THE HIGH SCHOOLS : New Tensions Put Cleveland Under the Gun

Steve Landress, the Cleveland High football coach, has walked the front lines before, saying that life sometimes resembled a battle zone when he coached at Manual Arts.

“I’ve been shot at and I’ve had players killed. I’ve had players arrested for murder. Once I got a death threat on a Friday and I was jumped the next Monday,” he said.

Those are some of the reasons Landress left Manual Arts for the safety of the San Fernando Valley.

“Cleveland was like a country club,” he said.

The country club was invaded this week. Verbal jousting between Cleveland players and three unidentified men erupted into a shooting incident Wednesday afternoon at the Cleveland campus, Los Angeles Unified School District Police Department officials said. No injuries were reported, and the incident is being investigated by school district police.

Dan Kubelka, a Cleveland teacher who witnessed the shooting, said four or five shots were fired at the Cleveland team as the players prepared for practice near the school’s weight room. The unidentified men traded words with the players, shouting San Fernando High slogans and the name of Cleveland running back Albert Fann, Kubelka said.

Cleveland played at San Fernando on Friday, winning, 17-0, to run its record to 6-0.

“The football players walked out to a fence where they were shouting back and forth,” Kubelka said. “That’s when I told the players to head back to the weight room. Then one of the guys walked to this cream-colored Mazda truck they were driving and got a weapon. It looked like a .22 caliber. He had two hands on it, real FBI-style, and he started shooting. I thought it was just blanks because he was laughing the whole time.”

School security officials were summoned and investigated the scene, Kubelka said, but apparently did not file a report with the Los Angeles Police Department. A West Valley Division spokesman said Saturday that police had no record of the shooting.

When Landress learned of the incident Wednesday he informed school officials and requested extra security for Friday’s game, which was played without incident.

Kubelka, who was surprised that a police report had not been filed, said he is afraid school officials will try to ignore the incident.

“I’m fed up with the schools,” said Kubelka, a teacher of 15 years. “It was a terrible situation where people could have been killed and they just want to sweep it under the rug. They don’t want people to know that this stuff is going on at the schools.”

Assistant school district police chief Wesley Mitchell declined to reply to Kubelka’s comments.

Landress also declined to comment on Kubelka’s statement, saying he had his hands full attending to the welfare of his team.

“After the shooting I had to calm all our guys down,” he said. “They were pretty excited. The thing is you can’t let something like this intimidate you. This is just another form of terrorism. I feel our guys put the whole thing out of their minds. They went to San Fernando to play a football game and that’s what they did.

“Besides, nothing happened Friday. Everything was perfect. Our kids were treated well and I was happy with the security. There was no danger at all.”

One of Friday night’s most emotional moments occurred at College of the Canyons, where Hart Coach Rick Scott broke into tears while addressing his team before its game with Burroughs. Scott was sick all week and was forced to turn over the bulk of his coaching responsibilities to his assistants.

“I’ve coached 16 years and I never missed a practice, but there were times this week I just had to sit out,” he said Saturday. “I had some revelations watching practice. Everybody did a little extra and they got zero direction from me. Before the game, I told our kids they had the best coaching staff in the state of California. It meant a lot to me that they put the time and effort in.

“There aren’t enough good things on this planet to look back on and remember, and I wanted the kids to remember this moment.”

Scott was especially proud of his defense, which led Hart’s 20-8 win over Burroughs in a battle for first place in the Foothill League. Hart limited Burroughs to eight yards rushing, and although Burroughs quarterback Jeff Barrett completed 10 of 21 passes for 103 yards, the Indians sacked him six times.

“Without a doubt this was our best defensive game,” Scott said. “And I had nothing to do with it. Our defense was doing things out there I didn’t understand. I was just proud to wear the same colors as those guys.”

Scott credited defensive coordinator Al Weil along with assistants Mike Herrington, Dennis Ford, Gary Hinman and Joe McKeon with the victory.

Canyon Coach Harry Welch is not well liked in Ridgecrest. At least he’s no favorite of Verl Lillywhite, the Burroughs of Ridgecrest athletic director, who blasted Welch for complaining about the nearly four-hour trip to Ridgecrest.

“Harry Welch is his own worst enemy,” Lillywhite said. “Those Canyon football people are just plain arrogant and Harry is the ringleader. Harry talks too much. He’s always talking so nice to the press and the public, but always he’s behind you with a knife, twisting it whenever he gets the chance.”

Is it true, Harry?

“I can see people calling me arrogant. Maybe I’m the ringleader of arrogance,” Welch said with a laugh Saturday. “I don’t know. Back-stabber is not a pleasant thing to hear. I don’t feel good about it, but I’m not going to pursue it. The next time I see him I’ll say hello. I guess when you win people take shots at you.”

Canyon beat Burroughs, 35-3, Friday night to run the nation’s longest current win streak to 45 games.