Shooting Prompts Playoff Site Changes for El Segundo High

The threat of gang retaliation against El Segundo High students after a weekend shooting has caused the school district to change the sites for two playoff games involving the boys’ basketball and girls’ soccer teams, Supt. William Manahan said Wednesday.

El Segundo was scheduled to be the home school for both of Friday’s CIF Southern Section quarterfinal-round games. Instead, the boys’ basketball team will travel to Palm Desert High to play Palo Verde of Blythe at 7:30 p.m. The girls’ soccer team will play Brentwood at 3 p.m. at an as yet undisclosed location.

The changes were made after a shooting early Saturday involving El Segundo students in which a 17-year-old Burbank boy was killed and a 21-year-old man, also of Burbank, was wounded during a high-speed chase that began in El Segundo and ended in Manhattan Beach.

A 17-year-old El Segundo boy turned himself into police Wednesday and was arrested on suspicion of murder.

Police are investigating reports that the victim and the injured man were associated with a San Fernando Valley-based gang.

“Revenge occurs as a result of things like this,” Manahan said. “The threat for reprisal by a gang makes us susceptible to anybody being shot at or attacked, simply because there is no gang element here.

“We want to control any after-school activity and not provide a window of opportunity for anyone (to retaliate).”

In addition to the playoff games, El Segundo has dropped Burroughs of Burbank as its first-round opponent in the El Segundo baseball tournament. The Eagles were scheduled to play March 1 at Burroughs, but have decided to realign the tournament’s pairings to allow both teams to play different opponents.

“We don’t want to be responsible for putting our kids in harm’s way,” Manahan said.

The school is taking every precaution to ensure the safety of students participating in Friday’s playoff games. Instead of school buses, personal vehicles will transport the basketball and soccer players to their games.

“We’re not putting students on buses because I feel they would be moving targets,” Manahan said. “My biggest concern is that everybody will return home after the games. That’s why we’re encouraging people to travel in their personal vehicles.”

El Segundo basketball Coach Rick Sabosky was understandably disappointed to have his team’s Division VI-AA playoff game moved. The Eagles, who would have played Palo Verde at either Redondo or Mira Costa, now must make a 2 1/2-hour drive to Palm Desert.

However, the basketball game and Division 1-A girls’ soccer game are still considered home contests for El Segundo.

“The kids are totally discouraged,” Sabosky said. “There have been no signs, no posters, no banners (at school) about the game. We won’t have any cheerleaders there. I’m just going to challenge the kids. Anything we do the rest of the way, we’re going to have to do on our own.”

On the bright side, Sabosky said he is glad to be playing. Manahan said he considered forfeiting both playoff games after learning that El Segundo students were involved in Saturday’s shooting, which followed an altercation at an El Segundo convenience store.

“The incident, from everything we have learned from the police, was provoked by our students,” Manahan said.

El Segundo gave Palo Verde the option of playing at its school gym, which would have meant making a five-hour drive to Blythe, located near the Arizona border. But Palo Verde opted to play at Palm Desert because it has a larger, newer facility.

“We’re certainly glad we’re not going to Blythe,” Sabosky said. “The gym we’re going to is supposedly a beautiful complex. It’s certainly the best I can hope for in this situation.”

Manahan said El Segundo will continue to monitor after-school activities until the threat of gang retaliation is over. The funeral for the victim is Friday in Burbank.

“Police have told us that the crisis period for reprisal is highest at or around the funeral time,” Manahan said. “The threat of reprisal concerns us. We have to minimize any chance of that happening.”

Redondo’s basketball team, which finished fourth in the Ocean League, won its second-round playoff game Tuesday night in dramatic fashion.

El Modena sophomore Ernie Wilson hit a 65-foot shot at the buzzer, but officials ruled Wilson had released the ball after time expired, allowing host Redondo to escape with a 65-63 Division II-A victory.

When asked if the shot should have counted, Redondo Coach Steve Shaw said, “No way. But it was a lot closer than I would have liked.”

The wild finish came after senior guard Jason Correa drove the base line and scored on a layup to give the Sea Hawks a 65-63 lead with two seconds left as the Redondo coaching staff screamed for a timeout.

“That was great coaching,” Shaw said, jokingly. “All year long, we’ve been in those situations and we’ve gone with the philosophy of not calling a timeout because we’re not as good as a half-court team as we are at just pushing it up the floor.

“But tonight we were trying something different, and it’s a good thing the kids didn’t listen to me.”

El Modena Coach Tim Tivenan didn’t argue the call that disallowed Wilson’s miracle basket.

“I didn’t know if the shot was in time,” Tivenan said. “I just wanted to make sure the officials made the right call, and they said they did.”

Redondo (15-13) will face top-seeded and defending state Division II champion Artesia (22-2) in the quarterfinals Friday night at Gahr High in Cerritos. El Modena, the Century League champion, finished 17-8.

Rolling Hills basketball Coach Cliff Warren said Wednesday he may have coached his last high school game Tuesday night, when the Titans were beaten by Western, 76-57, in a Division III-AA playoff game in Anaheim.

“I guess it could be my last high school game,” he said. “But I’ll probably surface somewhere. I’ll bounce around. If not next year, then in a couple of years.”

Because the district’s three high schools--Rolling Hills, Palos Verdes and Miraleste--will consolidate into one school next fall, only one coach will be needed at the new school. Warren said he expects the job to go to longtime Palos Verdes Coach John Mihaljevich, who is a teacher. Warren, a successful real estate investor, is not a full-time employee of the district.

“John deserves to be the coach, so let it be,” Warren said. “I really don’t know what I’ll do.”

Warren, 52, coached Rolling Hills to a 123-46 record in six seasons at Rolling Hills, including a 13-6 playoff mark. He returned to high school coaching in 1985 after coaching at El Segundo High in the 1960s.

“I laid out (of coaching) for 18 years and came back,” he said. “I certainly can lay out three or four years and come back.”

Two South Bay wrestlers won CIF individual titles last week at the 3-A Division finals. Defending state champion Josh Gormley of West Torrance won the heavyweight title and Eric Gaunt of Torrance won the 171-pound championship.

West finished fourth as a team.

Gormley and Gaunt will be among 208 individual competitors (16 in each of the 13 weight classes) who will compete Saturday in the CIF Master’s meet.