Grant Escobar had a huge night with 181 yards rushing and another 78 in pass receptions
By Tim Peterson
(Whittier) – It wasn’t pretty. It wasn’t the way Whittier Christian is accustomed to winning games. But it was a W and the Heralds will take it as they knocked off Salesian 21-14 to remain undefeated Friday night at Whittier College.
Whittier Christian committed three turnovers including a crucial one late in the fourth quarter. Instead of going up by two touchdowns late to ice the game, Stephen Anderson was intercepted by Luke Urista at the Mustang five yard line giving Salesian one more shot to tie it.
Salesian set up shop at the nine and moved the ball out to the 35. But a Whittier Christian sack and then an incomplete pass on fourth down forced Salesian to turn the ball over on downs. From there the Heralds ran out the clock.
“We as coaches knew Salesian was a good physical team,” said Whittier Christian Coach Sergio Gradilla. “But I think our players might have taken them too lightly.”
Whittier Christian didn’t get on the board until 30 seconds left in the first half. Rudy Robles pounded it in from the three yard line on the jumbo package to cap an eight play drive. Grant Escobar, who has stepped in admirably for the injured Joel Rhone, did the bulk of the work on the drive and Anderson hit Cameron Stanley on a 20 yard pass to get the ball deep into Salesian territory.
The Heralds added to the 7-0 lead in the third quarter. Stanley hauled in a 13 yard strike from Anderson, left a defender in his wake and then weaved his way into the end zone for a 14-0 advantage.
It remained that way well into the fourth until Salesian finally struck. Jhad Vercher found Dominique Brown on a 34 yard touchdown pass with 7:55 left to cut the lead in half.
Whittier Christian immediately responded marching 81 yards in six plays to go up 21-7. Anderson found sophomore Cody Bronkar in the end zone for a 23 yard TD pass.
After the Heralds were stopped on fourth down on their own 46 Salesian used the Vercher-Brown connection one more time to get within a touchdown again. This time the touchdown pass covered 15 yards as Brown out jumped the WC defender and pulled it in in the corner of the zone.
It looked like Whittier Christian was going to clinch it until the late pick but the Herald defense made the stop when it had to.
Escobar had a huge night rushing for 181 yards on 27 carries. He also caught four passes for 78 yards. Anderson threw for 271 yards and two touchdowns.
Defensively, Tim Sanchez, George Flynn, Matt Lozano, and David Bissuet came up big for the Heralds. Paul O’Loughlin, who moved to corner from safety also had a strong game.
Whittier Christian improved to 5-0 with the victory while Salesian dropped to 3-2. The Heralds are at Cantwell next week.
S 0 0 0 14 14
WC 0 7 7 7 21
Summary:
2nd Qtr:
WC :30 Robles 3 yd run (Stanley Kick)
3rd Qtr:
WC 3:21 Stanley 13 yd pass from Anderson (Stanley Kick)
4th Qtr:
S 7:55 Brown 34 yd pass from Vercher (Alex Radillo Kick)
WC 6:13 Bronkar 23 yd pass from Anderson (Stanley Kick)
S 3:38 Brown 15 yd pass from Vercher (Radillo Kick)
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