Cleveland High football players held Thanksgiving morning practice in preparation for City Section Division II final on Friday against San Fernando. (Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)Eric SondheimerThu, November 27, 2025 at 5:30 PM UTC·2 min readThey 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.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement"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.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementCleveland 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.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAfter breakfast following practice, she was set to rush home and put the family turkey in the oven.
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