The High Schools : Trick Play Gives Cleveland Pause to Remember

Cleveland High has long been known for its flawless execution of the bounce pass and as a place where the fast break is considered a thing of beauty.

But Cleveland’s football team was burned by a bounce pass last week that was anything but pretty.

With the score tied, 14-14, San Pedro set up for its final play at the Cleveland 37-yard line. San Pedro quarterback Mike Seward took the snap, stepped back and fired a one-hop lateral to receiver John Pinel. Cleveland’s defense, thinking the pass would be whistled incomplete, relaxed.

“When I watched it on film, everybody stopped,” Cleveland Coach Steve Landress said. “ Everybody stopped.”

Everybody except San Pedro receiver Darrell Dupree, who caught Pinel’s ensuing downfield pass and streaked in for the score, giving San Pedro a 20-14 lead with one second left.

“We only practiced the play once or twice,” Pinel said. “I threw it because I’m the only receiver who can throw.”

San Pedro Coach Henry Pacheco said he learned the play from former Granada Hills Coach Wayne Quigley, who led the Highlanders to a win over San Pedro by pulling the same play in a 1982 playoff game. Landress said he knew immediately that the play looked familiar.

“Granada Hills is where they got it,” Landress said with a sigh. “It takes a perfect throw, a perfect bounce. . . They really did it to us. We thought it might be coming, and we’ve practiced defending that play.

“I’m still in shock.”

He’d better get plugged in soon. Cleveland plays host to Granada Hills on Friday night at 8.

Add Cleveland: Senior quarterback Lee Gatewood has been nicknamed “Crow” because he rarely does things in a fluid manner, Landress said.

“If he was just a little smoother, people would be raving about him,” Landress said of Gatewood, who has passed for 237 yards and 2 touchdowns in 2 games. “He looks like a scarecrow. His arms are always flapping and his legs are never in the right place at the same time.”

Buzzards circled when Gatewood was knocked for a loop against San Pedro, and when Landress rushed out to check his injured player, Gatewood was crowing about the hit.

Said Landress: “I run out there and he’s lying on his back, his eyes are rolled back in his head and he’s saying, ‘Whoooo, radical, radical,’ ” Landress said with a laugh. “Then he goes, ‘Coach, can you believe a guy could hit that hard?’

“He’s a fun kid to be around.”

Same wavelength: Alemany junior quarterback Joey Rosselli leads Valley-area Southern Section passers with 591 yards, perhaps because he has a well-established understanding of what receivers are looking for.

When Rosselli played Pop Warner football, he was a receiver. On the same team was Alemany receiver Billy Markowitz, who leads the Indians with 163 yards and 9 receptions.

Markowitz was the quarterback.

Attention handicappers: Taft Coach Tom Stevenson said he has seen enough of both teams to formulate an opinion on Saturday’s Division I battle between Crespi and Servite at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa. Taft lost to Crespi, 44-0, last year, and to Servite, 35-7, on Friday. Stevenson then watched Crespi edge San Fernando, 24-20, last Saturday.

Stevenson gives Servite’s big three--quarterback Chris Johnson, tailback Derek Brown and fullback Garrett Greedy--the edge over Crespi’s comparable trio of quarterback Ron Redell, tailback Russell White and fullback Quinn Fauria.

“Their fullback was great, their quarterback was very elusive and Derek Brown, I don’t need to say much about him,” Stevenson said of the Friar trio, which combined for 311 yards in offense against Taft. “I think they’ll beat Crespi pretty easily, because I don’t think Russell is where he was last year. He’s still hurt and just hasn’t looked as fast.”

Stevenson termed Crespi’s performance against San Fernando “lethargic.”

“I think Servite might just blow them out if they’re not careful,” he said.

Last year, Crespi defeated Servite, 45-38, in a quarterfinal playoff game in Anaheim.

Turn out the lights: Stevenson knows something about Servite blowouts. As Taft was being victimized by some big blows in Servite’s 21-0 run in the third quarter, Stevenson was hoping for a blowout of a different sorts.

“I was praying the field lights would go,” he quipped. “Something, anything to slow those guys down.”

Told you so: Four years of bringing a rule book to games finally paid off for Moorpark Coach Rob Dearborn. Before Moorpark’s 27-13 win against Capistrano Valley Christian on Saturday, the officials questioned the legality of the footballs Moorpark wanted to use.

“They’re Rawlings soft-touch footballs. Most quarterbacks don’t like them because they’re softer than other footballs,” Dearborn said.

After a few minutes of jawing, Dearborn ended the discussion by referring to his rule book.

“All it said is that they have to have 13 pounds of pressure,” he said.

That proved to be the most interesting part of the game. Moorpark (1-2) jumped out to a 21-0 lead in the first half and coasted to the nonleague win. Chuck Silverest dashed 71 yards for a touchdown on the second play of the game to begin the rout.

Slow start: After 12 quarters of play, Bell-Jeff (0-3) has scored but a field goal.

“We’re a little slow coming around,” Coach Doug Woodlief understated.

So is Halley’s Comet.

The Guards have been outscored, 75-3, and twice have been shut out.

And the future looks dim because tight end-kicker Mike Lattanzio, the team’s leading scorer--the team’s only scorer--broke his leg Friday against Glendale and is out for the season.

Staff writers Steve Elling, Steve Fleischman and Vince Kowalick contributed to this notebook.