Photo by RT Tolentino

Football:

By Brian Reed-Baiotto, Sports Editor

If one happened to be sitting in the stands behind the south sideline on Friday night at Covina District Field, you went home in the greatest of moods.

But it didn’t come without a little drama.

Northview was enjoying a 17-point lead (24-7) in the third quarter of its CIF-SS Division 10 championship game showdown with St. Anthony of Long Beach.

And to their credit, the Saints (9-5) scored 13 of the game’s final 16 points.

Northview, however, got contributions throughout its roster, and claimed its first CIF championship in 34 years, 27-20, in front of a standing-room-only crowd.

In a game of this magnitude, and considering it was competitive throughout, a lot of things had to go right for the Vikings to leave as champions.

And they did many things well to earn their spot in the history books.

It all started with another solid outing by the Northview defense.

After giving up a 68-yard TD pass from St. Anthony quarterback Conor Hochberg to Kweku Claybrook on its first drive, the Vikings ‘D’ kept the Saints offense off the scoreboard for nearly two quarters of game time, and that allowed the Vikings’ offense to find its stride and take a 24-7 lead.

St. Anthony got a 67-yard TD run by Sone Aupiu in the third quarter to pull to within 24-14, and the Saints final score of the night was a 10-yard TD run by Hochberg.

But that occurred with 48 seconds to play, and for all intents and purposes, the outcome wasn’t in much doubt.

In most cases, it’s difficult to rely on stats alone to tell the whole story.

But when it comes to the Northview defense, the numbers don’t lie.

In each of their four postseason wins, the Vikings D held their opponents well under their weekly scoring average.

The offensive production of Garden Grove (20 points under their average), Kaiser (15), Palmdale (26) and St. Anthony (14) took a major hit because of the aggressive and swarming Northview defense.

The NHS offense didn’t produce any mind-blowing stats, but they more than did their share in the win.

Ronal Tebo Jr. scored on a pair of 1-yard TD runs.

Cheo Medina rushed for 118 yards, including a 54-yard TD run in the third quarter to extend the Northview lead to 21-7.

In the run-heavy Northview offense, junior quarterback James Arellanes doesn’t get to throw the ball as much as he’d probably like to, but this kid is a selfless young man, and he’s content doing whatever is asked of him.

Arellanes did a terrific job as the steward of the NHS offense, including a 48-yard pass to Cheo Medina to set up a Vikings’ score.

It also goes without saying that the Vikings’ O-line made it possible for Medina and Tebo to bleed the clock throughout.

On special teams, Joseph Gutierrez played a giant role in the outcome of Friday’s game.

In all, Gutierrez accounted for nine points, including field goals of 25 and 31 yards.

He also went 3-for-3 on extra-point attempts.

Coach Marcel Perez and his staff did a tremendous job of not only persevering through of number of key injuries during the regular season, but also for putting together a championship-caliber game plan, especially over the past four weeks.

Winning a CIF-SS title is something all coaches dream about, and it goes without saying that earning a championship ring is incredibly special for any coach at any school.

For Marcel Perez, though, winning a CIF title is even more special, because he’s a 1998 graduate and a former star on the Northview football team.

Perez also had the stones and creativity to make calls from his playbook that extended drives, including a third-down flea flicker from James Arellanes to Steven Carlin, who flipped it to Cheo Medina, and it picked up a huge first down.

Fairly or not, there have been times when opponents have described the Vikings as somewhat undisciplined and a group that likes to trash talk.

If it’s fair for Northview rivals to describe the Vikings in pejorative terms, it should be just as fair for this writer to say that Perez, his staff and the Northview players had a playoff run in which they played both a disciplined and intelligent brand of football.

Oh, yeah…it should also be noted that countering Perez on the north sideline was multi-time CIF-SS champion Raul Lara, who is best known for leading the legendary Long Beach Poly football program.

Lastly, it can’t be overstated just how vital it is for a program to have team chemistry, a genuine love for one another and the willingness for each athlete to accept their individual roles.

And this 2021 Northview High School football program had all three.