`WE WORK HARD' ILL-EQUIPPED BAND COMES OUT ON TOP.

Byline: Dana Bartholomew Staff Writer

SAN FERNANDO - They prance the gridiron. Pounce on every score. And year after year the San Fernando High School Mighty Tigers marching band blows away the competition.

Despite dented horns, a dearth of uniforms and no budget to speak of, the northeast San Fernando Valley school has trounced rivals across Los Angeles in every regional band and drill-team playoff 15 years in a row.

For 23 musicians and 70 drill-team dancers, that's a feat worthy of 76 trombones followed by rows of high-stepping majorettes.

``They're wonderful!'' exclaimed Fran Herman, marching band director of the South Gate High School Rams, which lost last month for the umpteenth year to the sombrero-topped band from San Fernando.

``I wish I could get my kids to trot in (to the stadium) that way. Our mouths just drop. Our kids march in; they jog in perfect step. We're talking energy you can't believe.''

And sound - more sound, musicians say, than brass bands twice their size.

Two weeks ago, the gold-and-black Mexican-style ensemble swept the 29th Los Angeles Unified School District Division 1A marching band and drill-team championship.

A week before at a competition in Granada Hills, the Tigers outplayed three school divisions and bands five times their size to come within 2 points of the overall marching band sweepstakes with hot Latin tunes, syncopated rhythm and a ball-to-heel march gait.

On Friday, they played at their last football game of the season. On Saturday, they'll be the pride of the Pacoima Christmas Parade.

What makes these kids so hot?

``We work hard,'' said Tigers drum major David Herrera, 17, of Arleta, whose soft goatee, floppy hat and penchant for hot chocolate belie a staunch drive to win.

``At the beginning of the year, we had no teacher,'' said the four-year veteran who wants to play in the U.S. Army or Marine Corps band next year. ``I was the teacher. I had no training whatever. I didn't even know how to be a drum major.''

Enter Caeser Barragan, a Tiger graduate at the University of Southern California who volunteered to drill the team each day for months last summer.

And enter Paul Sims, the Tigers' band director and former musician, who chose to teach at San Fernando over other schools this year because of its mix of pride and prowess.

During the football season, musicians arrive before dawn for an hour's practice. They play again at lunch. Then they go back to music or hit the field in late afternoon. It's the same with the drill team.

``Results, Not Excuses,'' reads the sign taped on the band-room door.

``We do the best with what we have,'' Sims said. ``The kids are dedicated. They have pride in themselves, in their community. And that's something that's very, very hard to teach.''

``When you see the band ... it's almost flawless,'' added San Fernando Principal Jose L. Rodriguez.

If only that much could be said for the band's instruments, dented and taped and shimmed with cardboard.

During a competitive solo last month, Ishmael Cuellar, 16, of Pacoima, raised a trumpet to his lips that had a prong for a valve cap and two holes in the bell.

Or the band's $700-a-year budget, according to Sims. Or the 50 uniforms, worth $1,000 each, to be soon outgrown by an expanding band.

There wasn't even money for a victory banquet.

Out of sheer determination, the Marching Tigers hit the field, year after year before hundreds of moms and dads, to play music with their hearts.

``It's in our blood,'' said Addy Licea, 15, a flutist from Pacoima and the first in her family to play an instrument.

``It's about pride,'' said Sacramento Hernandez, 16, of Pacoima, whose sentiments were echoed by other students. ``We still kick their butts with old, rusty instruments, big schools with good instruments.

``We do it for all the Mexicans in Pacoima and San Fernando,'' he said. ``You go to other schools, you see white people, they look at our band and say, 'You're nothing.'

``But we show 'em what we're capable of. We (do) it for our ancestors.''

CAPTION(S):

4 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Members of the San Fernando High School marching band recently won the city title for the 15th consecutive year.

(2 -- color) Silhouetted against a cloudy sky, a trombone player sounds off during practice. The band is successful, despite lack of funding and poor equipment.

(3 -- color) San Fernando High drum major David Herrera, 17, leads the band from atop bass player David Perez's amplifier.

(4 -- color) Miguel Gomez, 15, plays the tuba during the San Fernando High marching band half-time show at a recent football game.

Andy Holzman/Staff Photographer