HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS / CITY SECTION 4-A DIVISION : Unbeaten Sylmar Pounds Out a Title

Durell Price’s headache didn’t go away, but then neither did he.

Price, a junior running back, carried 19 times for 166 yards and three touchdowns to lead Sylmar High to a 38-6 victory over Crenshaw in the City Section 4-A football championship game before an estimated 2,000 at El Camino College.

During the week, and even before the game, Price suffered from migraine headaches, but he said that there was no way he would sit out this game.

“I just had to suck up the pain and go out there,” Price said. “I thought we would be in for a longer day, but we were able to come out and get a jump on them.”

And Sylmar (14-0), ranked No. 5 in The Times’ poll, kept on jumping.

Three minutes into the game, Price broke down the sideline for a 38-yard scoring run.

“I told the line, ‘Just give me a little crack and I’ll get six (points),’ ” Price said. “But it was so big I couldn’t have done anything else but score.”

Crenshaw (12-2) responded with a five-minute drive that culminated in a five-yard scoring run on fourth down by Brandon Seals. The extra point was missed, but 19th-ranked Crenshaw was down by only a point early in the game.

At that point, it seemed that Crenshaw had potential to wear down Sylmar. Seals and fellow running back Farrel Payton had gained more than 1,000 yards each this season.

But before the first quarter was over, the Spartans had a 21-6 lead. Davon Young scored on a 62-yard pass play from Greg Marquez and Price scored on a 25-yard run.

Crenshaw’s only real break came with 40 seconds to play in the first half.

Crenshaw had to punt, and Sylmar’s Young decided to let the ball roll. But the ball bounce strangely, nicking Young on the ankle and Crenshaw recovered the ball at Sylmar’s 13-yard line.

Payton ran off tackle for one yard, then Crenshaw called time out with 30 seconds left. A pass play was called, but Sylmar was ready and chased Ricky Lumford toward the sideline. Lumford tried to throw across his body on the run, and Young intercepted to stop the threat.

A running team, Crenshaw was going to have to complete a few more passes or make some defensive stops. But they did neither.

The one thing they believed they could count on--their running game--was slowed to where both Seals and Payton finished with 58 yards.

Payton said Crenshaw abandoned the running game too soon.

“I thought we were able to run on them, but we stopped running the ball,” Payton said. “At halftime, it was still 21-6, so we had (24) minutes left. We didn’t even talk about play selection, we just talked about playing hard.”

But Sylmar scored 3 1/2 minutes into the second half, and Crenshaw decided that 20 minutes left in the game wasn’t enough time to run the ball for three or four scores.

Sylmar stacked its defense to commit eight players to the line of scrimmage. When Crenshaw tried to run, there wasn’t much room. When Crenshaw tried to pass, the rush was so quick that Lumford did not have time to throw. When he did have time, he didn’t have open receivers.

Offensively, Sylmar kept running Price effectively and used up the clock. Price scored his third touchdown on the first play of the fourth quarter and helped set up Sylmar’s late field goal for the final points.