Secret of Sylmar’s Success: Film at 11 : High school football: Tailback Tyrone Crenshaw and others took work home with them to win City 4-A title.

Sylmar High tailback Tyrone Crenshaw has been catching up on his homework the last few weeks, studying game film late into the night.

Crenshaw, another in a line of fine Spartan running backs, and many of his Sylmar teammates are searching the films, looking for ways to beat Bishop Amat on Friday night at 7:30 at Anaheim Stadium in the first CIF/Reebok Bowl, matching the City Section and Southern Section large-division champions.

“That’s typical of a lot of our players,” Sylmar Coach Jeff Engilman said. “We don’t require them to watch film at home. They ask to take it home.”

Crenshaw’s home-study program has paid dividends. Relying on his strong legs and a solid defense, Sylmar, 13-0 and ranked No. 3 by The Times, surprised many on Saturday with a 17-0 victory over Carson in the City Division 4-A title game.

“I feel like we have accomplished all our goals,” Crenshaw said. “But now we’ve got one more. We want to do something to go down in history.”

Crenshaw has had a year to remember. Moving from fullback to tailback this season, the 5-foot-11, 180-pound junior outrushed all City backs and gained a school-record 1,807 yards and scored 22 touchdowns, averaging 8.3 yards per carry, despite a sprained ankle in the second week of the season that forced him to miss one game and has required daily ultrasound treatments the last two weeks. His 317-yard performance against Venice in the first round of the playoffs was a school record.

In the City final, Crenshaw broke a scoreless tie with a 74-yard run in the second quarter and finished with 114 yards in 21 carries.

“I earned a lot of respect from the Carson players,” Crenshaw said.

Crenshaw’s success is in direct correlation to his work ethic.

“He was kind of a lazy back when he first came out,” Engilman said. “He just relied on his natural ability. I think having a running back like Tobias Brookins (Crenshaw’s backfield mate last year, now at the University of Washington) helped him a lot. Looking at Tobi’s work ethic and seeing where it got him opened Tyrone’s eyes a little bit.”

Engilman kidded Crenshaw all last season about being too slow, so Crenshaw and fullback Ibn Bilal, a senior transfer from Reseda Cleveland, joined Brookins in workouts through the spring and summer to improve their speed.

“We’d come up (to the Sylmar football field) every day during the off-season at 3 p.m. and work out,” said Bilal, who has rushed for 1,167 yards, 18 touchdowns and 12 yards per carry.

Said Crenshaw: “At first I didn’t think I could make the change from fullback to tailback. But when I saw I could make people miss me (in practice), it built up my confidence.”

Said Engilman: “We knew from day one he was a natural tailback. It was just a matter of him developing. He’s increased a lot of speed. He had good speed last year, but not Division I speed like he does now.

“A kid has to have that natural ability, or he’s not going to be a great running back.”

With Bilal also in the backfield, the Spartans have been hard to catch.

“It’s exciting to watch us run,” Bilal said. “Crenshaw is more of a slasher. I rely on my speed more. We feel like we can break any play we run for a touchdown.”

Thousand-yard rushers have become common for Engilman, wherever he has coached.

“I’ve been very, very lucky, throughout my coaching career, to have great backs,” Engilman said.

At Manuel Arts, Engilman coached Steve Broussard, now with the Atlanta Falcons, and Andrew Jackson, who played at USC. Moving to Cleveland High in 1986, Engilman coached Albert Fann, who was a Division II All-American at Cal State Northridge before going to the New York Giants.

The tradition at Sylmar started with Jerome Casey, who rushed for 3,867 yards and 36 touchdowns in three seasons before passing the torch to Brookins, who gained 3,279 yards and scored 45 touchdowns over the next two seasons.

Crenshaw, Bilal and Engilman give credit for Sylmar’s success to backfield coach Darryl McIntyre.

“It’s all Coach McIntyre,” Bilal said. “It’s the work ethic he teaches you. You can run 80 yards for a touchdown and the coaches will be yelling at you saying you slowed down the last five yards, or you didn’t keep your knees high enough.”

Crenshaw says that disciplined approach will bring the Spartans a victory against top-ranked Bishop Amat (14-0), which beat Loyola, 7-3, for the Southern Section Division I title last Friday.

“I think Carson is better than Bishop Amat,” Crenshaw said. “Carson has better speed and better line play. If we can block Carson, we can block Bishop Amat.”

Crenshaw said Sylmar needs a defensive effort similar to last week’s, when the Spartans became the first team in 157 games to shut out Carson, and strong running from him and Bilal to defeat Bishop Amat.

“We are going to treat this as another championship game,” Crenshaw said. “We’ve been winning all season, so why should we stop now?”