PASADENA – Whittier Christian suffered a painful, 38-20 loss at Maranatha to open Olympic League play Friday night.
With the score tied at 14 at the end of the first quarter, Maranatha (4-3, 1-0) scored the game’s next 24 points and was never seriously challenged after that.
Worse yet, Whittier Christian (3-4, 0-1) saw its leading rusher, Justin Osborn, leave the game in the third quarter because of a shoulder injury.
Osborn had rushed for 144 yards on 14 carries, including an 83-yard touchdown run in the first quarter.
Whittier Christian’s defensive lineman Ethan Hawks left the field in an ambulance with what was an apparent broken leg after a delay of more than 20 minutes.
Nick Watase led all receivers with eight receptions for 110 yards for Whittier Christian. He caught a 53-yard touchdown pass from Quinn Commans late in the first quarter to tie the score.
Commans was pressured all night, but completed 21 of 30 passes for 237 yards with two touchdowns and one interception.
Thomas Ditmar’s 8-yard touchdown catch from Commans late in the fourth quarter capped the scoring for Whittier Christian.
Daniel Torres led Maranatha with 130 yards and two TDs on 19 carries.
