Posted on 30 August 2014 by La Habra Journal
By Jeremiah Girard
La Habra Journal
The Whittier Christian Heralds started their season off on the right foot with a 33-25 win over the Bishop Broncos, Friday at Whittier College.
Things did not start of well for the Heralds and the Broncos jumped on them early. There were three different possessions in the first half where Whittier Christian had the ball inside the Bishop 10-yard line and did not score. They missed two field goals.
“The way I look at it, we left 24 points off of the board,” said Herald head coach Sergio Gradilla, “We need to cut that out going forward.”
Bishop’s quarterback, Ryan Graves, had it going early and threw two touchdown passes in the first half to put Bishop up 12-7. Graves finished with 210 yards on 8-16 throwing and four touchdowns. Then Whittier Christian woke up.
“For whatever reason we came out flat,” Gradilla said. “They woke up and responded well and I was glad to come away with the win.”
The big difference for the Heralds was sophomore running back Justin Osborn. He only saw the endzone once, but was a consistent work horse for Whittier Christian. He finished the game with 213 rushing yards.
“It felt good to go out and do that on my first varsity game,” Osborn said. “I was nervous at first but when the game started I got my head into it and went out and delivered.”
Nick Watase was also big for the Heralds and saw the end zone three times. He had a 39-yard receiving touchdown and rushing touchdowns from five and six yards. He had 148 receiving yards and 33 rushing yards.
Whittier Christian’s Cooper Hughes went 20-37 passing for 274 yards. He threw two touchdowns and an interception.
“I thought that we played well overall today but the defense needs some tightening up and we need a better understanding of our formations,” Gradilla said. “I think we are in a pretty good place going forward though.”
The Heralds (1-0) will look to improve to 2-0 against Brethren Christian, Thursday at 7 p.m. at Ocean View High School in Huntington Beach.
