Persistence Pays Off for Casey, Sylmar

Jerome Casey made several nice runs Friday night against Verdugo Hills High.

Some of them even counted.

Casey, billed as one of the nation’s 10 best high school running backs by Super Prep magazine, scored three touchdowns and had two others nullified by penalties to lead Sylmar to a 28-7 victory over Verdugo Hills in a nonleague opener at Sylmar.

Surprisingly, Casey finished with more receiving yardage than rushing yardage. The senior tailback gained 78 yards in 15 carries and scored on a three-yard touchdown run in the third quarter.

Casey also caught three passes for 97 yards and two touchdowns--one of 28 yards from Daniel Terry in the second quarter and one of 47 yards from Terry with 32 seconds to play.

“That’s what we want to do, keep defenses honest,” Casey said. “As long as I help my team, that’s all that matters.”

He helped all right. Casey accounted for 175 of Sylmar’s 244 total yards.

He also had touchdown runs of 19 and 16 yards nullified by holding penalties.

Terry completed six of 14 passes for 139 yards and two touchdowns and threw two interceptions.

The Sylmar defense, led by linebacker London Woodfin, limited Verdugo Hills to 109 yards in offense--28 in the second half. The Dons netted just 13 yards passing, misfiring on nine of 11 passing attempts.

Joe Vaughn and Girmar Johnson each had an interception for Sylmar.

Verdugo Hills played the last 15 minutes without starting quarterback Darryl Evans, who left the game in the third period because of a leg injury.

Sylmar turned the ball over four times--twice on fumbles, twice on interceptions--and Verdugo Hills had three turnovers.