MONTE VISTA – The Monte Vista High School football team put an end to years of frustration with a 36-26 home win on senior night over rival Centauri.

The Pirates (7-2, 5-0) secured the 1A South Central crown on Friday at Harvey Sullivan Field with the victory and ended a seven-game losing streak to the fourth-ranked Falcons (8-1, 4-1) in the process.

“They have had our number. It has been a frustrating stretch,” said Pirates coach Manny Wasinger. “Our theme this week was it’s time. Centauri is an awesome opponent, undefeated coming in – the champions for a reason. We had a good night tonight.

“I was proud of our kids the way they continued to battle.”

The Pirates last beat the Falcons, 23-14, in 2015 and secured the 1A Southern Peaks title with that win.

When the teams meet a league title usually hangs in the balance. The two teams have finished first or second in league to each other since 2012 — CHS had won nine during the span.

Monte Vista was balanced on offense Friday night scoring two touchdowns through the air and three TDs on the ground.

Monte Vista’s senior bruising running back, Jacob Pacheco, found the end zone on runs of 79 yards, 25 yards and 50 yards.

MVHS senior quarterback Kaden Madrid connected with junior wideout Azariah Hurtado on scoring passes of 4 yards and 65 yards, both in the second quarter.

The 65-yard scoring strike came after a Falcons fumble with 1 minute and 49 seconds left in the second quarter and gave the Pirates the lead for good at 22-14 after a successful 2-point run.

Pacheco tied the game 6-6 with a 79-yard race to the endzone with 4:24 left in the first quarter.

Madrid and Hurtado connected from 4-yards out midway through the second quarter to tie the game again, this time at 14-all after a successful 2-point pass.

“One of the things that makes us hard to defend is that we are very multiple on offense. We can run the ball with Jacob,” Wasinger said. “He had a big night tonight. The offensive line played well.

“But we can certainly spread it out. We are tough to defend because we can spread you out and do a lot of things,” Wasinger said.

Jacob increased the Pirates’ lead to 28-20 with a punishing 25-yard rush with 1:58 left in the third quarter and extended it to double digits, 36-20, with a 50-yard jaunt early in the final quarter.

Centauri senior running back Parker Buhr scored from 21 yards out to bring the Falcons within 36-26 with 9:07 remaining.

Monte Vista’s Hurtado put an end to any notion of a comeback with an interception at the Centauri 27-yard line with 2:17 left in the game. It was his second interception of the night.

Burh finished with three rushing touchdowns to lead the Falcons – two coming in the first quarter. He opened the scoring with a 73-yard TD rush and added a 7 yarder to give the Falcons a 14-6 lead.

Dylan Gallardo caught a 52-yard touchdown pass to pull the Falcons to 22-20 with 56.7 left in the first half.

The Falcons lost four fumbles, threw two interceptions, and turned the ball over on downs twice.

Both teams entered Friday night’s game riding long winning streaks. The Pirates had won five straight, and the Falcons were at eight.

Both teams will learn who they play in the playoffs when the brackets are set over the weekend.