Morrow, Virgil Lead Heritage to 48-13 Victory in Home Opener

The Heritage High School defensive line stood its ground in a 48-13 victory over JW North.

By Daniel Millhouse

After a nailbiter victory last week on the road against La Quinta, Heritage High School hosted JW North of Riverside for its 2014 season home opener Friday night. The Patriots scored 34 points by halftime and won the game 48-13 over the Huskies.

Led by senior Isaiah Morrow, the running attack for Heritage dominated in the first half with 156 yards rushing. Morrow rushed for a total of 141 yards and 2 touchdowns. Junior quarterback Brett Virgil added 102 yards passing for 2 touchdowns, while running for 32 yards and a rushing touchdown of his own.

The Patriots started the game on the 3-yard line after a muffed kick return by junior Aleva Hifo. This didn’t discourage Heritage. The Patriots charged up the field on a 97-yard drive, finished by Morrow’s 36-yard touchdown run to put Heritage up 7-0 after its first possession of the game.

JW North responded quickly with a touchdown of its own on a 31-yard rushing TD by senior Armstrong Mephors. Unfortunately for the Huskies, this would be the closest they would get for the rest of the game.

With three minutes left in the first quarter, Virgil scored untouched on a 12-yard bootleg to the right that put the Patriots up 14-7.

The Huskies started with the ball in the second quarter, but fumbled it away into the hands of senior linebacker Jacob Marquez at the Patriots’ 45-yard line. The very next play, the Patriots took advantage of their take away when Virgil tossed the ball to fellow junior Jalen Glover, who took the ball into the end zone from 55 yards out.

With 10 minutes left in the second quarter, the Patriots led 21-7.

On the Huskies' next possession, they once again had the ball stripped away from them when Junior quarterback Danjae Owens lost the ball, which was recovered by Patriots senior linebacker Reggie Murphy (right). He took the loose ball and ran it back for 42 yards on what appeared to be another touchdown, but it was called back on a holding penalty during Murphy’s fumble return. Still, the Patriots retained possession.

This eventually led to a second touchdown by Morrow with five minutes left in the second quarter, when he scored on a 5-yard rush.

Once again, the Huskies’ Mephors responded to a Morrow touchdown by running one in on his own from 42 yards out. The Huskies’ special teams didn’t help, though. Two false start penalties led their kicker, Maliek Rosier, to miss the extra point attempt from 30 yards out.

On the Patriots' final drive of the second quarter, Heritage’s Virgil scrambled around in the pocket to avoid a sack and gunned a 22-yard touchdown pass to CJ Parker, who was waiting for the pass in the end zone. Senior David Martinez of JW North blocked the extra point attempt, which left the score 34-13 at halftime.

Heritage committed only four penalties after a half of play for 40 yards. Coming out flat in the second half, the Huskies never scored again.

Heritage scored two more times in the third quarter. The first came on a 3-yard rush by Glover with seven minutes left. A minute later, the second score came from the defense when senior defensive back Brandon Barker intercepted a pass from the Huskies’ Owens and took it all the way back for a 45-yard touchdown, putting Heritage up 48-13.

JW North never recovered. The Huskies took the ball all the way to the Patriots’ 10-yard line, only to be stopped in the red zone. It didn’t help the Huskies’ chances when their kicker, Rosier, shanked his field goal attempt to the left from 30 yards out.

The fourth quarter passed quickly with neither team scoring.

“We did well," said Heritage coach Kraig Broach (at left, with Virgil). "Definitely an improvement over last week. We have a young offensive line which really got rolling.

“I am happy that we were able to cut down the penalties compared to last week,” he added.

Heritage finished the game with 8 penalties for 70 yards. That was a 55-yard improvement over their season opener, which along with 284 yards rushing as a team, helped Heritage start the season 2-0.

Next week, Heritage faces Coachella Valley at home.