A Happy Return for Sylmar

SYLMAR — Seventy-six yards of offense--and a victory for Sylmar High.

The Spartan defense recorded a dozen sacks and denied Franklin four times inside the 25 to secure a 7-0 victory on a rain-drenched field Wednesday night in a City Section 4-A Division quarterfinal.

Fourth-seeded Sylmar (11-1), which will face Taft in a semifinal Dec. 5, lost two fumbles and made only four first downs. But those numbers were lost on Coach Jeff Engilman.

“I don’t care,” Engilman said. “It was a game played by great defenses. I can’t say much more than that.”

Sylmar shut down Franklin’s potent run-and-shoot offense--which came in averaging 40.5 points a game--dropping Panther players for losses 18 times.

Franklin quarterback Erik Garcia entered the game with 2,635 passing yards, 41 touchdowns and a 69% completion rate, but he couldn’t find a groove faced by Sylmar’s furious pass rush.

“I think the difference for us was the [muddy] field,” said Garcia, who completed 10 of 26 passes for 114 yards and was intercepted twice. “[But] they were tough. At the beginning, our line couldn’t keep up with them.”

Sylmar, 15-4 in 4-A playoff games since 1991, got the only score it needed on an outstanding punt return by Corey Neal, who ran 66 yards for a touchdown just two minutes into the game.

Neal received the punt at Sylmar’s 34, crossed the field, broke two tackles, spun 360 degrees, kept his feet by balancing himself on one hand, and raced down the Sylmar sideline.

It was a breakdown Franklin Coach Armando Gonzalez would like to forget.

“Our left side collapsed,” Gonzalez said. “Our contain guy got sucked in.”

Franklin (9-3), champion of the Northern Conference, moved the ball in spurts but couldn’t break a big gain.

In the fourth quarter, Franklin had a first-and-goal situation at Sylmar’s nine-yard line. But after three incomplete passes and a one-yard gain on a screen pass, Sylmar got the ball back.

With 2 minutes 23 seconds left to play, Errol Bowen intercepted Garcia’s pass over the middle at the 34 and returned it for a touchdown, which was nullified by a clipping penalty after the interception. But Sylmar then ran out the clock, picking up a critical first down when Donald Carpenter hurdled a defender for a five-yard gain.

Franklin drove to Sylmar’s 23 in the second quarter only to be stopped on a sack by Ray Solis on fourth-and-14. Solis, a 6-foot-4, 260-pound senior lineman, was on a tear in the first half, recording three sacks and tackling running back Oscar Serrano for losses three times.

Sylmar High’s defense more than made up for the Spartans’ anemic offense, limiting Franklin to 111 yards. Sylmar, which entered the game with the region’s second-leading offense, ran 31 offensive plays to Franklin’s 65.

After taking the lead on Neal’s punt return, Sylmar’s Shaun Avalos intercepted a Garcia pass at the Franklin 48 on the Panthers’ first play of their second possession.

But the Spartans couldn’t move the ball and their next two possessions ended with fumbles. Angel Guerrero fumbled at Sylmar’s 36 on the Spartans’ first play of their second possession and Bowen fumbled later at the Spartan 14 on the first play of their third possession.

No matter. Sylmar’s defense held, tackling Serrano behind the line of scrimmage on first down and sacking the quarterback on third down. On fourth-and-20, Garcia completed a pass to Daniel Gourdine, but Avalos made the tackle three yards shy of a first down.

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Playoff Semifinals

City Section Semifinals

4-A Division

* Taft vs. Sylmar

* San Pedro vs. Westchester

3-A Division

* Chatsworth vs. Carson

* El Camino Real vs. Jefferson