VAN NUYS – Panorama used a dominant run game, led by Victor Mendez and his three rushing touchdowns, to get past Van Nuys 38-29 in Saturday’s CIF Los Angeles City Section Division III football championship game at Birmingham High School.
“These kids wanted this championship so bad,” said Panorama coach Adrian Beltran. “You could see it all week. They just worked for this.”
The No. 9 seed Pythons (8-6) ran for 361 yards en route to earning the program’s first sectional crown after losing in the finals in 2021 and 2022.
“I would’ve had zero yards without our offensive line blocking,” said Mendez. “They worked their butts off. Our offense is just pound, pound, pound, and the line is super important. Hats off to them.”
Mendez proved to be a wrecking ball for Panorama. The senior rushed 25 times for 188 yards. In addition to his three touchdowns, he added three two-point conversions.
“Put him on a fantasy team,” said Beltran. “He’s so hard to bring down. He’s a big boy.”
Giovanni Zermeno added 69 yards on eight carries. He also found the end zone twice.
Panorama outgained No. 7 seed Van Nuys 384 yards to 197 and possessed the ball for a whopping 35:12 of a possible 48 minutes.
“We played hard today,” said Beltran. “It was just hard-nosed, old school football. We have a couple players who already lost two championships so they didn’t want to go home without this one.”
Van Nuys junior quarterback Carlos Herrera ran for a 7-yard touchdown and threw a 41-yard score to senior Edwin Herrera while Jeremy Rivas chipped in a rushing touchdown.
Abraham Ceja blocked a fourth quarter punt, then recovered the loose ball before returning it more than 40 yards for a touchdown for Van Nuys.
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