Panorama beats Van Nuys to win first City Section football title

Victor Mendez rushed for 176 yards and three touchdowns to lead Panorama to its first City Section football title with a 38-29 victory over Van Nuys in the Division III final Saturday at Birmingham High.

Mendez opened the scoring on a three-yard run in the first quarter and added a 20-yard touchdown run along with the two-point run to make it 14-0 before halftime. His third touchdown came on a 37-yard run that gave the ninth-seeded Pythons (8-6) a commanding 30-7 lead early in the fourth quarter. He also recovered an onside kick with eight seconds left to ice the win.

“I kind of wanted the ball and every time I got it I tried to put it in,” said Mendez, a senior running back and linebacker. “I worked too hard not to give it everything I had. I appreciate my coach relying on me so much.”

Coach Adrian Beltran raised the trophy proudly before handing it over to his players to celebrate the historic accomplishment — the Pythons’ lone gridiron crown since the school opened in 2006.

Giovanni Zermeno scored on runs of two and 15 yards and also scored on a two-point conversion for Panorama, which was playing in its third final in four years, having previously lost in the finals to Taft 21-20 and the Kennedy 22-21.

Carlos Herrera threw a 41-yard touchdown pass to brother Edwin to get Van Nuys on the scoreboard with three minutes left in the third quarter, then ran for a seven-yard touchdown with 7:44 left in the game.

Abraham Ceja blocked a punt, scooped up the bouncing ball and ran 39 yards to the end zone to pull the seventh-seeded Wolves (8-6) to within 30-21 at the 5:19 mark.

Jeremy Rivas scored on a four-yard reverse and Hector Gonzalez caught the two-point toss from Carlos Herrera for the game’s last points with 12 seconds left.

Van Nuys was seeking its first City crown since claiming back-to-back 3A titles under two different coaches in 1980 and 1981.