Spectators Are Not Allowed When Cathedral, Salesian Meet

The football teams from Cathedral and Salesian high schools met last Thursday night in a regular-season finale. Since a berth in the playoffs was on the line, a big crowd would normally have been expected.

But when the teams lined up for the national anthem, the bleachers were empty.

There were plenty of fans who wanted to be there but, for this game, fans were not allowed. The gates were locked and several police officers were on hand to make sure there would be no problems.

Cathedral and Salesian are Catholic all-boys schools in Los Angeles. The Cathedral campus is just off the Pasadena Freeway near Chinatown. Salesian is in East L.A. The schools have been archrivals for years.

Tensions recently began escalating at athletic events with fights becoming common occurrences. Fearing increased violence, administrators from both schools met last winter and agreed on a two-year ban of fans from sporting contests between the schools. All games are also to be played at neutral sites.

Last Thursday’s game was played at Pius X High in Downey. The site was kept secret from players and coaches so that they would not tell anyone. They did not know where they were playing until they arrived at the field.

Cathedral won, 13-3, but players and coaches were upset that they were not able to share their victory with families and friends.

“The kids would have liked to hear some cheering,” said Al Lopez, a Cathedral assistant coach. “It was weird playing with no one there. It was more like a scrimmage in practice.”

Gary Bertolone, an assistant principal at Cathedral and a graduate of the school, said that parents, faculty and students knew there was a problem and that something had to be done. He said it was unfortunate that extreme measures had to be taken.

“Although no one was ever injured in past altercations, we knew a problem was just around the corner,” Bertolone said. “We’ve had some complaints about our decision, but we have also received support for trying to tone down the tensions.”

If there are no problems between the schools in the near future, Bertolone said administrators might review the pact and end it earlier than the January, 1995, expiration date.

“What’s so ironic about this is that we’re dealing with two Catholic schools here,” he said. “But these kinds of problem are far-reaching.”

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With more than a foot of snow covering the field at Big Bear High, the school’s playoff-bound football team went searching for some dry practice areas Monday.

Coach Mike Clifton decided to keep his team in the gym for two days, but the Bears will drive 40 minutes to Lucerne Valley High today and Thursday to practice. Their first-round playoff game against Cathedral has also been moved to San Bernardino Cajon High Saturday at 1 p.m.

Two storms in the last week have left Big Bear covered with snow. Bernie Cavanagh, the school’s athletic director, said that when the snow eventually melts, there will be a muddy mess because the field’s grass has already gone dormant for the winter.

“We don’t usually get this kind of snow so early,” Cavanagh said. “But our coaching staff promises they won’t let the weather affect the team’s performance.”

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Montebello and cross-town rival Montebello Schurr played one of the season’s most exciting football games Friday. Before a standing-room-only crowd of 4,000 at Montebello, Montebello clinched the Almont League title with a 49-42 victory in four overtimes.

Both teams missed field-goal attempts in the fourth quarter, and the game ended in regulation tied at 21-21. In overtime, each team got the ball on the opponent’s 10-yard line with four chances to score. In the fourth overtime, Montebello scored the winning touchdown when Fred Montiel threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to Guillermo Calderon. The Oilers then held Schurr on its final possession.

“It’s the kind of football game you would really have hated to lose,” said Doug Rihn, Montebello’s coach. “It was definitely nervous at times, but I’m just glad we prevailed.”

Prep Notes

Woodland Hills Taft, playing most of the game without starting quarterback Mike Ferguson, lost for the first time this season, 19-18, to San Fernando last Friday. Ferguson suffered a broken collarbone and is out for the playoffs. . . . Moorpark’s 42-6 victory over Santa Clara clinched the Frontier League title. It is the school’s first outright league title since 1943.

When the team bus failed to show up at Palos Verdes Peninsula on Friday afternoon, Coach Gary Kimbrell and his players loaded vans and cars and drove themselves to Coleman Field in Inglewood. The Panthers beat Inglewood, 56-18. “We managed to get all our equipment and close to 60 kids there and back safely,” Kimbrell said. . . . Verbum Dei forfeited football victories over Gardena Serra and San Pedro Mary Star for using an ineligible player.

Panorama City St. Genevieve, 1-18 the last two seasons, won the Sante Fe League title Thursday with a 28-27 victory against Murphy. The Valiants are 8-2. . . . New USC women’s basketball Coach Cheryl Miller has signed her first high school recruit, 5-foot-8 guard Shannon Kartz of Tracy, Calif. As a junior last year, Kartz averaged 13 points, 5.9 rebounds and 4.8 steals a game.

Times’ Top 20 Football Poll

The Times’ top 20 high school football poll, with teams from the City and Southern Sections.

School Sect. Div. Rec. LW 1. Bishop Amat SS I 10-0 1 2. Eisenhower SS I 10-0 2 3. Los Alamitos SS II 10-0 3 4. Newbury Park SS III 10-0 4 5. Hart SS II 9-1 5 6. Quartz Hill SS I 10-0 7 7. LB Poly SS I 9-1 6 8. Antelope Valley SS I 8-2 8 9. Hunt. Beach SS II 10-0 10 10. Mater Dei SS I 9-1 14 11. Hawthorne SS III 9-1 11 12. Norco SS V 10-0 12 13. Irvine SS IV 9-1 15 14. Paramount SS II 10-0 16 15. Loyola SS I 7-3 9 16. Sylmar City 4-A 8-1-1 17 17. Muir SS II 8-2 19 18. Taft City 4-A 9-1 13 19. Edison SS II 8-2 20 20. St. Paul SS I 7-3 NR