Sylmar Edges North Hollywood

Sylmar High, a highly regarded City Section 4-A Division team, had to rely on its stingy defense to edge upstart North Hollywood, 13-7, Friday night in a Valley Pac-8 Conference opener at Sylmar.

Sylmar, which annihilated El Camino Real, 55-0, a week ago, found North Hollywood--a 3-A team that was winless last season--a worthy opponent.

“That’s a good football team,” Sylmar Coach Jeff Engilman said of North Hollywood. “They’re going to win a lot of games.”

It was the first loss for North Hollywood (3-1), but it was a moral victory nonetheless, considering that Sylmar blew out the Huskies, 35-0, a year ago.

With Sylmar holding a precarious six-point lead in the fourth quarter, the outcome could easily have gone either way--and both Engilman and North Hollywood Coach Gary Gray knew it.

North Hollywood had its chances, but couldn’t overcome a tough defense that allowed only 114 yards. Sylmar (3-0) turned over the ball twice at midfield in the fourth quarter, but North Hollywood could penetrate no farther than the Spartans’ 33.

Ricardo Vazquez intercepted a Deon Price pass and returned it to Sylmar’s 40 with 3 minutes 51 seconds to play. But the Huskies netted just seven yards in four plays and could not sustain a drive.

“We had our chances, but we didn’t make the most of them,” Gray said.

Sylmar took a 13-0 lead on Tyrone Crenshaw’s six-yard run midway through the third quarter. Crenshaw, who carried only one time in the first half because of a sore ankle, finished with 62 yards in 12 carries.

The Huskies cut Sylmar’s lead to 13-7 late in the third quarter on Diego Lopez’s one-yard plunge that capped a 66-yard drive.

Sylmar limited North Hollywood to just 60 yards in the first half.

The heavily favored Spartans, plagued by eight penalties in the first half, didn’t get into the end zone until their fourth possession.

Sylmar went 56 yards in seven plays for the score. Dwight Patton, normally a wide receiver, accounted for 64 yards in five carries. It was Gabriel Rodriguez, however, who went in for the score from four yards.

Robert Camacho’s point-after kick gave Sylmar a 7-0 lead at halftime.