Heritage Christian football shuts out El Camino Real

NORTHRIDGE – A balanced Heritage Christian football team earned a 26-0 non-league victory over El Camino Real Friday at Heritage Christian School.

It’s still early in the season, but the Warriors’ win keeps them perfect with a 2-0 record while a banged-up Royals team dropped its first game of the season.

“Anytime you can shut out a quality opponent, it’s a big deal,” said Warriors coach Ben McEnroe. “We knew El Camino was banged up, and we hope those guys come back soon, but at the end of the night, we had a couple of nice stops in the red zone. I’m proud of our kids and coaching staff on the defensive side of the ball. The past two weeks, you can see the commitment in the weight room, and that’s all the credit to Kylie McEnroe and the work she does to put these guys through, and they bought in; those were all weight room turnovers.”

Both teams moved the ball in the first half, with each drive ending in opposing territory. The lone touchdown came off the opening drive for the Warriors with an 8-yard strike from Ari Sykes to Eli Simmons.

The Royals fumbled the ball on their opening drive and set the tone for the rest of the game.

The Royals forced three turnovers (one on downs, two interceptions) while the Warriors forced two (two interceptions).

The Royals’ offense was led by running back Taki Campbell, who gained 46 rushing yards, and wide receiver Ethan Sarmiento, who had 61 receiving yards.

“We made mistakes that a young team makes,” said Royals coach Rick Hayashida. “We just have to clean up the mistakes. I think we have a good football team. In the last two games, the defense has played well. Obviously, the offense has to do a better job, and that’s where most of our guys are missing. It’s just a matter of waiting it out and seeing how practice goes next week to see the kind of motivation and effort we have.”

While the Royals’ defense did its best to keep the team afloat, another quick Warriors stop out of halftime led to a 77-yard punt return touchdown by Donovan Booker, who also led the team with 50 receiving yards on four catches. From that point on, the Warriors never looked back.

The Warriors broke the offensive touchdown drought in the fourth quarter, scoring twice: a 19-yard passing touchdown from Sykes to Nicholas Boldt and a 1-yard QB sneak from James Thompson.

Sykes ended his night with 157 total yards and two passing touchdowns. Running back Jordan Schiffner also had a huge game, gaining 93 yards on 15 carries.

However, the leader of the Warriors was Boldt, who was effective on offense, snagging three catches for 36 yards and a touchdown. On defense, he was all over the field and recorded a forced fumble.

“Feeling great, first win under the lights is a huge accomplishment,” said Boldt. “I was just flying around out there, all glory to God. I’m nothing without him. Being a captain, I was trying to lead on defense and offense. We have to be a physical team; we have to keep showing it. We’re a 10-0 team, so we have to keep showing what we can do.”