The 2015 Long Beach City College Football season, the best in years for the Vikings, came to a close Saturday with a 43-17 loss against Saddleback College in the 2015 Southern California Championship game.

On a cold night in Mission Viejo, the Vikings fell behind and couldn’t quite stage a comeback, ending the season with a 10-2 record, according to an LBCC release. The season counts as the Vikings’ best since 1998—just two wins away from their first state championship since 1995.

Saddleback’s early lead was marked by a pair of first-half interceptions on passes by Jack Lowary (Mater Dei HS) that were quickly converted to touchdowns. Meanwhile, Saddleback’s Johnny Stanton (Southern League Offensive Player of the Year) dominated, opening the game with a perfect 11 for 11 on passing, throwing three first-half touchdowns, making for a lead of 30-3 over LBCC at the half.

While the LBCC defense forced three Saddleback turnovers in the second half and outscore Saddleback 14-13 in the last two quarters, the lead established by the LBCC rival was too much to overcome.

Long Beach made just one touchdown from passing, from Lowary to Jacob Welch in the third quarter. Lowary completed 19 of 45 passes for 179 yards. He made another five-yard run in the fourth quarter, before Saddleback scored two more touchdowns to clinch the victory.

The Vikings’ Player of the Game title went to Matt Boesen (West Torrance HS), as he totaled five tackles, broke up two passes and recovered a fumble. Another 14 tackles and a forced fumble were completed by the Vikings’ London lakopo (Mater Dei HS), who led the defense.

Mike Wilson (Washington Prep HS), the Central League Offensive Player of the Year, made just two catches. However, his second catch, for nine yards, broke LBCC’s all-time single-season record, with 1,259 receiving yards, adding to other school records for receptions and touchdowns he’s set this year (80 receptions and 16 touchdowns).