo and punched the ball loose. Cougars cornerback Kenji Pane picked up the ball around the 30-yard line and returned it 28 yards to MVC’s 42 to set up an insurance score.

“I saw it and I couldn’t believe my eyes,” said Cougars senior defensive end Ollin Bates. “That whole sequence was just really a testament to how SLV plays football. It was a deep pass, we’re down, ‘Aw, shoot,’ You know what, we’re going to make something happen. Landon punches out the ball and Kenji picks it. I see him running down the field and I’m, ‘Oh, we’re in business.’ “

MVC turned in its best drive of the game in the final 3 minutes, marching from its own 35 to SLV’s 8 before turning the ball over on downs.

SLV killed the remainder of the game clock to secure another competitive victory.

“Their d-line is strong, you can see why they beat Scotts Valley the way they did,” said Mustangs coach Spencer Ferrari-Wood said. “In the trenches, they’re really good. That’s a good football team. They’re coached well. I’ll say this, I don’t think they did anything crazy, exotic, elaborate. They just beat us with pressure up front. Their DBs, they were able to drop seven and sit in zones. It was hard; we were kinda running around all night. Kudos to them, they played really good.”

SLV (6-2, 3-0) has found success against the meat of its schedule, but isn’t overlooking its final two opponents. It hosts Watsonville (3-4, 1-1) on Nov. 1 at 12:30 p.m. and closes with a home game against injured-plagued defending champion North Monterey County (1-6, 0-2) on Nov. 8 at 12:30 p.m.

“We haven’t accomplished anything yet,” Cougars coach David Grant said. “We’re 3 and 0 in league and that’s huge right now, but we’ve got two more big challenges. But you see a lot of grit in our defense and even our offense.”

Despite suffering their second straight loss, the Mustangs (4-4, 1-2) still have plenty to play for. They have two contests against crosstown foes remaining. They play at St. Francis (3-4, 1-1) on Nov. 1 at 12:30 p.m., and close with a home game against Watsonville (3-4, 1-1) on Nov. 7 at 7:30 p.m.

SLV’s game plan was to utilize its solid offensive line and run the ball, which would keep the clock running and the ball out of the hands of MVC’s potent passing attack. The strategy worked. And while on defense, SLV kept Vessey on the run with its pressure, despite playing with a three-man front.

“D-line, we had three guys, and I was really proud the way we handled their five guys, six guys,” Bates said. “We really made it a problem for them. And we made them think, ‘Hey man, they may only have three guys, but we need a lot more than three guys to stop them.’ “

SLV rushed for 202 yards on 43 attempts, and was 2-of-8 passing for 33 yards. Junior halfback Justin Coffis rushed for 151 yards and a pair of touchdowns on ``27 carries.

“We’ve played a lot of different teams, that’s probably the best running back I’ve played with or against,” Bates said. “In the practice, too. He runs so hard. Even if you close your eyes you can hear him rumbling down the field. … Coach calls him a rolling ball with butcher knives.”

The Cougars received sacks from Bates and junior linebacker Jacob Hardin, and interceptions from junior cornerback Colton Scarborough and Hardin.

MVC finished with 39 yards rushing on 13 carries, and Vessey completed 22 of 35 passes for 237 yards. The Mustangs finished with 250 yards passing on 36 attempts.

Ferrari-Wood said he apologized to Vessey, who was one the run for much of the evening.

Vessey threw for 300-plus yard in five straight games, including three 400-yard outings, but has been held to under 270 in his past two contests.

“And I apologize to him now,” the coach said. “I didn’t have answers for him tonight. He’s too good of a player for me to kinda throw to wolves and say, ‘Hey, go figure it out,’ or give him a play that’s not a great play call for the situation. I gotta be a better coach for him. He does a lot of great things.”

MVC got the start it hoped for against SLV. The Mustangs forced SLV to punt on their opening drive, and the Cougars snapped the ball over the punter’s head and MVC pounced on the loose ball at the Cougars’ 23-yard line.

Three plays later, Vessey connected with receiver Boston Ashe for the first of his two touchdown receptions, from 21 yards out, for MVC’s lone lead. He finished with six catches for 75 yards.

A sizable kickoff return from Nico Brasuele and personal foul against MVC helped SLV respond in three plays. Griffis scored on 25-yard run and he tacked on the first of his two 2-point conversion runs to give the Cougars the lead for good, 8-7.

The teams exchanged miscues — SLV dropped a short pass in the end zone on fourth down, and MVC booted a punt for minus-2 yards — and solid showings on defense, before Griffis broke through again.

MVC started all three of its offensive series in the second quarter pinned inside its own 10-yard line. Forced to punt late in the quarter, SLV took over at the Mustangs’ 25. Five plays later, Griffis scored on a 3-yard run and ran in another conversion.

SLV led 16-7 at the half.

SLV fumbled away a punt return midway through the third quarter and MVC took over at the Cougars’ 32. Three plays later, Vessey connected with Ashe for a 32-yard touchdown — Ashe’s 11th TD receptions this season — to narrow the Mustangs’ deficit to 16-14.

But the Cougars responded on their next possession. They marched 60 yards on six plays. Sophomore running back Jesse Fulkerson scored on an 18-yard run.

Pane’s fumbled recovery and return helped set up the final score of the game, a 1-yard plunge by Hardin.

Salinas 49, Aptos 35

SALINAS — The third-place Cowboys, coming off a 42-41 overtime loss to Palma last week, received a surprising fight from the last-place Mariners in their PCAL Gabilan Division game Thursday.

“Made ‘em bleed for a bit; best we’ve played all year,” said Mariners coach Zach Hewett.

Aptos (1-7, 0-6) trailed 21-14 at the half.

“They were a bit stunned at halftime with us only being down one score and playing with good emotion,” Hewett said. “We just ran out of magic in the second half.”

Aptos’ Alex Sandoval hauled in a 32-yard scoring pass from quarterback Josh Bermio.

Senior Gavin McDonald scored on runs of 4 and 11 yards for the Mariners. Senior Scott Catesi had a 9-yard TD run, and junior teammate Caden Bogle scored on an 8-yard run.

On defense, Aptos’ Gavin King-Boston made an interception on a tipped ball in the first half. Teamate Preston Carvalho made two sacks.

Sophomore quarterback Michael Andrade completed 11-of-16 passes for 199 yards and four touchdowns for Salinas (5-3, 4-2). He also scored on an 18-yard run.

Hovan Lusk made two touchdown receptions for the Cowboys, and Robert Morales and JP Perez each made one.

Aptos plays at Hollister (2-5, 2-3) on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. and closes the regular season with a home game against North Salinas (4-3, 2-3) on Nov. 7 at 7:30 p.m.

Hewett liked what he saw from his players.

“I’m hoping that we can be those guys the rest of the way,” he said. “We’ve been waiting all year to see this group play like that.”