The High Schools : Injury to Limit Casey’s Workload

Sylmar Coach Jeff Engilman says his big guy means as much to the Spartan football program as Russell White does to Crespi.

North Hollywood Coach Fred Grimes told Engilman before the season that he would trade 11 of his top players for him.

Grant Coach Bill Foster called him the most dominating player in the newly formed East Valley League.

But the topic of conversation, junior tailback Jerome Casey, will see limited action in tonight’s opener against Verdugo Hills. Danny Lopez will start in place of the 6-foot, 180-pound Casey, who rushed for 1,179 yards and scored 8 touchdowns last season.

Casey spent four days in a cast last week after spraining his right ankle in practice. The injury was not believed to be serious at the time. The cast was a precautionary measure to reduce swelling and to keep Casey off his feet.

“It’s still a little ginger,” Engilman said. “And we don’t want to bring him back too quickly. He’s been looking pretty good in practice. We had him doing cutting drills earlier in the week, but he won’t start.”

Engilman said Casey probably will carry the ball about 12 times against Verdugo Hills but that he won’t play at defensive back, a position at which he earned All-Pac 8 League honors last season.

“He definitely won’t play there,” Engilman said. “At least not as long as we’re winning.”

Action Jackson: Opposing offenses probably will lick their chops when Reseda linebacker Andre Jackson--all 5 feet, 7 inches and 149 pounds of him--takes the field, but Regent Coach Joel Schaeffer claims they will be in for a surprise when they see him play.

Or more specifically, when they see Jackson tackle.

“He’s a real good hitter,” Schaeffer said. “He’s been a pleasant surprise. He came into camp and took on some of the first-team people and really laid some leather on them.”

Although Jackson is only a sophomore, he will share playing time with senior Darren Johnson.

“He’ll definitely see a lot of action,” Schaeffer said. “I put a lot of emphasis on experienced seniors, but it’s going to be hard to keep him out of the lineup.”

Defection: Tosh Williams, who this summer won the starting off-guard position on the Taft basketball team, has moved to Lancaster and will not play for the Toreadors. The 5-10 senior was academically ineligible last season, but Coach Jim Woodard expected him to start in the backcourt with Times All-Valley selection Dedan Thomas.

“This hurt us because he was really good,” Woodard said of Williams.

Out of action: Hart tailback Howard Blackwell, who rushed for 100 yards in 15 carries last week against Canyon, will be sidelined tonight against Colton because of a sprained left knee.

“He looks fine, but he hasn’t practiced all week,” Hart Coach Dave Carson said. “If this were a league game or a CIF championship, it might be a different story.”

Blackwell, who injured his knee in the third quarter against Canyon, will be replaced by fullback Elliot Graeber.

Coyote confusion: There was no doubt that Mike Webb set a school record for touchdowns in a game when he scored four in last Friday’s 28-0 victory over Moorpark, but a uniform switch at halftime led to confusion about his yardage total.

Webb gained 60 yards in 13 carries, according to Calabasas Coach Larry Edwards.

Webb’s four touchdowns broke the record of three, which he shared with four players.

Staff writers Tim Brown, Vince Kowalick, John Lynch and John Ortega contributed to this notebook.