assistant

To understand the dedication and determination of football players from unbeaten Cleveland High, let’s review the commitment of backup quarterback Julio Avalos. He was so excited after guiding the Cavaliers to a 14-9 win over City Section power Birmingham that he spent all night watching film.

Asked what time he finally decided to go to sleep, Avalos said, “4 a.m.”

The entire offensive line eats together at lunch in the cafeteria.

“You see people hiding their food,” one lineman quipped.

They also get together on Thursdays for pasta night, where one player acknowledged eating “six to eight” chocolate chip cookies to close out a night of shared love for carbohydrates.

Then there’s the 34-year-old coach Mario Guzman. It’s been decades since a young coach armed with a teaching credential has pulled off the kind of breakthrough season in the City Section that Cleveland is enjoying, at a time when the City has lost such historic coaching figures as Robert Garrett, Angelo Gasca, Lorenzo Hernandez, Paul Knox and Mike Walsh.

Think back to 1992 when Troy Starr of Taft was 30 years old and took his team to the City 3-A final after a winless 1991 season.

If Cleveland (7-0) wins out and captures the West Valley League title, the Cavaliers likely will receive the No. 2 seeding behind defending champion Carson in the City Section Open Division playoffs. Cleveland never plays in the Open Division.

“I told him, ‘Good luck, baby,’” Birmingham coach Jim Rose said of his message to Guzman.

“They have 30 seniors. That’s a huge help,” Rose said. “He’s got his guys believing in what they do as a program. Their identity is to pound the ball on offense. The first two series, we gave up touchdowns. One thing about Cleveland is they always get athletes, but they put it together this season. He’s got enough big guys and enough speed to get it going.”

Cleveland also went on the road to beat another City power, Crenshaw, 24-18. Each win came with Avalos at quarterback, replacing the injured Domenik Fuentes. Avalos normally plays receiver, but he had to fill in last season when Fuentes got hurt before returning for the playoffs.

Cleveland’s offensive line has been a strength, including, from left, right tackle Carlos Gomez, right guard Carter Fitzgerald, center Pedro Castaneda, center Adam Garbisch, left guard Jovanni Orellana and left tackle Josue Fonseca.

(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times )

Guzman was caught by surprise last season when he didn’t prepare for losing Fuentes, so all summer, he vowed to never again to be without a fully ready backup quarterback. Fuentes returned on Friday night to pass for 208 yards and three touchdowns in a 37-20 win over El Camino Real.

Cleveland has multiple running backs, led by Moyosoreoluwa Odebunmi. The defense features middle linebacker Joseph Hurtado, who Rose said is impressive as a tackler.

Guzman is a third-year coach who was an assistant under former coach Peter Gunny. Guzman graduated from Grant and served as an assistant there for several years while going to Valley College, Cal State Northridge and National University to gain a teaching credential. His wife, Elizabeth, helps out with her cooking skills during preseason practices. She’s a prekindergarten teacher for ages 4 and 5, which means she has lots of patience.

“She was fired up,” Guzman said about the Birmingham game. “She wanted a headset.”

TK Drayton, who’s been in Cleveland’s program for four years, said of Guzman, “He loves us outside of sports. He checks on you. You want to go the extra mile for him.”

Discipline has been big for Guzman, whether that means players show up to weight training wearing all black or making sure they never walk when heading to the practice field.

Guzman also has integrity. He’s the last adult to leave Cleveland after games. Sometimes it takes until nearly midnight for the final player to be picked up by a parent. Guzman waits with him. Yes, it would be easy for Guzman to give the player a ride home, but that’s against LAUSD rules for teachers and coaches.

“All you can do is watch,” Guzman said.

The players have placed their trust in Guzman, as have parents. He’s delivering.

LAFC, mired in a slump having won just two of its last 13 games in all competition, fired first-year coach Marc Dos Santos on Sunday with six matches left in the MLS regular season.

The firing, announced in a three-paragraph statement, comes less than 24 hours after Saturday’s 1-0 loss to FC Dallas dropped the team to sixth in the Western Conference table.

“Marc has given a great deal to this club over the years, and we are grateful for his commitment, care and contributions to LAFC,” said John Thorrington, the team’s president of soccer operations, in the release. “We wish Marc and his family all the best moving forward.”

LAFC (11-9-8) said it will begin the search for a new manager immediately but didn’t say who would coach the team in its next game on Oct. 10, after the two-week FIFA international break.

Dos Santos, 49, was an assistant on Bob Bradley’s staff in LAFC’s inaugural season in 2018. He left after the season to take over the Vancouver Whitecaps but struggled to a 22-39-20 record in 2 ½ years that were heavily affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced the team to play many of its games on the road.

Dos Santos returned to LAFC as an assistant in 2022, this time for Steve Cherundolo, helping the team to a Supporters’ Shield and MLS Cup. When Cherundolo stepped down after last season, Dos Santos was given the head coaching job just two weeks later, becoming the third manager in the team‘s history.

His two stints as an assistant at LAFC taught him that the team’s fans are among the most demanding in MLS, something he said he embraced.

“It’s a privilege when you coach a team in Los Angeles,” he said at the time. “Every sport here is pressure. Every team here is win, win.

“It’s a winning city and the culture of the city. So I understand that.”

Dos Santos, who is fluent in four languages, was born in Montreal and split his childhood between Quebec and Portugal. With the exception of Vancouver, he has won everywhere he’s managed, from the Ottawa Fury of the NASL, where he was named the league’s coach of the year in 2015, to the San Francisco Deltas, whom he guided to an NASL title.

LAFC was unbeaten in its first 11 matches in all competition under Dos Santos, outscoring opponents 27-3 and advancing to the semifinals of the CONCACAF Champions Cup, where it lost to Mexico’s Toluca, the eventual winner. But the team has gone 6-9-7 in MLS play since then, including Saturday’s loss when Dos Santos was without six key players — including leading scorer Denis Bouanga and captain Son Heung-min — who were with their national teams.

Afterward, he spoke about his plans for the two-week international break.

“It’s a hard moment right now for us. And we have to face it,” said Dos Santos, who was popular with his players. “It’s been hard for us to get wins. A lot of draws, a lot of close games.

“We need to have everybody together and start working on what this team can be. That’s the big objective during the break.”