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WOODLAND HILLS – For Cleveland High running back Caleb McCarty, the fourth coach is a charm.
“In all my years at Cleveland, I haven’t had one coaching staff for more than one year,” McCarty said.
It’s been a carousel of coaches for McCarty, but amid a global pandemic, months of Zoom workouts and an impromptu spring football season, first-year coach Peter Gunny seemed to lift his football team above the chaos to a climax that was a 42-0 win over El Camino Real to earn a share of the West Valley League title Friday night.
McCarty’s last game was his final bow, running for 160 yards and four touchdowns. Gerardo Abrego also ran for a touchdown. Stefan Roberts had an interception return for a touchdown for the Cavs.
“As a team, we decided we were over the losing stuff,” McCarty said. “We were over it.”
The Cavs finished the season 4-0 (including a forfeit win over Granada Hills Charter) in league play and finished tied with Birmingham Charter, which beat Chatsworth 44-0 Friday night. The teams will share the league title. The last time Cleveland football won a league title is somewhat of a mystery, even after asking coaches and athletic directors, an actual year couldn’t be found.
We even asked longtime San Fernando Valley high school football broadcaster Randy Rosenbloom, who was calling the game for LA36 Friday night, if he knew about Cleveland’s last league crown.
“This might be the best Cleveland team in the past 30 years, including the Browns,” Rosenbloom said.
There’s a confident opinion that it’s the Cavs first league crowning in roughly 35 years. Either way, it’s been a long time coming.
First-year coach Peter Gunny gets the celebratory water bath from his Cleveland players after clinching a share of the West Valley League title in so long, nobody seems to know an actually year it last happened. But it’s assumed to be 45+ years. @cavsfball | @CavsAthleticsAD pic.twitter.com/ughFEnvPPn
— Tarek Fattal (@Tarek_Fattal) May 1, 2021
McCarty scored the game’s only two scores of the first half, converting on a third-and-29 touchdown run to make a 13-0 halftime score. He punched in two more touchdowns in the second half sandwiched on each side of a 1-yard touchdown plunge by Abrego. The score was 33-0 at the end of the third quarter.
The Cleveland players snuck up on Gunny to shower him with a glorious Gatorade bath – although it was just water – after the win to put a pretty bow on a City Section football season that many thought was never going to happen.
“This season has really helped us to form a brotherhood,” said McCarty.
Other league champs
Chavez High defeated Sun Valley Poly 42-14 Friday night to secure the program’s first East Valley League title, sharing it with Arleta High. The Mustangs topped Grant High 33-16.
Canoga Park won its first Valley Mission League title since 1999 with a 27-20 win over Reseda.
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