GRACE BRETHREN WINS THRILLER : G. BRETHREN 32, F. BAPTIST 26.

Byline: Dave Shelburne Staff Writer

You might get an argument from the cardiologists of both head coaches, but all championship football games should be as good as Saturday's Southern Section 8-man final between top-seeded Grace Brethren and third-seeded Faith Baptist.

Host Grace Brethren prevailed 32-26 but only after rallying to tie with 3:14 left following a fumble recovery by Tyson Larson - playing with a broken hand - then, with 46 seconds left, getting a game-winning touchdown catch from offensive lineman John Durso, who had never been thrown a pass in his high school career.

And after all that, the Dennis Stephenson-coached Lancers (12-0) had to hold off a last-gasp Faith Baptist charge that ended only when the visiting Contenders (10-2) missed their final four pass attempts from the Grace Brethren 33 - just missing a first-and-goal connection inside the 5-yard line.

``I was pretty nervous,'' said Durso, a 6-foot-6, 200-pound senior who caught the game-winning 8-yard touchdown pass from Robert Serra on a guard-eligible play. ``We work on the play in practice all the time, but we've never used it in a game - I still can't believe it.''

Neither can the Contenders, who worked coach Greg Weiss' game plan almost to perfection and never trailed until the final minute.

Using a time-consuming running attack designed to keep the ball away from the quicker Lancers, Faith Baptist fashioned two near-7-minute scoring drives in the first half, stung the Lancers with Julio Bautista's 62-yard TD pass to Eujay Masangkay early in the second half, then seemingly took control with a big defensive play in the fourth quarter.

Fernando Velasquez started that one, batting a Serra pass at the line, and Lonnie Clayton returned the deflection-interception 60 yards to set up a 1-yard Bautista TD run that put the Contenders up 26-18 with 10:37 to play.

When Faith Baptist then forced the Lancers to punt on their next series, the Contenders took possession with 7:35 left intent on running out the clock. But Clayton fumbled two minutes later and Larson won a wild scramble for the ball to set up a 31-yard drive Serra would cap with a 23-yard TD pass to Ryan Shaffer.

Serra's PAT pass to Shaffer tied the game at 26-26 and forced Weiss to make a tough decision on the ensuing possession, when his Contenders faced a fourth-and-4 at their own 31 with 1:11 to play: His dilemma of punting or going for first down was compounded by the fact the Southern Section had already decreed a tie would produce co-champions, with no tiebreaker.

Weiss ordered Bautista to go for it, but Durso fought off a block to stop the Contenders quarterback for no gain, giving Grace Brethren the ball and launching a game-winning drive.

Weiss called it ``a case of pick your poison. I couldn't be sure we could have stopped them if we punted - they have too much speed. We wanted to give our guys a chance to go for the win.''

They missed but came away with numerous big efforts, notably by Bautista (192 yards total offense), Jason Encarnacion (58 yards rushing, eight tackles), Jeremy Lopez (10 tackles and an interception), Clayton (59 yards rushing, eight tackles, interception) and Ben Gonzalez (nine tackles).

Grace Brethren offset that with strong play by Serra (eight tackles, 220 yards total offense, two TD passes) and especially Larson, who broke his right hand in the first quarter but totaled game-highs of 123 yards rushing and 13 tackles and scored three touchdowns.

Shawn McClain (eight catches), Jackson Beauchamp (10 tackles) and Steven McClain (eight tackles) were other key players for the Lancers, who overcame Faith Baptist leads of 8-0, 8-6, 14-6, 14-12, 20-12, 20-18 and 26-18 and won on a gambling pass to a nervous rookie receiver.

``I thank God,'' Durso said.

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PHOTO Ryan Shaffer of Grace Brethren struggles for extra yards against Faith Baptist's Jeremy Lopez during the Lancers' 32-26 title victory.

Andy Holzman/Staff Photographer