San Fernando Routs Van Nuys

The Valley’s oldest high school football rivalry, San Fernando versus Van Nuys, resumed Friday night after an 11-year hiatus.

And the teams pretty much picked up where they had left off.

San Fernando and Van Nuys started playing each other in 1919 but halted the rivalry after a 1978 game that San Fernando won 62-0. The resumption seemed like old times as the Tigers won just as easily, 55-0.

San Fernando’s starting running backs--LaKarlos Townsend, Leonice Brown and William Taylor--combined for 238 yards and six touchdowns.

“We’ve got speed inside and around the corner,” Brown said. “If the line opens the holes . . . we’re gone.”

When the Tigers weren’t running, quarterback Cruz Trevino was passing, completing four of seven passes for 117 yards and two touchdowns.

San Fernando scored on its first five possessions and Van Nuys gained just 45 yards to San Fernando’s 401.

Van Nuys quarterback Bill Calhoun completed only four of 14 for 32 yards.

The Tigers’ first score came on their second play from scrimmage, when Brown raced untouched around right end for 51 yards and a touchdown.

The game resembled a track meet after, starting with Taylor’s 31-yard burst up the middle for a touchdown.

In the second quarter, Brown scored on a one-yard run after a quick drive. Trevino subsequently threw touchdown passes of 31 yards to James Woods and 65 yards to Townsend. The score was 34-0 at halftime.

Van Nuys’ best chance to score came in the third quarter after the Wolves (0-1) intercepted a Trevino pass near midfield. On the next play, Calhoun lofted a perfect pass to Martin Medina, who had sneaked past the San Fernando secondary, but Medina dropped the ball.

The Tigers (2-0) continued the bloodletting as Townsend capped a five-play, 34-yard drive with a six-yard run for a 41-0 lead.

Taylor then scored on a nine-yard run, and, after three quarters, the score was 48-0.

Johnny Brown, Leonice’s younger brother, got into the act, scoring on a one-yard run late in the fourth quarter that accounted for the final margin.