Seven Lakes head coach Jimmy Hamon would trust Scott Stanford with anything.

So, with time running down on the clock and Seven Lakes needing a score, he knew there was only one person to give the ball.

“He’s like our swiss army knife,” Hamon said. “He holds our field goals, he punts, he plays outside linebacker and he’ll come in and play quarterback when we need him too. I’m going to miss him when he’s done.”

Stanford only played two snaps at quarterback all game, but he made them count, as he ran in a one-yard touchdown with 22 seconds left in Friday’s game against Morton Ranch to give the Spartans a 21-18 win in a humongous game with playoff implications in District 19-6A.

“We were a little worried because he was tired tonight,” Hamon said. “Morton Ranch ran the ball well and they ran the ball down our throats it felt like in that second half. He was in on a lot of those plays and he was pretty tired, but we had trust in him making a play.”

Stanford may have been tired heading into the play, but that didn’t matter to the senior, he knew he needed to deliver.

“Last year we ran that same exact play in an overtime game and I’d done it before and I knew all I needed was a yard,” Stanford said. “I just put my head down and that’s what I did, everyone blocked and all I did was just reach the ball over and get us the score.”

It took some late game heroics for Seven Lakes (5-2, 2-1) to get to that position, as Morton Ranch (3-3, 1-1) dominated the time of possession in the second half and got two touchdowns in the fourth quarter to erase a 15-point deficit.

The Mavericks took an 18-14 lead with 2:01 left in the game when Josh Johnson found Santana Scott for a 26-yard score and looked to be heading to a victory, but Seven Lakes came out with a plan on its last drive of the game.

Senior quarterback Grayson Medford engineered a 75-yard drive, running the teams two-minute offense to perfection, taking what the defense gave him in both the pass game and running the ball when it was open.

“I just tried to go out there and make plays on that last drive,” Medford said. “I tried to deal with the pressure, step up in the pocket and take what they were giving me.”

Seven Lakes was able to hang on after building a lead in a dominant first half for the Spartans. Michael Amico ran in an 11-yard run for a score early in the game, but Josh Johnson found Mike Gerald for a 6-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter.

Stanford blocked the extra point on a huge play and Seven Lakes went right down the field again and Amico scored on a 12-yard run, going into halftime with a 14-6 lead.

Morton Ranch controlled the game in the third quarter but were unable to get any points as Seven Lakes stopped the Mavericks on a fourth down fake field goal, but Morton Ranch had a chance to tie the game in the fourth when Johnson kept a zone read and ran in a 5-yard touchdown to trim their deficit to two-points.

Johnson again kept the ball on a zone read for the two-point conversion try, but this time it didn’t work, as Stanford snuffed it out and stopped him in the backfield.

“The play before that, he scored on that exact same read,” Stanford said. “I was like, you’re not doing that again. I baited him a little bit by going inside but I knew he was going to pull it because he was looking right at me. I just went out there and tackled him.”

The win puts Seven Lakes in a very good position to clinch a playoff spot if they are able to take care of business the rest of the way in district.

“It was super important to get this win,” Medford said. “We can’t go easy on anyone, but this was a great win. We get our bye week, we’re going to get healthier and we are going to get right. We’re going to be ready.”

Morton Ranch will need to bounce back if the team has any shot of making the playoffs but will be in for a tough test when they face Tompkins next week. Seven Lakes has a bye week before they also will face Tompkins.

“Our whole team is going to get healthy this week and then we come back and play Tompkins,” Stanford said. “That’s going to be a really good battle for us. We’ve been going at it for seven straight weeks with a scrimmage as well. We’re all beat up and sore and this week will be perfect for us to get healthy and ready.”

Seven Lakes 41, Taylor 20

First quarter

SL: Michael Amico 11 run (Keegan Sneedon kick) 7:29

Second quarter

MR: Josh Johnson 6 pass to Mike Gerald, 5:12

SL: Amico 12 run (Sneedon kick) 3:50

Fourth quarter

MR: Johnson 5 run (run failed) 6:16

MR: Johnson 26 pass to Santana Scott (pass failed) 2:01

SL: Scott Stanford 1 run (Sneedon kick) 0:22

Team stats

Individual Statistics

Rushing – Seven Lakes: Barrett Hudson, 15-103; Grayson Medford, 12-81; Michael Amico, 10-55-2; Michael Amico, Marcel Davis, 1-15; Scott Stanford, 2-3-1; Morton Ranch: Santana Scott, 26-116; Ryan Hall, 7-33; Josh Johnson, 3-12-1; Ryan Hall, 7-33; Mike Gerald, 1-7;

Passing – Seven Lakes: Grayson Medford, 7-8-67-0-0; Morton Ranch: Josh Johnson, 8-16-137-2-0; Mike Gerald, 0-1-0-0-0;

Receiving – Seven Lakes: Landon Ross, 3-26; Brayden Phillips, 2-21; Kyle Foster, 2-20; Morton Ranch: Santana Scott, 4-98-1; Mike Gerald, 3-24-1; Josiah Mills, 1-15;