COALINGA – The 2022 season got off to a tough start for the West Hills College Coalinga football team. Facing Foothill College, the Falcons suffered a 51-3 loss at Memorial Stadium on Saturday night

Despite the outcome, West Hills head coach Justin Berna saw some positives on the field for the Falcons.

"The final score wasn't indicative of the team's effort," said Berna. "We definitely have some areas to improve on going forward. We committed a lot of penalties during inopportune times that either killed drives or took us out of field goal range. Also, we just didn't tackle well enough on defense."

Berna also said that he was able to play a majority of his roster during the second half.

"We were able to get some looks at guys in different areas," he said.

Berna noted the play of sophomore running back Vondarious Gordon and freshman defensive back Maleik Bradford.

Gordon totaled 123 yards of offense, running 12 times for 75 yards while hauling in six receptions for 48 yards. Bradford led the Falcons on defense with 11 tackles and broke up a pass. For their efforts, Gordon and Bradford were selected Players of the Week by their West Hills teammates.

Sophomore quarterback Jaice Holt also put together a solid season debut as he completed 18 of 31 passes for 119 yards. He gave way to sophomore Nick Siegel in the second half who threw for 97 yards on 12 of 20 passing.

West Hills will quickly turn its attention to Week 2 opponent Los Medanos College.  The Falcons head to Pittsburg next Saturday (Sep. 10) for a 6 p.m. game.