Whittier Christian traded scores with Valley Christian of Cerritos for three quarters.
The fourth quarter was a different story, as a flurry of touchdowns allowed Valley Christian to pull away for a 67-44 victory in an Olympic League game on its home field Friday night.
The Heralds (0-1, 0-7) took a 38-34 lead into the fourth quarter., but the Crusaders exploded for five touchdowns, including three from Jonathan Nicholson, and all of them were 51 yards or longer.
Nicholson finished the night with 329 yards rushing for the Crusaders (1-0, 5-2).
The Heralds looked to gain control of the game as they scored two touchdowns in the final 1:05 of the second quarter to grab a 31-20 lead at the half. Quarterback Joe Hernandez threw for 291 of his 501 yards in the first half to key the offense.
Noah Evans was the main recipient of the big passing day from Hernandez as he finished with 17 catches for 200 yards and three touchdowns. His third touchdown of the night was a 38 yard catch that gave the Heralds their last lead of the night at 44-40.
Justin Osborn also had a big night for the Heralds with over 100 yards rushing and 100 yards receiving to go along with three touchdowns, but it was not enough to overcome the five turnovers the offense had on the night.
