Engilman Finds Success as Playwright : High school football: Sylmar follows his script in beating Crenshaw for the City 4-A title.

Sylmar High football Coach Jeff Engilman couldn’t have scripted the execution of his offense any better than in the first quarter of Saturday’s City Section 4-A championship game.

Actually, Engilman did write the script.

Using plays planned days in advance and helped by timely audibles by quarterback Greg Marquez, the Spartans scored three touchdowns on their first six offensive plays, establishing the pace in what became a 38-6 rout of Crenshaw at El Camino College for Sylmar’s second title in three years.

For the past three years, Sylmar’s offense relied on straight-ahead running between the tackles, but Engilman and Marquez used play-action passes, misdirection and wide-open receivers to make the script a horror show for Crenshaw.

On Sylmar’s first possession, Crenshaw employed a nine-man defensive front to contain tailback Durell Price. It was exactly the defense Engilman expected.

“In the past we haven’t been able to throw the ball well,” Engilman said. “We had to show we could throw and make them react. It’s a lot easier for Durell to run with seven men on the line instead of nine.”

The script called for a play-action pass to take the pressure off Price, who was suffering from flu-like symptoms and headaches that caused him to miss two days of practice.

The Cougars were fooled by the fake and Marquez found fullback Thomas Toledo open for a 22-yard gain to midfield.

With Crenshaw still showing the nine-man front, Marquez passed again, this time to receiver Mike Cervantes for a 12-yard gain.

“We had a good, loose practice on Thursday and I felt like I was throwing well going into the game,” Marquez said. “We wanted to show right off they couldn’t concentrate just on Durell.”

Crenshaw reduced its nine-man front to seven. The Spartans responded with a handoff to Price, who broke a tackle and ran 38 yards for a touchdown.

On Sylmar’s next possession, receiver Davon Young slipped behind the Cougar secondary, caught Marquez’s pass on the run and raced down the sideline for a 62-yard touchdown.

“We watched so much film on Crenshaw, we were so prepared, it seemed like we knew exactly what to do,” Young said. “I still was a little surprised it was working so well.”

After Sylmar recovered a squib kick, a reverse by Young gained seven yards and Price ran 25 yards for a touchdown when the Spartan line cleared the right side of the field.

“When I got outside and I couldn’t help but score, there was nobody there,” Price said. “Our line was just blowing them off the ball.”

Sylmar gained 166 yards on the six plays, established a 21-6 lead and sent the Crenshaw coaches into panic.

On the Cougars’ next possession, quarterback Ricky Lumford badly misfired on two long passes. Lumford completed just one of 11 and kept Crenshaw from establishing its offense.

Crenshaw slowed Sylmar for the rest of the half but the Spartans went back to the script for the final act that finished Crenshaw’s hopes.

Marquez used the play-action pass utilized on the first play of the game for a 13-yard touchdown to tight end Galdino Cortes, extending the lead to 28-6 early in the third quarter. The Cougars, fooled again on the run fake, didn’t have a defender within 10 yards of Cortes.

“It was a little shocking that we rolled over them like we did,” Marquez said. “We were confident because we prepared not just during the week but for the past five months.”