A shooting involving three juveniles on the Manteca High campus Friday night led to the Buffaloes football game against Cesar Chavez High of Stockton being called with 4:57 remaining in the third quarter.

Manteca Police Chief Stephen Schluer indicated there were two or three shots fired into the air. No one was injured.

The shooting occurred near the Winter Gym off of Mikesell Street east of the stadium entrance.

“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 said.

“We met with the officials and the police,” Peterson added. “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.”

Manteca was leading 29-7 when the game was called.

In a somewhat similar incident when a Sierra High football game was called several years ago when a rumor that a student had brought a gun to the game spread through the crowd prompting school officials to call the game, the game was completed the following Monday.

There was no gun found in the Sierra High football game incident.

A decision on the game’s status was not available Friday night.

“It's terrible. It's absolutely terrible,” Peterson added. “What should have been an absolutely amazing night turned into this.”

The Buffalos on Friday night were celebrating their 100th football season with special ceremonies.

Initially, when the shots rang out, those on the visitors side by Marion Elliott Park started heading toward the exit off Marin Street.

That prompted a number of fans in the home stands to implore others to get down, before school officials asked that they empty the stadium.

There were six officers assigned to the game that were posted in the stadium.

Officers arrived quickly enough to detain one of the three juveniles involved while the others were able to flee,

Other on-duty officers responded and the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s helicopter was dispatched to join the search for others involved in the incident.

“It's obviously a dark cloud, but, you know, on the field wise, very proud of everybody . . . the good stuff was great, but unfortunately, you know, some stupid stuff kind of tarnished it out a little bit,” Manteca High Head Coach Mark Varnum said. “We're not gonna let it affect us.”

The good stuff Varnum referenced was the inaugural Herd of Honor ceremony for outstanding past football players and Nikko Juarez breaking the school rushing record.