SOUTH PASADENA — For the first time since 2014, La Cañada has knocked off South Pasadena.

Spartans senior quarterback Joe Bell had a four-touchdown performance on Friday night, leading his team to a 29-22 victory in a back-and-forth battle against South Pasadena (2-2).

Bell ran 19 times for 153 yards with two rushing touchdowns, while completing 4 of 8 passes for 95 yards, including two touchdown passes over 20 yards to senior wide receiver Ross Perkins

“This is what you play football for. Going out here with your guys, winning a big game,” Bell said. “Two of them to my best friend Ross Perkins. I’ve known him since I was 8 years old.

“It’s the best feeling in the world.”

For La Cañada (4-0), Bell’s final touchdown was the most important.

Trailing 22-21 with less than three minutes left in the fourth quarter, senior running back Chase Regan had a 19-yard run and a 21-yard run on their final drive that left the Spartans sniffing the end zone.

With over two minutes left in the game, La Cañada took a knee twice to wind down the clock to the game’s final seconds. That set up Bell for the go-ahead score on a 1-yard touchdown run with 29 seconds left.

“You gotta love Joe Bell. We’ve been playing baseball together since we were 8. So we’re pretty tight,” Regan said. “To do this with him is pretty special. Our senior year, it’s our last ride. It’s exciting, man.”

Regan was the Spartans’ second leading rusher of the night, carrying the ball 16 times for 126 yards, while the Spartans offense finished the game running for 279 yards.

“Our O-line tonight, our boys up front, they worked hard,” Regan said. “They battled through some injuries. We’ve been battling through some injuries all year, and they played really hard tonight. We knew what we needed to do and we got it done.”

La Cañada coach Dave Avramovich loved the execution in the final minute.

“I’m really proud of the guys for how we managed the game at the end,” La Cañada head coach Dave Avramovich said. “The execution of that. Making sure that we could shrink the clock as much as we could, shrink the clock like we did.”

The victory didn’t come easy for the Spartans as they committed four penalties on drive while on defense in the second quarter. A late-hit penalty took away an interception before halftime.

South Pasadena took advantage of the penalty and took the lead by giving the ball to senior running back, Evan Hyun, who was their leading rusher.

Hyun had 15 carries for 72 yards and two rushing touchdowns against the Spartans. It was the lowest rushing game for him this season, as he entered the night averaging over 100 yards per game.

Mike Dilisio and Ethan Nott were South Pasadena’s other two rushers, who helped the team run for a combined 172 yards.

“That’s what we expect from our running backs, because they’re tough kids,” South Pasadena head coach Jeff Chi said. “We’re gonna give them the ball as much as we can, because they’re very productive at what they do.”

Ethan Nott had the Tigers’ third score of the night, late in the third quarter from a 10-yard run.

After his touchdown, both teams’ defenses finally woke up and forced back-to-back fumbles, then a turnover on downs by La Cañada and a punt by South Pasadena.

With 5:37 left in the game, Bell threw a 13-yard pass to Brandon Mohagheh to get their offense going. Then he sealed the deal with his connection to Bell.

“Overall, they competed until the very end. Very close game,” Chi said. “Hopefully that will help us learn to get better and improve.”

South Pasadena had one more shot to win the game, but during the final seconds, quarterback Cody Robinson threw a game-ending interception to Ethan Sui.

La Cañada will face St. Francis on the road next week, while South Pasadena will go on the road to play at Franklin.