Smith Gains 256 Yards but Grant Falls, 52-25 : Football: Larry Reed of Van Nuys scores three touchdowns in romp despite sore ankle.

Running back Larry Reed prefers to let his actions do his talking so he didn’t mind Friday when offensive lineman Anthony Patricio answered a question for him after Van Nuys High defeated Grant, 52-25, in a Valley Pac-8 Conference football game at Grant.

“(Larry) is only at 60% right now,” Patricio said. “There were some runs today that he would have broken for big gains if he was 100%.”

It’s a good thing for Grant that Reed--who sat out last week’s 22-20 victory over North Hollywood because of a sprained left ankle--wasn’t at full speed. Still, he rushed for 110 yards in 14 carries, caught three passes for another 75 and scored three touchdowns.

“The ankle is real, real sore,” Reed said. “But I felt like I had to come out here and play for my team. . . . It’s still hard for me to cut upfield off my left ankle, but I needed to get back to work again.”

Grant’s Di-Onte Smith, the leading City Section rusher in the area, gained 256 yards in 21 carries and scored touchdowns on runs of five yards, 64 yards and one yard. Smith now has rushed for 941 yards.

Van Nuys (4-1, 2-0 in conference play) amassed 481 yards and scored touchdowns on eight of 10 possessions to post its fourth win in the last five meetings against its cross-town rivals.

Smith’s five-yard run--which came two plays after Ruben Montoya had returned an interception 66 yards--gave Grant a 6-0 lead in the first quarter, but Van Nuys scored touchdowns on its next four possessions to take a 25-13 lead at halftime.

John McPherson (106 yards in 10 carries) ran for seven yards to tie the score, 6-6, and Reed’s one-yard run gave the Wolves a 12-6 lead on the first play of the second quarter.

Van Nuys took an 18-6 advantage when Reed and quarterback Chris Byfield (seven of 10 for 195 yards, three touchdowns) teamed on a 39-yard pass-run play.

Grant (1-3-1, 0-2) narrowed the deficit to 18-13 when Montoya--who also plays quarterback--scored on an eight-yard bootleg, but Byfield hit Damion Boudreaux (two catches for 97 yards, two touchdowns) with a 31-yard scoring pass with 1:40 left in the half.