PREP FOOTBALL : Century League : Villa Park’s Glenn Steps In, Steps Out for 256 Yards

Pat Mahoney, Villa Park High School coach, insisted after the game that Spartan running back Pat Glenn isn’t really all that fast.

The Canyon defense, for one, would beg to differ.

Entering the game, the Comanche defense was looking to stifle the Spartans, a team trying to shore up its offense following an injury to starting tailback Dave Rose.

So in stepped Glenn and 14 carries and 256 yards later, Villa Park shocked Canyon, 35-13, on the Comanches’ homecoming night Thursday at Fred Kelly Stadium in Century League play.

Glenn carried on touchdown runs of 80 and 86 yards to highlight a ball control evening in a game that the Spartans pretty much dominated from start to finish.

And it was Glenn who led the rout, rushing for 134 of his total yardage in the first half alone.

“Pat showed he’s a bull back there,” Mahoney said. “Last week (against El Modena) those plays didn’t work real well, but they sure worked tonight. Glenn’s a good kid, one of the elected team captains. We couldn’t be happier for him.”

What Villa Park did on offense probably didn’t come as a mystery to Canyon. It was just that they executed far better than they had previously this season.

Using simple traps and counters, the Spartans mixed the running of Glenn and Jaime Nelson to keep the Comanches off guard all night.

Villa Park opened the scoring in the first quarter when Glenn went 80 yards on a dive play, outrunning the secondary for the score.

Canyon tied it at 7-7 early in the second quarter when running back Ray Shull carried the ball two yards for the touchdown. That play capped a nine-play, 57-yard drive that followed a pass interception by Canyon defensive back Troy Oliver.

Canyon’s offense consisted largely of the passing of quarterback Todd French, who completed 22 of 45 passes for 234 yards, but most of those came between the 20-yard lines. French threw for one touchdown in the fourth quarter, but the Villa Park defense came up with three interceptions to keep the Comanches from generating much momentum.

The key interception, and play of the game, came with 26 seconds to play in the first half and Villa Park holding a 14-7 lead.

Canyon had the ball at Villa Park’s 42-yard line, and tried to get the ball into scoring position by using a flea-flicker type play. French threw behind the line of scrimmage to flanker Matt Waddell, who is also a quarterback.

Waddell attempted to throw downfield, but the ball was deflected at the line of scrimmage, Villa Park defensive back Scott Creagan intercepted and then returned it 63 yards for the touchdown.

Suddenly it was 21-7 Villa Park and Canyon went into the locker room for halftime visibly deflated.

The Comanches never recovered from that play. Villa Park increased its lead to 28-7 in the third quarter on a 5-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Mike Cederoth to flanker Mark Johnson, their second touchdown combination of the game.

Cederoth had only three completions, two for scores and one an interception, but it was the kind of game where the Spartans didn’t really need a big passing game.

Glenn closed out Villa Park’s scoring late in the fourth quarter with an 86-yard touchdown run.