Some people were running, other were walking toward the exits after gunfire outside the stadium halted Friday’s football game between Manteca High and Chavez of Stockton. Photo: Mark Tennis.
The plan going into Friday’s matchup in Manteca between two of the top-ranked teams in San Joaquin County (where we live) was to see the celebration ceremony before it began surrounding the 100th season of Manteca High football and get some info about the possible name change of Cesar Chavez High of Stockton.
FOR OUR GAME REPORT OF MATER DEI’S BIG WIN OVER CORONA CENTENNIAL, CLICK HERE.
Both teams are upper level for sure as Manteca (11-1 last season) was looking to bounce back from season-opening losses to St. Francis of Mountain View and Buchanan of Clovis while Chavez (10-1 last season) was looking to play a much tougher opponent than it’s been used to.
We’ll have separate posts with those two topics coming up later, but the night ended with just under five minutes left in the third quarter. Manteca had the ball and a 29-7 lead and our thought was to see if Manteca RB Nikko Juarez might score one more touchdown (he earlier had become the school’s all-time leading career rusher), perhaps get a photo and then head home early to start going over the scores from other games around the state.
I didn’t hear anything standing on around 25-yard line on the Manteca side and on the south side of the field. But there was a commotion in the other grandstands, then kids and others started running to the south. The same began on the Manteca side. From having been at another game before back in 2019 at Edison of Stockton I knew pretty quickly that someone had heard a gun shot. The players on the field unfortunately know the drill — drop to the ground and lay down and so did others. Since there was no other indication of any other shot or shots fired, I just stood there on full alert.
After perhaps 10 seconds, someone on the PA system told everyone to exit the stadium to the south. At that point, I thought the panic among some in the crowd might cause more injuries than anything else. Still with no other indications of more shots fired, the panic became the most indelible images of the experience I’ll remember. In that game at Edison, the PA announcer did a great job of keeping the crowd more stable. Maybe the police officers there that night and staff that night also knew that the shots were not actually at the school but across the street at at an apartment complex.
After a few minutes, the panic was starting to wane, but one woman was noticeably screaming to see her daughter. Others we saw were in tears. Getting that way in today’s world where we do have mass shootings in America all the time, seeing that type of panic is understandable but it could have been lessened by a different approach from the press box.
Officials from the two schools met after that and it became obvious that the game would be called. That clearly was the correct decision. As of Saturday morning, there was no decision decided on the game’s result but Manteca should get the win. Way more than half the game had been played and I’m pretty sure the Buffaloes were going to add to their lead when the game was stopped.
Before the game, we chatted for awhile with Manteca Bulletin sports editor Jonamar Jacinto. He had to switch gears after the gunfire but was in a good place to become the newspaper’s on-scene reporter.
According to Jacinto’s report, he talked to police chief Stephen Schuler, who said there were two or three shots fired into the air near the school’s gym, which is located just east of the stadium’s entrance area.
“We heard two pops. (It) sounded like a firecracker, and then we saw kids running, so we immediately got on the microphone, and said go to the nearest exit,” Manteca High Principal Megan Peterson told Jacinto. “We met with the officials and the police. I called my boss (Clara Schmidt) and she said, ‘Call the game. We’re not messing around.’ The refs were asking us, do we want to finish the game? And that was the right call. That’s what I wanted to do; I just wanted to verify.”
Three juveniles also were reported to have been involved and one was reported in custody. Upon leaving the stadium, there was an area taped off by the police in which officers had their flashlights looking at the ground, one would assume looking for bullet casings. It also required several detours for people like myself who were in the school’s east parking lot to finally get out onto the street to get to our cars.
It’s unfortunately not the first time of reported gunfire ending a game early this season in California. In one of them, during a game at Independence High of Bakersfield, 17-year-old Levi Brown was killed when he was shot in the parking lot by a 15-year-old. We’re pretty sure that last night’s experience is not going to be the last but for someone who’s been going to Friday night football games for 48 years it’s another reason to stop going and just do the old boring approach of covering it at home and on the laptop.
