Last season, the San Fernando Tigers were able to capture a CIF L.A. City Division II title in a 21-14 victory over Cleveland for their first city championship since 2017. The Tigers opened up their 2026 campaign on their home field Friday night against the Heritage Christian Warriors. Heritage Christian overwhelmed the Tigers from the opening drive, jumping out to a 27-0 lead in the first quarter. The Warriors put together a complete team win, shutting out San Fernando for three quarters while also adding a touchdown on special teams in the victory. 

In preparation for Friday night’s contest, Heritage Christian head coach Ben McEnroe showed his team footage of the classic 1985 Marvin Hagler vs. Tommy Hearns Middleweight Championship Fight. He emphasized in the postgame interview how it was the most punches ever thrown by both boxers in the first round in the fight famously known as “The War”. “Our theme for the week was come out swinging.”, McEnroe proclaimed. 

The Warriors pulled no punches on their opening drive, putting the ball in the hands of sophomore wideout Nathan Brown for two first down receptions. Heritage Christian Senior quarterback James Thompson led his team down the field where he tossed a 22-yard touchdown pass to junior wideout Donovan Kelley to give the Warriors a 7-0 lead with 6:41 left in the first quarter. San Fernando’s opening drive was stifled by penalties and they were forced to punt the ball after a three-and-out. 

On the second play of their next drive, Thompson threw a 39-yard touchdown pass to senior wide receiver Gavin Park with 3.27 left in the opening quarter. A backbreaking personal foul penalty threw a wrench on the subsequent drive for San Fernando, which was only the beginning of their misfortunes. The Tigers earned a Delay of Game penalty on their first punt attempt which backed them up to their own 22-yard line. On their next punt attempt, the ball was thrown over the head of the punter which was recovered in the end zone by Heritage Christian for a touchdown. 

Already with a commanding 21-0 lead going into the 2nd quarter, the Warriors defense forced their third punt of the evening after earning a third down stop following offsetting penalties. Heritage Christian retrieved the ball with 6.7 seconds left in the first quarter and proceeded to throw a knockout blow, as Thompson threw a 45-yard bomb to junior tight end Max Carrillo to put the Warriors ahead 27-0 at the end do the first quarter .”In a game that I’ve coached, I’ve never seen a first quarter like that.”, Coach McEnroe stated after the game. 

The penalties continued for San Fernando on their next possession, as their offense earned two backbreaking false start penalties. After forcing another punt, Thompson and the Warriors offense took the field where he began to use his legs as a weapon on their next drive. On a 2nd & 12 situation, he used scrambling ability to power his way into the end zone for an acrobatic 28-yard touchdown run to give Heritage Christian an insurmountable 34-0 lead. 

The nightmare first half for the Tigers offense continued to unravel on the following drive. The Warriors defense earned their second takeaway of the game when junior linebacker Justin Rocha recovered a fumble by San Fernando with 5:13 left in the second quarter. Heritage Christian turned the ball over on downs on their next possession after losing field position from penalties. Warriors’ junior defensive end Dylan Cho earned the first sack of the game for Heritage Christian on a drive which led to a three-and-out. 

With 26 seconds remaining in the first half, Heritage Christian had the ball with great field position at the San Fernando 41-yard line. After calling their second timeout before a 3rd & 5 scenario with 8.8 seconds left, Brown pulled in a 32-yard sideline catch with almost no time remaining on the clock. Warriors junior kicker Greg Nikolian put the icing on the cake for Heritage Christian with a field goal to give them a commanding 37-0 halftime lead and a running clock for the second half. 

On their opening drive of the second half, San Fernando gained favorable field position with a roughing the passer penalty from Heritage Christian. However, San Fernando senior quarterback Jayden Breazell threw an interception to the two-way cornerback Kelley with 5:04 left in the third quarter. Thompson subsequently gave the ball back to the Tigers with an interception of his own to San Fernando senior Uriel Barbosa. 

San Fernando began to move the ball down the field on their next drive which took the game into the fourth quarter. The Tigers were in red zone territory on 4th & 14 when Breazell rewarded Barbosa with a 15-yard touchdown score to end the shutout with 7:55 remaining in the game. The score remained at 37-7 in favor of the Warriors for the remainder of the contest, with the game moving along with a running clock. 

Thompson finished the outing with a 209 yards passing on 9/15 attempts with three touchdowns, one interception and a 116.0 QBR. “I’ve been telling everybody all preseason, we’ve got the best quarterback in the valley!” McEnroe proclaimed after the game. “At any level of high school football.” He also credited Warriors’ assistant coach Mike Gonzaga and his defensive staff with their game plan against San Fernando’s counter running attack. 

Heritage Christian will once again travel on the road to face a tough opponent in the West Valley League’s El Camino Real Royals on Friday night in their quest to remain unbeaten. San Fernando will look to shake off last Friday night’s outing with a contest on their home field against Poly at 7:00 pm on Friday.

All photos by David Martinez