After Slow Start, Sylmar Finishes Chatsworth, 41-0

It wasn’t exactly championship form, but it was a dominating performance just the same.

Tyrone Crenshaw rushed for 160 yards and three touchdowns to pace Sylmar High’s 41-0 rout of Chatsworth in a nonleague game Friday night.

Sylmar (1-0-1), which tied Kennedy, 7-7, a week ago on the same field, exploded offensively against Kennedy’s Northwest Valley Conference rival Chatsworth (1-1). The Spartans rolled for 468 yards, including 338 yards rushing.

Crenshaw, the 1992 City Section 4-A Division player of the year, carried 23 times and scored on runs of two, five and five yards. The 5-foot-11, 185-pound senior had four carries of 10 or more yards and broke a 45-yarder to set up his third touchdown one play later.

“I felt a step slow,” Crenshaw said. “I adjusted in the second half and tightened up on my mistakes. The line really came together in the second half.”

Sylmar led, 13-0, at halftime, but dominated the second half.

The Spartans were not without their problems, however. They did not score until their fourth possession and amassed 13 penalties for 125 yards. But Coach Jeff Engilman was more concerned with the victory than the miscues.

“You can’t stop being aggressive out there and (penalties) are gonna happen,” he said. “Some of those were really stupid. . . . You know, they’ll drive me out of coaching.”

Sylmar held Chatsworth to 112 yards, most coming from Shon Alexander (13 carries, 91 yards). Hard hits knocked Chatsworth quarterback Aaron Hummel out of the game late in the second quarter. Starting tailback Marlon Jones soon followed, leaving with an ankle injury.

After Chatsworth was thwarted on three plays in its second possession, Jorge Buery’s 41-yard punt was returned 30 yards by Robert Camacho to the Chatsworth 25.

It took Sylmar six plays to gain 15 yards and on fourth down, Anthony Muse’s pass was picked off. But Chatsworth gave back the ball four plays later when Camacho intercepted Hummel’s pass at the Chatsworth 30.

Sylmar finally found the end zone late in the first half. After Buery’s fake punt and run fell short by one yard on fourth and nine at midfield, Sylmar took over at the Chatsworth 44. Crenshaw scored his first touchdown of the season on a two-yard run, which was set up on the previous play--a swing pass to Thomas Toledo for 39 yards.