Plenty of Blame to Go Around : Prep football: Sylmar players and coaches pointed fingers at one another while Bishop Amat romped to a 31-10 win in the CIF/Reebok Bowl game.

If winning brings out the best in athletes, the Sylmar High football team proved that losing brings out the worst.

The Spartans ridiculed and blamed each other in front of 8,132 spectators and numerous television viewers Friday night as Bishop Amat rolled to a 31-10 victory in the inaugural CIF/Reebok Bowl game at Anaheim Stadium.

The City Section 4-A Division champion Spartans (13-1) found out what losing--and losing badly--feels like for the first time this season. And it wasn’t something they handled very well. Bishop Amat, the Southern Section Division I champion, finished 15-0.

“We let down a lot of City teams tonight,” Sylmar Coach Jeff Engilman said. “We just fell apart and couldn’t regroup.”

Players and coaches alike argued and screamed at one other--primarily in the second and third quarters--as they watched the game continue to slip away.

The finger-pointing began in the second quarter, when Bishop Amat scored on four consecutive possessions and took a 24-0 halftime lead.

For Sylmar, it was an alarming turn of events. The Spartans had allowed only 16 points in four City Section playoff games en route to their first City championship.

Players blamed each other at earsplitting decibels as early as the second quarter for blown coverages and missed tackles. Defensive backs Dwight Patton and Robert Camacho were the targets of criticism after being burned on man-to-man coverage by Bishop Amat receivers on consecutive touchdown pass plays of 67 and 49 yards, allowing the Lancers a 14-0 lead with 6 minutes 55 seconds left in the first half.

But even the defensive backs pointed the blame elsewhere. “They were talking about me and Dwight, but when the quarterback has 10, 15 seconds to throw, what can we do?” Camacho said.

Sylmar had not trailed by more than seven points all season and had not allowed more than 14 points in a game.

By the fourth quarter, trailing, 31-0, the yelling turned to silence on the Sylmar sideline. Faces were long, conversations were short and tears began to surface.

Sylmar’s offense was as dismal as its defense, gaining only 169 yards, including zero yards passing.

“The whole goal was to be City champs and we did that,” Engilman said. “Unfortunately, I think we left our season at El Camino College (site of 4-A title game).”

Engilman said the Spartans waited until Friday afternoon to get fired up for the game. It showed.

“People really just weren’t up all week long. People were joking around at practice, saying ‘We already got our (City championship) rings,’ ” Patton said. “We just played a horrible game. We didn’t want it.”

Said Camacho: “We were real bigheaded. We won last week and a lot of guys didn’t think this meant that much.”

The game meant a lot to senior linebacker George Brazil before kickoff. But, reflecting on the embarrassing loss, he wished Sylmar’s season had ended last week with the Spartans’ 17-0 victory over Carson.

“I never thought this would happen,” Brazil said. “I think we just got down on each other, got on each other’s cases and just collapsed.

“Our season was great, but I don’t even feel like a City champion right now. Everyone is going to remember this one loss.”

* CONVINCING VICTORY

Bishop Amat High took command early en route to its 31-10 victory. C1.