By Matthew Robinson
GRANADA HILLS – There were two ominous signs before and during Friday’s Cleveland Cavaliers versus Granada Hills Highlanders game when it appeared that the Highlanders were in for a long night. In pre-game warmups, Highlanders Head Coach Bucky Brooks paced the home sidelines in a nervous and sort of uptight manner. When a team’s head coach is nervous before a game, that’s not a good sign for his team. And in the second quarter, the Highlanders couldn’t get into the end zone from the two-yard line or the goal line on successive plays. As it turned out, Brooks had every reason to be nervous about Friday’s game. The Cavaliers were without four of their best players for much of, or all of, the game, but they still managed to pummel and methodically push aside the Highlanders 37-7 at John Elway Stadium in Granada Hills.
The four Cavaliers who either didn’t suit up or who did play but left the game early included star senior running back Moyosoreoluwa Odebunmi (didn’t suit up: collarbone injury), sophomore wide receiver and kick returner Donovan Shirley (didn’t suit up: injury), senior linebacker and running back Joseph Hurtado (didn’t suit up: left shoulder sprain injury suffered two weeks ago against El Camino Real), and junior quarterback Domenik Fuentes (left shoulder injury suffered in the first quarter of Friday’s game). Just think, if all four of those players had played, the final score could have been 65-7 or 72-7 instead of the recorded 37-7. Those four players mean so much to the Cavaliers. Odebunmi could have scored two or more touchdowns on his own and set up about two to three scores for other Cavaliers offensive players. Hurtado could have scored one or more touchdowns and had between 12 and 18 tackles last night. Shirley could have scored one or more touchdowns receiving or as a kick returner. And Fuentes could have thrown for two or more touchdowns and/or scored one to two touchdowns as a runner.
Cavaliers Head Coach Mario Guzman, in his post-game interview, expressed that his team is banged up with injuries, which is a common occurrence this late in the season for any football team.
“We’re banged up for sure right now, [we’re] looking to get healthy for the postseason,” Guzman said.
The Cavaliers gained 291 yards on 13 carries and five scores rushing while senior backup quarterback Julio Avalos completed two of his three passes for 39 yards. All the Cavaliers needed last night was their running game, a good showing from their offensive line, and solid defensive play. Check.
With last night’s win, the Cavaliers run their overall record to 9-0 and 4-0 in the West Valley League. If the Cavaliers beat the Chatsworth Chancellors next week at home, they will claim their first West Valley League title since the truncated 2020 season when they went 4-0 in a four-game (all four of those games were league games) COVID-19 Pandemic season. With this loss, the Highlanders drop to 3-6 overall and 1-3 in the West Valley League.
While the Cavaliers are on a date with destiny, which includes a possible 10-0 regular-season record, a possible Open Division Championship in late November, and a shot at a State Championship for their division in December, the Highlanders are trying to keep hope alive amid their three-game losing streak. The Highlanders haven’t won a game since October 2nd (a 29-0 win over El Camino Real), and for these last two weeks they’ve been beaten up by the likes of Birmingham (a 32-8 loss) and now Cleveland.
Cleveland is one of the hottest teams in Los Angeles County because of three things: good coaching, a deep roster, and a next-man-up mentality. It’s hard to beat a team that combines those three elements and Granada Hills found that out the hard way.
With Odebunmi out, the Cavaliers needed another running back to step up, but as it turned out, three running backs stepped. The leader of the pack was junior Shiloh Wickliffe, who also plays for the Cavaliers’ varsity baseball team in the spring. The speedy running back gained 173 yards on 5 carries and scored once against the Highlanders. Every time Wickliffe carried the ball, the Highlanders never seemed to have an answer for his speed, vision, and body fakes.
Cleveland knew that the Highlanders couldn’t stop Wickliffe, which is why he had south of 10 carries in the game, but what a game the youngster had. He had a breathtaking 95-yard touchdown run in the second quarter when he was barely touched by the Highlander defense and a 68-yard run in the fourth quarter where he again used his track and field speed to race past the Highlander defense to the Granada Hills one-yard line. The only reason he didn’t score on that 68-yard run was that he was dealing with a right calf injury that tightened up as he was nearing the end zone, giving the Highlander defenders time to catch up with him and tackle him at the one-yard line. In addition, Wickliffe caught one pass for 33 yards from Avalos, and had four tackles (one solo, three assists) on defense
“Mid run, I felt my calf starting to tighten up; and then I tried to score, [but] when I hit the ground, I thought I cramped,” Wickliffe revealed. “I had to shake it [calf cramp] off because I can’t come out of the game; I can’t quit on my team.”
Then there was senior running back Cameron Green who carried three times for 95 yards and one score. All year long, the Cavaliers have been hiding the talented 5-foot-10, 160-pounder. He had no carries and no yards coming into Friday’s game, but he left the game with the confidence that he can help this team achieve its goals in the running game. Freshman running back Alfredo Fuentes chipped in with two carries for 20 yards last night and he also had eight tackles on defense. Fuentes has solid speed and the ability to navigate through defenses with his solid vision. The game was important to Fuentes for his development as a running back in the Cavalier program.
“At first, I was a little nervous and scared to get hit by them [varsity defenders], but in my first [carry this season] I got my nerves out,” Fuentes said. “Every game I get all my nerves out; I just move forward.”
On defense, the Cavaliers held the Highlanders to 158 yards of total offense, with all of those yards coming from the latter’s running game. The Highlanders didn’t score until near the end of the game. The Highlanders run an offense similar to what legendary Oklahoma Sooners Head Coach Barry Switzer (head coach for the Sooners from 1973 to 1988) ran in his era, a combination of the wishbone, Wing-T, and triple option with multiple shifts before the play. The Cavaliers studied that old-school offense for a week coming into this game, and admittedly it took them some time to adjust to that offense in the first quarter, which included quite a few offsides penalties and even an encroachment penalty. But when the Cavaliers figured out the offense, it was all over for the Highlanders.
The bright spot for the Highlanders was junior running back Wale Adeleye, who is also the best player on the roster. The speedy, agile, and smart Adeleye gained 95 yards on 19 carries with one score in the game. Multiple times, he took the snap straight from the center and ran directly into the teeth of the Cavaliers’ defense with no fear. If the Highlanders are to be anything the rest of this season, it will have to go through him and his improvisational skills.
The Cavaliers’ defense was led by senior strong safety Cobe Green, who was in on 16 tackles (nine solos, seven assists). It seemed every time the ball was snapped for the Highlanders, Green was on the scene to make a tackle or just be there in the mix to make his presence felt. It’s a good bet that when the Cavaliers’ season is over, his name will be atop the team’s tackles chart. One of the best things about this 2026 Cavaliers team is that it is chock full of unselfish players like Green who are locked in on the “Cavalier Way” of doing things.
“I love being a part of this team; I’ve been with this team for four years,” Green said. “It’s just resilient, our team; we come in, we come out, we ball out every time. I just got to say, it [is not] really just me; it’s my whole team. We come out and give one hundred percent effort.”
The Cavaliers filled up the statistics chart on defense with junior linebacker Damean Schumann collecting 14 tackles (two solos, 12 assists), who is developing into a solid run defender. Junior linebacker Oluwafemi Okelola was in on eight tackles, which included one tackle for loss (minus two yards), and he also scored on a touchdown run in the fourth quarter. Senior defensive lineman Sauiluma Rios was in on three tackles. Senior cornerback Logan Deguzman had seven stops and one pass broken up. Junior linebacker Adrian Rivera had five tackles (two solos, three assists) and he caught one pass for 6 yards from Avalos on offense. Starting left guard and defensive end Adam Garbisch had a solo tackle for a loss of one yard in the third quarter.
The Cavaliers took care of the game’s first score when junior quarterback Michael Reyna (one of three quarterbacks the Cavaliers used) scored on a one-yard scoring run. Senior running back Robert Granillo took care of the two-point conversion run and the score went to 8-0 Cavaliers with 5:46 left in the first quarter.
The Cavaliers scored again when Avalos took the snap and then moved his legs like pistons, with Garbisch and left guard Daniel Capazzi serving as his bodyguards into the end zone from one yard out. Granillo took care of the two-point conversion run, which gave the visitors a 16-0 lead with 9:54 left in the second quarter.
After Cavaliers junior defensive end Matasia Bray (3 tackles), Green, and Wickliffe combined to take down Highlanders running back Cole Danneker (seven carries for 20 yards) at the goal line, the Cavaliers took over on downs. One official play later (the first play of the drive was a dead-ball penalty against the Highlanders), Wickliffe took a pitch in the backfield from Avalos and then ran to his right where he saw a decent opening. From there he sped forward and near the Cavalier 14-yard line where he was touched by Highlanders defensive lineman Jaden Estrada, but after that it was all Wickliffe. No other Highlander defender touched the speedy running back as he raced the last 83 yards untouched near the Highlander sideline area. The 95-yard scoring run (the two-point conversion run was unsuccessful) gave the Cavaliers a commanding 22-0 lead with 4:24 left in the second quarter.
The Highlanders were already crestfallen by Wickliffe’s 68-yard run down the right sideline to the Highlanders one-yard line early in the fourth quarter. Then on the next play, Okelola followed three key blocks from Schumann and Granillo (lining up in the backfield in split two-back set) as well as tight end Cristiano Larios’s down block to his left, into the end zone from one yard out. That one-yard scoring run and Okelola’s subsequent and successful two-point conversion run moved the score to 30-0 with 11:16 left in the fourth quarter.
Late in the fourth quarter, the Highlanders finally got on the board when Adeleye took the snap from his center and proceeded to run forward and into the middle of the Cavaliers’ defense for a one-yard scoring run. Isaac Gutierrez’s successful extra point kick moved the score to 30-7.
The last score of the night was provided by Cameron Green, who took an Avalos handoff and ran to his left, where he raced virtually untouched into the end zone for a 40-yard scoring run. Cavaliers kicker Sergio Mendez connected on his extra point kick and the score reached its final look at 37-7 near the tail end of the game.
A squib kick by Mendez on the ensuing kickoff and a kneel-down by Adeleye on the Highlanders’ last offensive drive helped end the game.
Next week on Friday, October 30th, the Cavaliers will host the Chatsworth Chancellors in what will be the unofficial West Valley League championship game for the Cavaliers. If they win that game, they will win the league title outright. The Highlanders will host the Taft Toreadors next week at 7 PM. The Highlanders right now are playing for a playoff berth.