MidValleySports.Com

By: Josh Ouellette

(Whittier College) Village Christian gave the Heralds a late run for the money, but Whittier Christian held fast winning 28-21 on Friday night.

The Heralds were able to jump out fast in the first half going up 19-0 thanks to three Ryan Esslinger touchdown passes. The first came from 45 yards out to Cody Bronkar. Next Esslinger found Noah Evans on a slant pattern, who proceeded to power his way into the endzone. The final TD of the half for WC came on Esslinger’s needle-threading pass to Sergio Ramirez in the back of the endzone with 3:34 left in the second quarter.

Village Christian finally found some momentum on the offensive side of the ball going into break, scoring with only 1:06 left to play in the half. The Crusaders quarterback Jesse Hanckels found Roman Arteaga on a pass over the middle who took it the rest of the way breaking three tackles to cross the plane for the 26-yard strike. Cutting the Heralds lead to 19-7 at the end of the half.

Following the long break for Whittier Christians Homecoming ceremony, the Crusader’s capitalized off a Whittier Christian fumble. Arteaga exploded up the middle for a 33-yard touchdown run. Following Justin Teleng’s point after VC was putting the pressure on the home team with a 19-14 score.

Whittier Christian was next to score though, facing a short field on the Herald’s 46 yardline , Esslinger composed a drive leading his Heralds into the redzone, but couldn’t punch it in. Derek Brush came on and nailed a 23-yard field goal to make the score 22-14 with 1:16 left in the third.

Village Christian was stalled yet again, but pinned WC back to their own 17. The long field dissipated quickly on the second play of the drive when Esslinger found Kevin Hoskins for a 35-yard dart, giving the Heralds great field position. Another Esslinger pass, this time to Bronkar for 23 yards set up Whittier Christian in the redzone. Head Coach Sergio Gradilla rewarded his workhorse running back David Fischer with the ball and he punched it in on two carries, punching it into paydirt from four yards out. Fischer finished the night with 115 yards rushing.

The Crusaders wouldn’t go away easily though. Late in the fourth quarter Hanckel’s organized a 36 second drive downfield capping it off with a 15-yard lob to the wide-open Arteaga in the back corner of touchdown 10. Arteaga finished the game with 50 yards on the ground, 115 receiving and credit for all three of Village Christian’s scores.

The Crusaders fall to (3-4, 0-1) and will travel back to their home field at Occidental College to face Valley Christian (1-4) who are coming off a bye week.

Whittier Christian goes to (4-3, 0-1) and will go on the road to face a Heritage Christian (4-3, 0-1) team that fell victim to Maranatha (1-5, 1-0) 40-7 on Friday.