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.