: Members of the Norwalk High School Football team gather at city hall this week at a special celebration held in their honor. Players include Jorge Perez, Diego Pineda, Victor Valle, Jose Ramos, Jonathan Sanchez, Councilman Leonard Shryock and Nickolas Dantzlim. Randy Economy Photo
By Brian Hews
The Norwalk City Council paid tribute to the entire Norwalk High School Lancer Varsity Football Team, coaches, staff, and parents on Tuesday night at city hall, at a celebration that was fit for the new local ‘Kings of the Gridiron.’
A few weeks ago, the Lancer football team made school history when it reached the finals of the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) football game, only to come up short against La Serna High School from nearby Whittier.
Standout Norwalk City School football player Rashaad Penny celebrates with Councilman Shryock and Councilman Mike Mendez at city hall this past week. Randy Economy Photo
Mayor Luigi Vernola and his fellow city councilmembers including Vice Mayor Marcel Rodarte, Councilman Leonard Shryock, Councilman Mike Mendez and Councilwoman Cheri Kelley hosted a party just outside the city council chambers with pizza, sodas, homemade cookies shaped like their playing helmets, and with nearly two hundred family members, friends, and community leaders including elected members of the Norwalk-La Mirada Unified School District Board of Education.
Vernola told Hews Media Group-Community Newspapers that he has “never been more proud of the accomplishments from a group of amazing young men during one season of competition. This team will go down in history.”
Vernola also presented each player of the team with a ticket to Knott’s Berry Farm in nearby Buena Park.
The city council praised head football coach Jesse Ceniceros for being such a “positive driving force in the lives” of his players during the presentation.
In turn, the team presented Vernola with an autographed football jersey that was framed and encased in glass.
Shryock also told HMG-CN just how proud he was of the time. “Heck, as far as I am concerned this really is a Dream Team, on and off the field.”
