Landress Wins Eligibility at Granada Hills : Prep football: Sophomore quarterback who transferred from Notre Dame High might play tonight.

Granada Hills High transfer Jim Landress was granted athletic eligibility by a City Section athletic committee Thursday, paving the way for the sophomore quarterback to play in tonight’s opener against Lynwood.

Landress was granted the transfer on the basis of financial hardship. Landress’ father, Steve, a teacher and baseball coach at Cleveland, said his family cannot afford to pay about $4,000 in annual tuition costs at Notre Dame, a private parochial school. Employees of the Los Angeles Unified School District recently took a substantial pay cut.

“The evidence was very convincing,” said Hal Harkness, the City athletics commissioner.

The elder Landress appeared before the City’s rules committee Thursday morning to present his case. The committee voted, 7 to 1, with one abstention, to grant Landress his eligibility.

Landress (6-foot-1, 170 pounds) started at quarterback for the Notre Dame junior varsity last fall and was an outfielder on the varsity baseball team.

Senior quarterback Matt Livingston will start in tonight’s game at Granada Hills, but Landress also might play, co-Coach Tom Harp said. “He’s got a lot of athletic ability,” Harp said. “I don’t have any doubt that he’ll be a good quarterback somewhere down the road.”

Though the Landress family lives in the Cleveland attendance area, the quarterback already had been granted an opportunity transfer to Granada Hills. A student whose parent is a teacher at a district school is permitted to enroll at another City school.

Landress joins a long list of quarterbacks who have transferred to Granada Hills, including recent standouts Jeremy Leach and Bryan Martin. Both earned college scholarships.

Landress batted .308 last spring for Notre Dame and started for Van Nuys-Notre Dame, this summer’s American Legion District 20 titlist.