INDIO — Although Indio High School football coach James Gordon's two kicking decisions in the two overtimes seemed contradictory, he said there was a common threat to his choices: Just win the game.

Gordon's second choice paid off, when he decided to go for a 2-point conversion following Dominic Mata's touchdown to give the Rajahs an eight-point lead, before Indio held on defensively to pull out a 29-21 double-overtime victory over Cathedral City for the Rajahs' first Desert Valley League victory.

“This was a battle for me,” Gordon said. “I'm excited we won and we needed the win, but I told our team we needed to end the season 2-0. We still have to play Coachella Valley and that will be a battle.”

Leading the Rajahs was Mata, who rushed for 146 yards and two touchdowns. Estevan Garcia carried the ball 15 times for 86 yards and scored the 2-point conversion in the second overtime.

“We had the two-headed beasts,” Gordon said. “I told them going into overtime, we had been here before. We played Palm Desert last year, and when we tried to throw, it failed. My thought was we were going to run the football in the end zone.”

As good as Mata and Garcia were rushing the ball, Gordon ruled against his backs in the first overtime on a short-yardage situation that backfired on him.

On Indio's possession, they gained 9 yards to set up a fourth-and-1. Rather than put the ball behind the Rajahs' offensive line, which had been dominating the Lions, Gordon elected to go for a 32-yard field goal, which was blocked.

“We had already stopped them, so when we had the ball there, I was thinking if we kick, we win,” Gordon said. “We did want to run, but I was thinking about the game last year, and this year we wanted to make sure we go for the win, so we went for the field goal.”

In the second overtime, Indio scored on its first play, a 25-yard touchdown run by Mata.

Rather than go for a point-after kick, Gordon elected to go for two, where Garcia scored on the run.

“One time earlier in the game, they got inside and almost blocked a PAT, and then they blocked the field goal,” Gordon said. “So we decided to go for two and then we could put the pressure on them because they would have to go for it also.”

The loss will be especially tough for Cathedral City to swallow.

The Lions failed to score on fourth-and-goal from the 2-yard line early in the second quarter. In the fourth quarter, the Lions fumbled at the 1-yard line with 8:03 remaining. The Rajahs took over and ran out the clock, failing to score from the 26-yard line.

The Rajahs (2-7, 1-3 DVL) scored the tying touchdown with 5:26 remaining in the third quarter when quarterback Mark Sumler scored from 1 yard. On the 69-yard drive, the Lions (1-8, 0-4) had two personal foul penalties, giving the Rajahs 30 yards.

“It's tough,” Lions coach Mitch Donnelly said. “Both teams were in the same situation. It's a tough loss. We have to fight to get one win. The kids played a great game, but it came down to a couple of breaks.”

Leading the Lions was Quinn Lee, who caught six passes for 81 yards and three touchdowns. He also intercepted a pass on defense.