Riding a Groundswell

Van Nuys High in the City Section 3-A Division football championship game? So, who knew?

Certainly not the coach. Mark Pomerantz said he never thought his team would be playing 14 weeks into the season, especially after a 2-3 start.

Not a local newspaper. It predicted a last-place finish in the Valley Pac-8 Conference for the Wolves, who tied for third with North Hollywood.

Not the players. Only a few expected the team to make the playoffs.

But make no mistake, Van Nuys (9-4), winner of seven of its last eight games, is in the 3-A title game, against Wilson (9-4) at 5 p.m. Friday at the Coliseum.

“Yeah, this season has been somewhat of a surprise,” Pomerantz said.

Van Nuys, 4-6 a year ago, started this season with an experienced passer and plenty of promise. But its version of the West Coast offense went nowhere and it appeared Van Nuys was headed for the conference cellar.

Robert Williamson, the conference’s only returning quarterback to throw for 1,000 yards in 1995, struggled in his first four starts, completing only 16 of 69 passes (23%) for a paltry 169 yards and five interceptions.

The team lacked an experienced receiver, having lost all-conference selection Damon Coleman, who transferred to Taft.

But it was Williamson’s one-for-13 performance in a 21-0 loss to Sylmar in the fifth game of the season that may have saved the Wolves’ season.

Pomerantz and his staff went back to the drawing board.

“Running the ball for control wasn’t in the equation [in the beginning],” Pomerantz said. “Passing the ball was.

“[But] we scrapped our West Coast offense.”

Van Nuys, which has had a 1,000-yard passer each season since 1992, became ball-control oriented, or “three yards and a cloud of dust, if you can,” Pomerantz said.

In the first five games, Van Nuys ran the ball an average of 29 times a game and was outscored, 131-74. In the final five regular season games, the Wolves ran 48 times on average and outscored opponents, 147-83, winning four of five.

Carlos Mack, 5-foot-8 and 150 pounds, emerged at running back in the third week by rushing for 77 yards as the Wolves beat Montclair Prep, 20-12, for their first victory.

“He’s the total antithesis of what you’d expect a running back to be,” Pomerantz said. “He’s small and wiry, but he runs between the tackles.”

Mack, who last year had just six carries, has rushed for 1,351 yards and 18 touchdowns in 235 carries.

“We knew Carlos could run, but we didn’t know if he would have the heartiness and stamina to do it everyday,” Pomerantz said.

Mack was happy to oblige.

“I’m not afraid to pound heads with the big ones and get a few extra yards,” Mack said.

Perhaps more important than the resurgence of the offense however, is the potency of the defense. With a turnover ratio of plus-14 in the last eight games, an opportunistic defense is clearly the No. 1 reason Van Nuys is still around.

“That’s one of the reasons that our offensive totals are so low,” Pomerantz said. “We’re playing a lot on a short field, often starting around the 50 or so.”

The defense has made great strides, knocking 50 yards per game from its average of the last three seasons.

“The last few years, our defense has been like Swiss cheese,” Pomerantz said.

Van Nuys has made it this far without a roster of blue-chip stars. But what the Wolves lack in size and talent, they more than make up for with heart.

“No real superstars,” Pomerantz said. “Just everybody doing their jobs.”