Van Nuys football dominates San Fernando
VAN NUYS — Rivals Van Nuys and San Fernando football have no love lost when facing each other, but the Wolves held it together just enough to secure a commanding win.
The Wolves defeated the Tigers 32-6 on Thursday in their Valley Mission League matchup. The win followed a 40-10 loss against Kennedy. The Wolves earned their first league victory, while the Tigers fell to 1-1 in league play.
“I’m so proud of our guys. They’ve been working hard for so long,” said Wolves coach Ken Osorio. “I love that the majority of our staff are alumni, and they have been doing the things they wanted to do as players and coaches. I tell these guys they have to care, and the energy comes from caring for one another. We support each other and we back each other no matter what.”
Both teams were scoreless at the end of the first quarter. In the second, the Wolves scored 22 straight points. Quarterback Carlos Herrera opened the scoring with a 7-yard rushing touchdown.
On their next possession, running back Jeremy Moreno followed with a 21-yard touchdown run. The Tigers’ offense was kept to a standstill. The Wolves capitalized, recording a safety by Hector Gonzalez.
Gonzalez notched a safety and three sacks. Herrera added a 23-yard touchdown pass to Samuel Villagrana.
The Tigers were able to avoid the shutout thanks to Julian Sarzo finding Christopher Mosqueda for a 26-yard score. Sarzo finished with 125 passing yards and one touchdown.
Mosqueda finished with three catches for 55 yards and a touchdown. On the defensive side, Gabriel Sotelo recorded all three of the Tigers’ sacks.
“We were struggling at the o-line position, and we had to put backups in, but we’re not making excuses and hats off to (coach Osorio) for what he’s done with the team,” said Tigers coach Charles Burnley. “I told them to keep fighting like they always do, and we’ve done before. We’ve come back from big deficits before. I’m going to keep saying it, but we’ve got to get our o-line shored up. Hopefully, once we do that and get our key guys in, we’ll be in good shape.”
Herrera scored his third and final touchdown with a 9-yard rush in the fourth quarter, and Leelen Castro scored the final points of the game with a 20-yard field goal. Seven players recorded at least one rush attempt for the Wolves. Alex Lucas ended with 38 rushing yards, and Luis Giron recorded 85 rushing yards.
However, Herrera put it all together, accounting for 148 rushing yards (225 total yards) and three total touchdowns.
“There was a lot of adversity coming into this game, and we used it as fuel,” said Herrera. “We executed and did our job, and that’s what it takes. I’m just trying to put my team in the best position to win and do as much as I can. We were coming in knowing last week wasn’t how we are supposed to play, and we wanted to prove that we can compete with anybody. Now it’s time to focus on practice and keep this going.”