BLOOMINGTON -- Thirty years ago, the Bloomington football team scored a then-national record 880 points in winning a section title.
Current Bloomington coach Rick Salazar was a star on that 1994 team coached by the late Don Markham. But on Thursday night it was visiting Perris with the high-powered offense, as the Panthers defeated the Bruins 34-6 in the season opener for both teams.
Perris quarterback Ryan Arredondo completed 15 of 21 passes for 258 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Panthers.
"It's an amazing win," Arredondo said. "I couldn't have done it without my boys. I love my guys up front and my receivers. It was a team win and I would never give credit to myself because I'm humble like that."
Mike Lawson caught two touchdown passes for Perris, and Omarie Wilcox had one touchdown catch and a long scoring run.
Perris running back Chibuzze Ubatuegwu scored from 2 yards out to put Perris up 7-0 with 10:24 left in the first quarter.
Perris' De'Monhijja Brown then recovered a fumble, setting up the Panthers' second score. That came on a 25-yard Arredondo pass to Lawson to make it 13-0 with 10:52 left in the second quarter.
Perris, after stopping Bloomington on fourth down on the Panther 27, took over. Five plays later, Arredondo connected with Wilcox on a 61-yard touchdown pass to make it 19-0 late in the first half.
Things began to look up for Bloomington when it marched 75 yards in just less than 8 minutes to score on a 1-yard run by Dylan Fraembs, cutting Perris' lead to 19-6.
But Perris scored on its first play from scrimmage after Fraembs' touchdown to blow the game open at 26-6.
"We knew they were going to be tough in the trenches," Perris coach Paul Martin said. "We did a lot of preparation for them. Our guys were just able to execute plays. We have a heck of a quarterback and a lot of playmakers on the perimeter."
Perris' offensive line of Daniel Soto, Alex Trujillo, Luis Valente, Ethan Mejia and Jesse Castro protected Arredondo splendidly and fueled the running game.
Defenders Brown, Dekoven Washington and Kris Alvarez helped the Panthers shut down Bloomington's run-heavy offense.
Aaron Perez-Soto led Bloomington on the ground with 67 yards on 18 carries. The Bruins completed just one pass.
"We performed well last week in a scrimmage, but this week we weren't ready," Salazar said. "We weren't prepared. The quarterback (Arredondo) is definitely carrying that team. Every broken play, he turned into an advantage."
Bloomington played without standout running back Nicholas Seventy and lineman Phillip Lopez, who were out with nagging injuries.