Back Bay took the Southern California HS club title Saturday with a 28-14 defeat of Los Angeles, and it was a fitting finish to the Sharks’ season.

Travis Heer and Aaron Matthews once again led a potent backline attack, with Raymong Tufuga providing a needed second-half spark.

LA led at halftime but had to overcome a stirring start from Back Bay - it was Back Bay that led 8-0 early on, but then they got into penalty trouble. Guilty of not releasing the tackled player and coming in from the side - a sure sign that LA’s big runners, led by Justus Tavai and with Juwhan Johnston playing superbly once more, were causing problems.

Not interested in kicking for points, LA tapped and ran, and tapped and ran again, trundling over for two tries and a 14-8 lead.

“The kids came off the field and were a bit stunned,” said Back Bay Head Coach Jeff Bonnett. “But we said, ‘there’s nothing happening here that you didn’t expect. They’re going to crash the ball. This is a character check.’”

The key was to get the ball back, and then send it to their backline, and that’s just what Back ay did. With Tufuga forcing three or four into the breakdown to top him, and Eddie Wood tackling all of the place at No. 8, that allowed the backs to work, and Back Bay pulled away.

It was a big final day for the Back Bay program, which has several HS All Americans, including Matthews, who was the team glue.

“We’ve been blessed to have him as a leader and a player,” said Bonnett. “He just took over.”