Crenshaw Pressure Foils Chatsworth : Prep football: Cougars record 10 sacks and Dye gains 163 yards in 27-7 win in City Section 3-A Division championship game.

Cold tears streamed down the cheeks of Chatsworth High quarterback Brian Comer, caused by something in the City Section 3-A Division final that was anything but chilly.

Again and again, Comer dropped back to pass, and just as often, the result was the same.

Crenshaw’s front seven, like guided missiles, turned on the jets. Comer spent Friday night being boiled in the Cougars’ pressure cooker at Birmingham High.

“I was under a lot of heat and pressure,” Comer said. “I was just trying to make something happen.”

Comer was sacked 10 times, eight in the second half, as Chatsworth tried to rally. The result was a decisive 27-7 victory for Crenshaw, the first football title in the school’s history.

Pure and simple, Crenshaw (10-4) won in the trenches. Chatsworth fell in the hole.

“Their defensive line is better than our offensive line,” Chatsworth Coach Myron Gibford said. “They’re bigger and faster and they turned it loose.”

So did Crenshaw tailback James Dye, who gained a game-high 163 yards in 18 carries and scored three second-half touchdowns.

Dye, who wears No. 6, was chalking up plenty of sixes after intermission to blow open a 7-7 game. His line blew some holes in Chatsworth (9-5) too.

“I owe it all to my line,” Dye said. “Each one of them wears a little No. 6 on their jersey too.”

Embellished, perhaps, but the game was won and lost inside. While Dye was ripping off huge gains, Chatsworth struggled to establish any kind of offense.

Senior tailback Montay Hardison was held to 55 yards in 19 carries and had just one gain of more than nine yards. Comer completed seven of 16 passes for 49 yards and rushed for minus-37 yards in 16 carries. He frequently was flushed from the pocket and forced to scramble for his life.

“They just pushed us back,” Hardison said. “They were just too tough for our line to handle.”

With the score tied, 7-7, at the half, Crenshaw came out and made Comer its target in the second half.

Three times Chatsworth failed to move the ball in as many third-quarter possessions, and Crenshaw was handed the ball in Chatsworth territory each time. The first possession of the half for the Cougars was more than enough, however.

One play after a 24-yard punt by Chatsworth gave the Cougars the ball at the Chancellor 37, Dye broke loose around left end, cut back through the middle and raced 42 yards for a touchdown and a 13-7 lead with 9 minutes 17 seconds remaining in the third quarter.

Crenshaw turned the ball over on its next possession, but nonetheless put the game away one series later. Dye bulled over the right side from one yard with 11:17 to play to hand the Cougars a 19-7 lead.

Chatsworth’s next possession ended in what had become routine fashion, when Comer was sacked for a five-yard loss on a fourth-and-24 play at the Crenshaw 37. In the second half, Comer was sacked eight times for minus-61 yards.

The Cougars put the game away with their defense. Crenshaw punted the ball away and, on Chatsworth’s first play, Comer’s pass was batted into the arms of linebacker Jallet Hall at the Chancellor 14.

On the first play, Dye rolled left to throw a tailback option pass, then broke back toward the right sideline and scored for a 27-7 lead with 3:04 left.

“It wasn’t there, so I just took off,” Dye said.

Chatsworth scored in the final, nail-biting moments of the first half to move into a 7-7 tie.

The Chancellors took possession at their 27 and steadily moved downfield. On a key third-and-eight play from the Crenshaw 28 with 1:11 left in the half, Lamon Odom ran for 12 yards on an inside counter play to keep the possession alive.

Hardison then gained two yards on a run inside and Chatsworth was forced to burn its final timeout with 48 seconds left. On the next play, Hardison carried on a sweep around right end for 12 yards, giving Chatsworth first and goal at the two.

With the clock running, Hardison was stuffed after a one-yard gain inside, and the Chancellors hurried to get off another play. Comer then blasted inside behind center Tim Kobata and was knocked down.

As the clock ran down inside 10 seconds, the officials converged on the pile. After several seconds passed, Comer was ruled to have crossed the goal line: There was one second remaining on the clock. “I just took it and ran,” Comer said.

Crenshaw shook off the effects of three first-half fumbles to take a 7-0 lead when Demetrius Henderson returned a punt 61 yards for a score with 8:27 left in the half.

An aggressive move by Crenshaw paid off moments later. The Cougars pulled off an onside kick, with Junior Eugene recovering at the Chatsworth 43.

The drive stalled at the 27, however, when on fourth down, Chatsworth defensive back John Gamm knocked a pass by Whitney Jones away near the goal line.

Chatsworth then embarked on its first scoring drive, moving 73 yards in 15 plays.