SAN JOSE — Sixteen seconds changed the course of Lincoln-San Jose’s season.

The Lions were staring defeat in the face in their 28-20 CIF Northern California 6-AA regional championship win against Gridley, trailing by a touchdown late.

Then Michael Whitelaw crossed up his defender on a double move, running free for a 64-yard scoring catch on a pass from Luca Papoulias.

Then Lincoln forced a fumble on the ensuing kickoff.

Then Kyan Phillips, battling with a bruised knee, stumbled 17 yards through ankle tackle attempts by multiple Gridley defenders for another score.

Like Phillips, Lincoln simply refused to go down. And after Lincoln took a 28-20 lead on Phillips’ TD with four minutes to go, the Lions defense got a fourth-down stop on their own 40-yard line with 1:33 left.

It was so close the officials had to measure.

The verdict? Lions ball.

Then Phillips put Gridley’s season on ice with back-to-back runs, gaining one final first down to seal the game.

“We going to L.A., baby!” several Lions shouted amid the celebration.

Lincoln will play Valley Center for the 6-AA state title next weekend in Southern California.

The NorCal championship win was the first of Lincoln coach Kevin Collins’ 33-year coaching career at the San Jose school, and it came one week after the Lions (11-3) won their first Central Coast Section title across town at San Jose City College.

“I’m sick, I’m tired,” Collins said. “My emotions are just — I don’t know. I’m so just very, very pleased for these guys, very happy for the whole Lincoln community. It’s just ... it’s incredible. It’s incredible.”

A half hour or so earlier, Collins was sick for an entirely different reason. Gridley was about to put the game away.

The Bulldogs (13-1) had the ball at Lincoln’s 16-yard line, leading 20-14 with about 6 minutes to play. Another touchdown would have all but ended the year for the Lions.

But Gridley quarterback Eli Punzo’s pass intended for tight end Riley Engleman was tipped and caught by Lincoln’s Ryan Bernwanger, who returned it from the 3 to the 20 to set up the Lions’ game-winning TD drive.

Phillips got the ball out to the 36 with a pair of runs and a short reception. Then Whitelaw did the rest.

“On the touchdown, I saw green,” the junior wide receiver said. “It was all green, man. I saw the DB, he had fallen. I was like, ‘What are you doing, man? You can’t be falling on the floor.’ And then from there, it was just wide open. My QB threw a dot.”

Quipped Collins, “Thank God I have Michael Whitelaw. My college coach who’s here, Terry Malley, always told me, ‘You’ve got to beat the one-on-none.’ Well, we beat the one-on-none, thank God. And then Michael skirted down the sidelines.”

Once Lincoln seized the lead and fortified it with Phillips’ second touchdown of the day, it was up to the Lions defense to make the advantage stand up.

After allowing a few first downs, Lincoln forced Gridley into a fourth-and-3 thanks to a second-down shoestring tackle by Lucas Martinez on a reverse and an incomplete pass on third down when Punzo was flushed from the pocket.

On fourth down, a blue wall of Lions converged at the 40, preventing Jace Griggs, the Bulldogs’ tall, bruising running back, from reaching the line to gain.