WHITTIER – The Whittier Christian defense got off to a quick start, but Valley Christian started to hand the ball to Gianni Hurd and the Heralds had no answer for him.
Hurd ran for four first-half touchdowns, and the Crusaders defeated the Heralds, 48-14, in an Olympic League game on Friday night at Whittier College.
The Heralds (3-5, 0-2) defense forced a three-and-out on the Crusaders’ first possession and then, after turning the ball over after the punt, the defense allowed a field goal. The following drive the Heralds had to punt and that was when Hurd took over. On the first play, he took the first handoff and went 45 yards for a touchdown. The rest of the half was much of the same as Hurd finished with 192 yards rushing on 13 carries for the Crusaders (6-2, 2-0).
The Heralds fell behind 13-0 before the offense finally got going. Quarterback Quinn Commans started off completing just 1 of 5 passes for no yards before he completed eight consecutive passes in the first half. He led the Heralds on a 75-yard scoring drive that he finished off with a 6-yard touchdown pass to Thomas Ditmer. Later in the half, Ditmer was injured following an interception and had to be taken off of the field in an ambulance.
The only other score of the game for the Heralds came late in the fourth quarter when linebacker Chris Almeda picked up a fumble and returned it 38 yards for a touchdown.
