Mitchell Labrado’s effort got off to a shaky start on Friday night, to put it kindly. He would describe his early going as something a great deal more hideous.

The Laguna Creek High School junior quarterback had an interception returned for a touchdown by Antonio Vasquez-Williams in the opening minutes against Pleasant Grove, the dreaded pick-6. His team suffered four first-half turnovers that resulted in a 17-point halftime deficit.

So what did Labrado do to save face? How about a game-winning, 12-play, 90-yard drive, using his legs, his arm and his mind, leading to the Cardinals’ stirring last-second 27-24 triumph over the Eagles at Sheldon in a nonleague contest that lit up the Elk Grove Unified School District.

“Never give up,” Labrado said. “We live by that.”

Laguna Creek trailed 24-7 at the half with those turnovers setting up Pleasant Grove nicely as Bobby Mitchell scored on two short runs and Carter Tseau drilled a 41-yard field goal as time expired.

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But the Cardinals didn’t buckle. Certainly, their quarterback didn’t. On a 3rd-and-18 play on that late drive, Labrado scrambled for his life for a first down, his receivers covered, energizing his sideline and his visiting crowd behind it.

Laguna Creek’s burly tailback, Armon Thorntona, won it with a 2-yard plunge with 21 seconds left, his second touchdown effort of the half, and Jalen Flenory sealed it with an interception. Flenory was a key basketball cog for a Cardinals team that tied for the Metro League championship last season, and at 3-1, these football Cardinals bound into league action next week with some bounce in their step.

“Huge,” ecstatic Laguna Creek coach Ryan Nill said of the comeback. “For Mitchell to bounce back from that first half was amazing. He rose to the occasion. This is a huge catapult to our season. I told Mitchell that he can’t quit after that slow start, to keep leading. We’re riding you, 15.”

No one is a harsher critic of his game than Labrado, who wears jersey No. 15. He lives for this. He studies the game as much as he hits his studies as a 4.0 student. He was the varsity starter last season for a 7-3 team that did not get into the playoffs but fully expects to this season.

Labrado completed 24 of 33 passes for 281 yards and two touchdowns as the Cardinals piled up 402 yards of offense. The defense was equal to the task as the first-half turnovers were not on the stoppers. Pleasant Grove managed just 116 yards of offense.

“I was so down (after that pick-6),” Labrado said. “But I knew I had to keep my head up. I couldn’t let this team down. I know we had a chance to turn this game around.”

On the 3rd-and-18 scramble, Labrado said, “I saw no one open and I just took off, open green, trying to make a play.”

Pleasant Grove players were stunned at the finish, as was its full crowd, right on down to the spirited rooting section. But Eagles coach Josh Crabtree said he can appreciate grit when he sees it, and that was Labrado.

“If he wasn’t wearing the other uniform, I would have been standing and cheering for that kid in the second half,” the coach said. “We tried to force him to make plays to beat us, and he made just enough of them in the second half. I could talk about all the things we did wrong, but in the end, that kid did what he needed to do to drag his team across the finish line.”

Labrado, Thorntona and lineman Declan Follette are among the team anchors, driven to keep the train rolling. Labrado and Thorntona have played together since youth ball. They have dreamed of nights like this.

Laguna Creek athletic director Jon Ussery said the “culture is great on our campus” and credits the football team and its alum coach Nill for a lot of it.

Nill, meanwhile, is beaming. He played for the Cardinals back in his day, inspired to get into teaching and coaching by his father, Mark, a longtime program coach and teacher. Offensive coordinator Mark Eddy is also a longtime program mainstay.

“I have a dream job,” Nill said. “I grew up watching these guys do this and I knew that one day that I’d be doing this.”

Speaking like a coach, Labrado said: “We still have a lot of work to do. I think we can get into the playoffs and we can get into the section finals. But we have to work at it. I know we won’t give up.”