Breaking Free : Gang-Tackled by Early-Season Demons, Sylmar’s Crenshaw Emerged From Darkness and Is Again Running to Daylight

Tyrone Crenshaw stood nonchalantly on the Sylmar High sideline, awaiting the first kickoff of his senior season.

He couldn’t be happier. He was the 1992 City Section 4-A Division player of the year and Sylmar, the defending City champion and the ninth-ranked team in the state, was the team to beat.

All eyes were on the gifted tailback who had gained 1,875 yards as a junior and was regarded as one the nation’s top prospects by national magazines. But, something didn’t feel right. Why wasn’t he a nervous wreck? Where were those familiar butterflies?

In the past, Crenshaw’s anxiety during a game made him think about being at home--anywhere but under the glaring Friday night lights of high school football. Where was his fear of failure?

On this night, he was relaxed, too relaxed. “It felt like a practice to me,” he recalled.

He knew then something was amiss. What he did not know was that things would soon get worse. Although the Spartans (10-1-1) have advanced to the City Section 4-A Division semifinals, the season quickly became one of depression and discontent for Crenshaw. A flurry of incidents broadsided the senior and forced him to retreat into a shell, and it would take Crenshaw more than half a season to rebound from his emotional despair.

“I just kept it all to myself,” he said. “This is really the first time I’ve ever talked about it.

It started against Kennedy in the opener, he said. “I saw that they were penetrating us and I said (to myself), ‘ “Oh, I’m in for a long season.’ ”

Sylmar and unranked Kennedy tied, 7-7, and Crenshaw gained only 61 yards in 13 carries. And just like that, people began dismissing him and the Spartans.

A week after the tie, Kennedy Coach Bob Francola took a potshot at Crenshaw. Bakersfield running back Steve Wofford rushed for 265 yards and Bakersfield whipped Kennedy, 48-21. Immediately afterward, Francola said, “Crenshaw couldn’t carry (Wofford’s) water bottle.”

Even though Francola apologized, the published comment deeply upset the amiable 17-year-old. “I tried to use it as a positive thing, but then I wasn’t producing, so I couldn’t say anything about it,” Crenshaw said.

Crenshaw’s and the Spartans’ woes continued into the third game. During a scoreless contest, a 64-yard touchdown run by Sylmar’s Durell Price was nullified by a holding penalty. One play later, Crenshaw took a handoff, bolted through a hole at the line of scrimmage and had only one defender to beat.

But the ball was stripped from Crenshaw. El Camino Real recovered the fumble, scored several plays later and held on to win, 6-0.

Late in the game, Crenshaw was carried off the field when he re-injured the ankle he had fractured last season against El Camino Real. He finished with only 74 yards.

Nothing was going right. Opposing coaches were discounting Crenshaw’s abilities, and his own coach was now referring to him as “water boy.” It was all one bad joke and Crenshaw was the punch line.

“I wanted to quit. That’s how depressed I was,” he said.

Crenshaw didn’t quit, but his heart was elsewhere.

“I just wanted to finish up the season so I could commit (to college) and get everything over with,” he said. “I wasn’t thinking about playoffs. I wasn’t thinking about a championship ring. I wasn’t thinking about leading (the City) in rushing. Nothing. Just go out there and go through the motions.”

Crenshaw (5-foot-11, 185-pounds) gained 299 yards in his next two games, but he couldn’t shake his depression. And with college recruiters calling him night and day, the pressure was building. “I felt like every time I touched the ball, it had to be a touchdown,” he said.

The nagging injury to his right ankle served as a constant reminder of his pain and frustration. Though the fracture healed after the initial injury last season, a calcium deposit had developed just above Crenshaw’s right ankle. When he moves the ankle, the calcium deposit rubs against bone. “When it gets cold, I get arthritis and it’s not nice, not nice at all.”

After the Spartans’ fifth game, Coach Jeff Engilman took Crenshaw aside. He was concerned his star running back was not enjoying his senior season.

Engilman wanted Crenshaw to go easier on himself. There were reasons he wasn’t gaining 300 yards a game. And the reasons started at the offensive line, which featured only one returning lineman. And then there was the obvious: After the year Crenshaw had as a junior, he was now a marked man. Defenses were keying on him.

Beyond that, Engilman let Crenshaw pull himself out of his funk.

Slowly, the old Crenshaw began to re-emerge.

One day, after weeks of not looking at a local sports page, Crenshaw was floored by what he read. The fifth-leading rusher among area City running backs? Someone named Crenshaw.

“I thought I was way lower,” he said. “So, I said, ‘Hey, I still got a chance at this. I’m doing better now than I did last year.’ ”

Almost immediately, Crenshaw began sleeping better. Those nights of lying wide awake and wondering why he wasn’t producing ended. “It’s like I shed myself,” Crenshaw said.

Also emerging from that shell was a more productive running back. Since the “slow” start, Crenshaw has gained 674 yards in 65 carries.

Overall, he has 1,674 yards and 22 touchdowns in 182 carries. A year ago, he had 1,519 yards in 170 carries heading into the semifinals.

“The biggest thing right now is becoming the leading rusher,” Crenshaw said. “Take over, beat Jerry (Brown of Taft). That’s like bragging rights right there. He’s got me by 80 yards (actually, 87, and Taft’s season is over). And I don’t care if it takes me 80 carries to get it.”

The engaging smile that had been missing for so long has returned to Crenshaw’s face.

And those butterflies before a game? Those have returned too. Crenshaw couldn’t be happier.