All Sean McDougall could do was sit on the turf and watch the play unfold.

The 10-year veteran had just leapt up to stop a huck which would have put the Houston Havoc on the doorstep of winning the game. But, as McDougall started to cramp after the game-saving play, the Aviators’ chances to win relied on the other six players on the field.

“I was thinking, ‘please, please, please catch the damn disc,’” McDougall said. “Please. I am taking my guy out of the play.”

With the game in double overtime — a one-point, winner-take-all period — Los Angeles needed a score after squandering a break opportunity earlier in the point. 

The Aviators quickly moved it up the field after the Houston turnover, buoyed by a 39-yard throw from Kevin Goldberg to James Franklin. Los Angeles stayed patient, not forcing anything as it took five more throws to get it right back to Franklin at the goal line.

Franklin utilized his 6-foot-6 frame, getting over the defender with a high-release backhand to connect with Michael Kiyoi for the 20-19 win over the Houston Havoc at Great Park Championship Stadium on Friday night.

“We just tried to have fun and that was the difference,” Franklin said. “All of our other games, we went down in a hole early, and we've been figuring things out in practice and tightening things up throughout the season. And this felt like we played more of a complete game.”

The win marked LA’s first this season after falling in its first four games, and it doubles as Jake Baumer’s first victory as a head coach.

“Watching Sean, watching an all-time great player make an all-time great play to give us a chance to do it was incredible,” Baumer said. “[I] Started crying when I hugged my mom after. [I] didn't think I'd be that emotional, but that was just the emotions that I gave start to finish. It was a physical, mental battle for everybody. I'm just insanely proud of this team.”

While it was Franklin who threw the game-winning assist as part of a four-assist, three-goal game, McDougall set the team up for a win by putting his body on the line.

After a block by Max Combs on the final point, the Aviators had a chance to win. But on the sixth throw out of a timeout, Houston’s Ben Lewis cut the distance between himself and McDougall, then laid out to get the disc back to the Havoc with his 90th career block.

The 6-foot-1 Lewis made his way into the deep space with McDougall guarding him, drawing a huck. Lewis had the position and the slight height advantage over the 6-foot Aviator, but McDougall timed his jump perfectly and got revenge on Lewis to help set up LA for the win.

“They're throwing a good jump ball to their best deep threat, who is a fantastic deep threat, who had position,” Baumer said. “You don't expect to come out on top, but Sean McDougall has a chance to make every single play. And when that disc went up, it was probably a 3% chance, but that's what Sean does. Sean makes those plays.”

The block was the cherry on top for McDougall, who kept the Aviators in the game throughout the six periods of play with four goals, four assists and two blocks to lead the team with a plus/minus of +10.

The D-line put out its best performance of the season against the Havoc, as McDougall had two of his 10 scores for breaks after coming on as a sub following timeouts when the Aviator defense forced a turnover.

Los Angeles totalled a season-high six breaks against Houston, securing breaks at a 27% clip. Baumer’s squad came into the game with a league-worst 12.7% conversion rate on break opportunities, but the strong performance moved the Aviators two spots higher in the UFA’s break rankings.

“We have fantastic players on our top D line, obviously, that's why they're there, but I think with how our second D line played, that really fueled that top line to do what they needed to do in the clutch moments,” Baumer said. “Our second team didn't go out there and just get rolled over on defense. They went and made plays and got us the disc.”

With a three-goal deficit heading into the fourth, the Aviators needed all the clutch plays they could muster. LA put up three of its breaks in what normally would have been the final period, punctuated by a Callahan from Mitchell Steiner.

Steiner led the team in blocks last season, but only had two heading into the matchup with the Havoc. Still, the 11-year veteran came up in the clutch and tied the game at 15 apiece to end a three-point run for Los Angeles.

“The defensive pressure was just electric,” Franklin. We're such a young team. We have people who are playing [in their first season]. And it just felt like we were a team that wanted to win, finally. Everyone on the sideline believed that we could do it.”

Despite the momentum, the Aviators still needed a break to win it in regulation. With 3:11 left in the game, Houston came out on offense and had a chance to go back up by one. 

While he did not earn a block for it, Cy Toriello made an early jump to defend a huck sent yet again to Lewis. Toriello’s jump sent Lewis into the air early as he missed it and sent it to the turf. Despite coming into the game with the sixth-best huck percentage in the UFA, LA’s stiff defense sent the Havoc tumbling to 10th in the league after a season-high six huck turnovers.

Jonathan Lyle came onto the field to replace an injured Steiner after the Havoc turnover, helping the Aviators move the disc up the field. After his sling to Combs, Lyle gave Los Angeles its first lead since it had a 2-1 lead in the season opener against San Diego. The rookie set a career high in total scores after notching six assists and four goals.

The game was not over just yet though.

As time expired, the Havoc earned a strip call in the endzone which tied the game and sent the game to overtime. After each team scored just once in the five-minute period, it led to an untimed second overtime.

Enter McDougall. Enter Franklin.

“Hopefully [the win is] the first of many,” McDougall said. “It's a step. I don't see it as an end result. I see it as an opportunity for us to continue to grow.”

The Aviators will look to carry the upward trajectory into their next matchup this Friday as they take on the Austin Sol 7 p.m. at Great Park Championship Stadium. Fans can buy tickets here.