Sylmar Passes a Reality Check, 44-16

Sylmar High won its 50th consecutive Valley Pac-8 Conference football game not by running left, right, middle, left, right, middle.

Instead, the Spartans relied on the forward pass--an almost surreal concept in the lore of Sylmar football--and produced a very real 44-16 victory over North Hollywood on Friday night at Sylmar.

Tywane Patterson caught two third-quarter touchdown passes from Chris Cervantes and Air Sylmar overcame a 16-13 halftime deficit.

Happy 50th.

“I didn’t even know about it until you [media] guys mentioned it,” said Sylmar Coach Jeff Engilman, whose team has not lost a conference game since 1989.

This much is known: The first half resembled last year’s matchup, when Sylmar had to rally from a 16-0 deficit for a 27-24 victory.

In that game, the Spartan defense was ineffective.

This year, the defense showed up several hours before the game to watch film of the near-loss.

“You could have heard a pin drop,” Engilman said.

And, for the most part, you could see the difference.

Instead of the “Spartan” defense, a man-to-man scheme with extra defensive linemen, there was the “San Pedro” defense: four linemen, four linebackers and not much room to run for North Hollywood standout Dante Clay.

Clay finished with 46 yards in 16 carries.

Engilman also challenged his offense, which entered Friday’s game eighth among 17 area City Section teams in total offense.

“I’m not used to seeing us that low,” Engilman said.

If the Spartans (5-2, 4-0 in conference) keep passing like they did Friday, they’ll rise rapidly.

On the fifth play of the second half, Cervantes connected with Patterson on a 31-yard pass play for a 19-16 lead. On the Spartans’ next possession, it was Cervantes-Patterson again, this time from 21 yards.

No clouds of dust here.

“It’s good to have an all-around game instead of just running the ball,” said Patterson, who finished with four catches for 100 yards. “It’s more fun.”

Said Engilman: “You have to go with what you got. We’ve had to go with other things.”

Cervantes completed 11 of 18 passes for 136 yards and two touchdowns.

The Huskies (3-4, 2-2) took the lead in the second quarter by, um, winging it.

Twice, quarterback Cameron Heflin--somewhat of a surprise starter because he had missed three games because of a deep thigh bruise--found a wingback open for touchdowns.

The first connection was a 79-yard play to Clay, who slipped behind Denys Martin to cut Sylmar’s lead to 13-8.

North Hollywood had compiled exactly one yard of offense up to that point.

The Huskies went back to a nearly identical play 40 seconds before halftime.

After Cervantes lost a fumble, Heflin hit wingback David Harlow for a 31-yard touchdown and a 16-13 lead at the half.

But the second half was all Sylmar, which also scored on a 59-yard punt return by Patterson and a 37-yard interception return by Martin.