VAN NUYS — At the start of every weight room session this season, Laguna Hills football players did 16 pushups, a symbolic representation of the number of games the Hawks would need to play for a chance to win a state championship.

Laguna Hills will indeed play in that 16th game.

That’s because the Hawks’ 15th game was a 35-28 victory over Birmingham in the CIF Southern California Division 3-A Regional  championship Saturday at Birmingham High School.

The Hawks (14-1) will play Bellarmine for the 3-A state championship on Dec. 10 at San Jose City College. The Bells defeated Vanden 35-21 on Saturday to capture the Northern California 3-A title.

“That has been our mindset since the day we started here,” Laguna Beach coach John Lester said of his team’s berth in the state championship. “It’s just been an unbelievable ride all year.”

Laguna Beach and the Patriots (9-5) essentially traded touchdowns for much of the contest, but while there was plenty of offense, the game came down to which team could make the big stops on defense.

The Hawks did exactly that, stopping the high-powered Patriots on their final two possessions to secure the victory.

“I said at halftime, it was either who was going to have the ball last who was going to blink first,” Lester said.

Laguna Beach stopped the Patriots on fourth-and-12 from their 18 midway through the fourth quarter.

Despite starting the ensuing drive in the red zone, the Hawks came up empty and turned the ball over on downs at the Birmingham 31 with 2:22 left in the game.

The Patriots kept their hopes alive by converting twice on fourth down plays and driving to the Laguna Beach 38 with just over a minute remaining.

On first down, Laguna Hills nose guard Sam Stark batted down a pass and then was in on a sack three plays later on fourth down.

Laguna Beach took over with 44 seconds left and ran out the clock.

Laguna Beach running back Troy Leigber had another standout performance, scoring four of the Hawks’ five touchdowns.

Leigber’s fourth score was a 95-yard kickoff return that put the Hawks ahead 28-21 and came one play after the Patriots had tied the score on Peyton Water’s 2-yard touchdown run

Leigber scored touchdowns on all three of the Hawks’ first-half possessions.

The senior’s first TD was an 11-yard run that capped a game-opening 57-yard drive.

Leigber then scored on runs of 1 and 19 yards, capping drives of 65 and 76 yards, respectively.

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“I love winning with this team,” Leigber said. “It just feels awesome that we have a chance to go to Northern California and win a state title. I just want to go out with a win and this is my last chance to do that.”

The Patriots answered the Hawks’ first two scores with touchdowns of their own, the first coming on a 43-yard run from Naiim Morgan and the second on a 21-yard scoring pass from Kingston Tisdell to Peyton Waters.