COLTON — In a battle of undefeated Skyline League teams, the Carter Lions and Colton Yellowjackets countered score-for-score until a final defensive stand saw Colton come out victorious 49-41 and claim at least a share of the league title.

Tied halfway through the third quarter, Colton (7-1, 4-0) broke the tie with a pair of touchdowns three minutes apart with sophomore quarterback Koa Regalado leading his team downfield on both drives and throwing his third touchdown, a 21-yard pass to freshman Jonathan Quiroz to give the Yellowjackets a 35-21 lead.

In immediate response, senior running back Jordan McKinney returned a kickoff for 88 yards to put Carter (5-3, 3-1) back within a score. McKinney would finish the game with 388 all-purpose yards and four touchdowns, including 298 yards rushing and three scores on 20 attempts.

“We’ve been prepping (Jordan) for three years to do something special,” Carter head coach Felipe Salas said. “Every time he touched the ball tonight he was pretty elusive, so we’re going to lean on him going forward.”

Regalado would again respond and find the end zone on the first play of the fourth quarter to make it a two-score game. He finished by completing 24 of 40 passes for 319 yards and four touchdowns, along with 62 rushing yards on six attempts.

“(Koa) rarely makes the wrong plays,” Colton head coach Ray Rodriguez said. “He does a phenomenal job leading this offense, even as a sophomore.”

“I knew it was going to be a dogfight going against Koa,” Salas said. “I knew he was going to make things happen on the ground and throwing the ball. I think he does a good job overall for a young quarterback and was the difference.”

Carter would not go away quietly, concluding its next offensive drive with a 3-yard rushing touchdown from senior quarterback Ryder Carson.

Opting for an onside kick that it recovered, Carter again responded with Carson scoring.

Missing the extra-point that put the Lions down by one with 5:06 remaining in the game, they opted again for an onside kick attempt that went awry with Quiroz catching the attempt and finding open field ahead of him for a 50-yard kick return touchdown, again making it an eight-point game.

On its final possession, an offensive holding penalty on Carter negated a 42-yard passing touchdown that would have given the Lions a chance at tying with a 2-point conversation with 2:58 left in the fourth. Instead, three consecutive incomplete passes led to a turnover and victory for Colton.

The win secured a share at minimum of the Skyline League title for Colton. The Yellowjackets can claim sole possession of the league with a victory in their next game against Notre Dame, where their focus will be on defense.

“We have to eliminate big plays,” Rodriguez said. “We took some shots on defense — sent some blitzes and tried some things that bit us in the butt, but we just have to eliminate big plays.”

“I’m just proud of everyone,” Regalado said. “No one thought we would be here, and we just continued to prove everybody wrong, but the job’s not finished.”