Prep lecture: How Van Nuys turned its football program around

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Quarterback Carlos Herrera of Van Nuys High. (Eric Sondheimer/Los Angeles Times)

Van Nuys High School is 109 years old and famous alumni include Don Drysdale, Robert Redford, Bob Waterfield and Marilyn Monroe. Its football program has largely struggled for years, going 2-8 in 2022 and 0-9 in 2021.

Ken Osorio, a Van Nuys graduate, took over as coach last year and welcomed the opportunity to teach the many inexperienced players who came onto the team. One of them was Carlos Herrera, who joined the junior varsity team in 2022 when Osorio was the coach. He was a football player who didn’t know how to put on his shoulder pads and said it was “nervous” when he first put on his helmet.

Fast forward to Saturday. Van Nuys (8-5) will play Panorama in the City Section Division III championship game, with Herrera serving as the Wolves’ standout quarterback. Herrera passed for 21 touchdowns and ran for 10.

Van Nuys highlighted another football player who contributed significantly. Leelen Castro, 5-foot-5, 140 pounds, is six-for-six on field goals. See what happens when a coach teaches the basics and gets students from other sports to sign up? …

Football center St. John Bosco Matthew Perdue is one of the smartest players on any field. He has a 4.3 grade point average and is considering San Diego, John Hopkins and Amherst among his colleges. …

Narbonne’s Ernest Nunley is a junior defensive back who won’t be 17 until next August. He started high school when he was 13 years old. He plays against some 19-year-olds and shows no fear. …

Serrano’s Trevor McSween carried the ball 46 times for 301 yards against Hemet on Nov. 15 and insisted he wasn’t sore afterward, so who knows how many times he might get the ball Friday night in the Southern Section Division 8 final against St. Pius X-St. Matthias. …

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Koen Glover from St. Bonaventure. (Eric Sondheimer/Los Angeles Times)

Koen Glover from St. Bonaventure has a fairly two-year tradition behind it. He rushed for 1,189 yards and 15 touchdowns last season. He rushed for 2,023 yards and 26 touchdowns this season. He credits better strength without injuries for the improvement. St. Bonaventure plays Oxnard Pacific Saturday for the Division 4 South Section championship at Rio Mesa. …

Here is the complete weekend schedule of the football championships for the City and South sections.

This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. Please send any news to eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.

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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.

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