By Tim Peterson
If you would have told me in October that Northview would be the CIF Division 10 champions and would also be competing for a state championship next weekend I would have told you that I would be the next head football coach at USC.
Well the Trojans chose Lincoln Riley over me, (go figure), but the Vikings are the CIF champs and headed to the state finals. Northview did it the hard way. The Vikes started the season 2-5 before going on a run. They stumbled once, against Los Altos, they may have pulled their starters too early, but have won five straight since.
Nobody thought they would beat Kaiser, a team that racked up over 600 yards the previous week, in the second round. The Vikes not only beat Kaiser, they shut the Cats down and beat them up 42-13. Ok that’s fine but then they had to hit the road for Palmdale.
Palmdale is a team that had just dropped 58 points on Covina. And keep in mind Covina beat Northview back in September. So this was a no brainer right? Palmdale, at home, on a cold night, wins…by a lot. Turns out the ones with no brains were the ones that picked against Marcel Perez’ crew. Um… that may have or may not have been me. The Vikings won by two touchdowns 28-14.
Northview now had everybody’s attention and they took care of St. Anthony. There’s your CIF title. Now State and ok first round – Colony. The Titans won the CIF Division 9 title, one division higher than Northview. And this is Colony, a team that has athletes all over the field including a quarterback, AJ Jones, that is committed to Arizona. He will be playing receiver for Arizona but he is going to Arizona.
Colony looked the part of the dominant team taking a 26-7 lead when Bryce Strong retuned the opening kickoff of the third quarter 93 yards for a touchdown. Now Northview was done right? Wrong.
The Vikings scored the next 20 points including the game tying touchdown by Ronal Tebo Jr. from one yard out with 21 seconds left. Joseph Gutierrez then booted the extra point for the win.
How did Northview do it? Well, a strong running attack with Tebo Jr. and Cheo Medina, some clutch throws by James Arellanes to Erik Saiz and Mike Cervantes and an offensive line that paved the way for the ground game and protected Arellanes.
Then there was the defense that held Colony scoreless the entire second half. The only Titan touchdown in the second half was the kickoff return. In other words it was the entire team. A team that seems to be at its best when its back is against the wall.
When Perez was asked after the CIF Championship win over St. Anthony what the difference was between this team and previous Northview teams he responded, “It’s just that. They are a team, you know? It was not one guy. It was the whole team from practice players and scout players. I mean, everybody had a huge part in this.”
So now it’s on to the State Championship game next Saturday night in San Francisco. Someone will pick against them but it won’t be me. I’ve seen this too many times this year. Northview has been down but never out.
All year, Northview has done it the hard way but Perez has made it easy for me. What is always a difficult choice is now going to be easy. When all the games have been played and the season is officially over and it’s time to select Coach of the Year it’s going to be a slam dunk.
That’s my principle.
Tim an be reached at tim.midvalleysports@gmail.com or on Twitter @tspeterson40. Facebook-Tim Peterson
@colt name a school who doesn’t have players from other schools. I can name a few players from the colts that have players from other school/city’s. Its part of high school football. One player didn’t win their championship. It was the whole team. Go Vikings. Haters going to hate.
Yea! But they get better by bringing in players from other schools, i.e. Tebo jr. Thank the bozos whole let him go!
Yes, teams do get better. Great points AirAttack.
Teams don’t get better? Are you serious with that comment. If your team isn’t getting better from week to week then your coaches are terrible and probably why you are coming on here to throw shade at NV. They have clearly improved and won some tough games this past month.
@What: Teams do not get better all of a sudden unless they are Fast Eddie Felson.
Yes, you are correct. They would not destroy Cal or Charter Oak. He got ahead of himself on that. But they would have destroyed Covina if they played them again. I believe Northview was missing 6 or 7 starters due to COVID. But whatever, Northview lost. I think they wound up in the right division. Besides Kiaser, they’re playoff games were all close. They were projected to get throttled by Palmdale, kinda like what they did to Covina. But Northview did get passed Colony as well, they would have won Division 9 too. It’s been fun to see, they got hot at the right time. Tough task this Saturday though.
Did they get better or did they simply get thrown into a division with teams who aren’t very good? They would not destroy Cal or Covina let alone charter oak, stop kidding yourself.
FBFan, question for you my man? Is the goal of a football team to get better as the year goes on, or play their best football in September? NV has clearly gotten better from back then. They would destroy Cal or Covina and my bet is they would beat CO if they played now. The ONLY team left in the area and playing for a 2nd ring. Give them credit. Give coach Perez credit. They were the 11th rank team in D-10, I doubt they would have been placed in 9 if they beat Los Altos. But they are a completely different/healthy team right now. Go Vikes!
Great season by Coach Perez and the Vikings. They’re win over Colony proves that the result of the Los Altos game doesn’t mean much because they ultimately beat the CIF champ of the division they would have been placed in even if they would have won that game. Great job and definitely worthy of COY honors.
How good was the Mountain West League? Last place Charter Oak crushed Northview. How good was the Del Rio League? 3rd place Cal beat Northview without Vance Johnson and 2nd place El Rancho shutout Covina who beat Northview. I’d say those are very tough leagues but unfortunate that no team from either of those 2 leagues had a chance for a title.
Gotta give NV credit for the fact that they are still standing and every single other team around here is sitting at home. However there were multiple teams that took care of business all season and their only reward was a monster opponent and a quick playoff elimination. The system is setup to reward mediocrity, that’s my principle.
I have to agree that there are WAY too many divisions, so that some of the hardware smells like participation trophies. That said, it’s hard to counter Tim’s claim that Perez got Northview to a rare place, and that commands respect. It has to be noted that Northview didn’t set this system up, they just did a hell of a job within it.
Good for Northview but this is division 10. the opposite world of the Peter Principle. In this world you get promoted down until you find a place where you can succeed. Spare me the who beat who scenarios. Thats like saying since Pioneer beat Compton Centennial that beat Gardena that beat division finalist Narbonne conceivably the Titans could be National champs. Good for Northview but the teams they beat were no Pioneer. Coach of the year for working your way down? Ok. If you say so. Give me a Monrovia or Bonita that played over their heads all year only to be rewarded with a division they had little chance of winning.
Great read Tim.