Cleveland

Junior cornerback Ayden Celis recovered a fumble at San Fernando’s 22-yard line with 1:27 remaining and the second-seeded Tigers held on to beat No. 1-seeded Cleveland 21-14 at Birmingham High.

It was the ninth City title for San Fernando (11-3) and its first since 2017.

Melvin Pineda plowed into the end zone on fourth and goal from the one-yard line to end San Fernando’s first drive and, after teammate Brandan Marshall recovered a fumble at the Tigers’ 46, Pineda capped the ensuing possession with another one-yard touchdown, his sixth of the playoffs, to make it 14-0.

Cleveland marched to San Fernando’s eight-yard line late in the second quarter but a 25-yard field-goal attempt by Samael Cerritos hit the left upright.

Oluwafemi Okeola intercepted an overthrown pass at the San Fernando 46 early in the third quarter and nine plays later quarterback Domenik Fuentes scored on a three-yard keeper to pull the top-seeded Cavaliers within eight.

Three runs by Brandon Maldonado gained 37 yards to set up Fuentes’ one-yard plunge and a two-point conversion run by Joseph Hurtado that tied the score, 14-14, with 9:33 left.

San Fernando responded with a 75-yard drive, regaining the lead on a two-yard run by Andrew Newchurch, his 16th touchdown of the season, and a clutch extra point by Isaac Ortega with 4:36 remaining in the game.

“It was probably my last [high school] football game and we got the win,” Newchurch said. “The play was overload left and it was wide open. We’re proud to add to the school legacy — we hadn’t won City in a long time.”

The Tigers lost to eventual-champion Chatsworth in the first round of the Division II playoffs last season.

Cleveland (5-9) was seeking its first City title.

They came on electric bikes, skateboards, walked or were dropped off by car early Thanksgiving morning at Cleveland High in Reseda.

It’s championship week in high school football, and practicing on Thursday means teams are still alive and one win away from trophy time.

“Turkey day,” starting lineman Adam Garbisch shouted as he joined teammates for stretching.

In coach Mario Guzman’s football office, his wife, Elizabeth, volunteered to be the breakfast cook and worker. On Wednesday, Guzman purchased 15 dozen eggs, 25 pounds of pancake mix, 15 pounds of bacon.

“It comes out of my huge stipend at the end of the season,” Guzman said.

Elizabeth Guzman, wife of Cleveland football coach Mario Guzman, cracks one of 180 eggs Thursday morning to serve to players on Thanksgiving morning.

(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)

His wife had already basted the family turkey the night before and now she was cracking 180 eggs with a smile and wearing plastic gloves. When she finished, she decided to take a brief break. “I need coffee first,” she said.

Cleveland is set to play San Fernando for the City Section Division II championship on Friday at 6 p.m. at Birmingham.

You can tell the Cavaliers have created the culture of a championship team because players were running onto the field when they were late with no coaches around to tell them to hustle.

Across the Southland, similar scenes were happening in the Southern Section and City Section as teams prepare for their championship games on Friday and Saturday.

Elizabeth, who teaches pre-kindergarten children, was thrilled to be volunteering on Thanksgiving for her husband’s team.

“There’s nowhere else I’d rather be than here,” she said.

After breakfast following practice, she was set to rush home and put the family turkey in the oven.

This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email [email protected].

CLEVELAND — Donovan Mitchell scored 37 points and took over when the game got close, leading the Cleveland Cavaliers to a 120-105 victory over the Clippers on Sunday night.

Kawhi Leonard scored 20 points in his return to the Clippers’ lineup after missing 10 games because of a sprained right ankle. L.A. went 2-8 while Leonard was out.

Mitchell helped the Cavaliers pull away with a flurry of plays late in the third quarter. He finished with five three-pointers, eight rebounds and six assists.

Evan Mobley had 18 points and 10 rebounds, and De’Andre Hunter scored 17 points as Cleveland went 4-2 on a six-game homestand.

Ivica Zubac paced the Clippers with 33 points — two off his career high — and 18 rebounds.

James Harden, who had a franchise-record 55 points for the Clippers in a win at Charlotte on Saturday, missed all eight three-point shots and finished with 19 points.

The Clippers trimmed a 13-point deficit to one in the third when Mitchell went to work.

The six-time All-Star had consecutive three-point plays, dropped a three-pointer and had two assists in the final 3:06 as the Cavaliers closed the quarter with a 15-3 run to open a 92-79 lead.

Mitchell then made another three-pointer and had two more assists in the opening minutes of the fourth as the Cavaliers pushed their lead to 18.

The Cavaliers were without key players as starting center Jarrett Allen (finger) and guards Lonzo Ball (knee), Sam Merrill (hand) and Craig Porter Jr. (hamstring) sat because of injuries.

Cleveland has played 10 different starting lineups while combating injuries.

Clippers guard Chris Paul picked up five assists in 17 minutes. Paul reportedly will retire after the season, and the 12-time All-Star received a warm ovation from Cleveland’s crowd when he checked in.

When sophomore guard Phoenix Smith came off the bench on Monday night in Crespi’s season opener against Cleveland, two things were clear: His big hair and his 5-foot-7 frame, the smallest on the court.

He played junior varsity last season, and let’s just say Celts coach Derek Fisher is going to have fun working with him. Smith was three for three on three-pointers and finished with 16 points in Crespi’s 81-44 win over Cleveland.

He put together a nine-point surge between the end of the first quarter and the start of the second quarter. Leaving him open this season will not be a good strategy. Another JV player from last season, Cayman Martin, led Crespi in scoring with 17 points. Carter Barnes had 14 points and Isaiah Barnes 13 points.

Crespi has a big game coming up Saturday at Pauley Pavilion against Mater Dei.

St. Bernard 81, Claremont 56: Brandon Granger led St. Bernard with a 30-point performance.

South Pasadena 77, Franklin 43: Nick Rios scored 22 points and Rob Khollesi added 21 points for South Pasadena.

Carson 59, South East 37: The Colts are 2-0 under new coach Corey Kitani. Blake McCall had 16 points and nine rebounds.

Mira Costa 85, Torrance 70: Logan Dugdale finished with 18 points and Paxx Bell had 17 points and 12 rebounds in a first-round game at the Ocean View tournament.

Wiseburn Da Vinci 73, Oak Park 56: Aidan Ebrahimi had 15 points for Wiseburn Da Vinci.

Santa Margarita 89, Temecula Valley 38: Drew Anderson had 30 points and 11 rebounds and Kaiden Bailey added 26 points for the Eagles.

Canyon Country Canyon 65, Antelope Valley 28: Alex Lazo made nine threes and finished with 27 points for the Cowboys.

Servite 100, United Christian Academy 18: Tariq Johnson had 22 points for the Friars.

West Torrance 64, Venice 55: Ben Heinemann finished with 15 points for West Torrance.

Valencia 47, Heritage Christian 44: Ali Eldein led Valencia with 18 points.