Thrown Into New Era

There is life after Justin Fargas.

Notre Dame High, no longer with a running back that averages nine yards per carry, had enough to upend favored Sylmar, 22-19, on Friday night in a nonleague opener at Notre Dame.

Led by a defensive front that caused chaos on nearly every Sylmar series, the Knights, ranked No. 7 in The Times’ regional poll, had just enough offense to eke out the winning drive.

Todd Fenton caught a 17-yard touchdown pass from Jonathon Brewster, one of two quarterbacks in the Knights’ rotating system, with 4:44 left to give Notre Dame the lead for good.

“If they’re all like this, I’m going to have a heart attack,” said Notre Dame Coach Kevin Rooney.

Sylmar, ranked No. 2, hurt itself with poor pass protection and other self-inflicted mistakes.

The biggest blow came with 28 seconds left until halftime and the game tied, 7-7.

Quarterback Noah Albiston of Sylmar was blindsided by Alec Moss and waffled a weak throw to the right side that was intercepted by Matt Lutz and returned 44 yards for a touchdown.

“You saw it,” Sylmar Coach Jeff Engilman said. “They didn’t make mistakes. We did.”

Led by Moss and Travis Johnson, the Knights consistently disrupted the Sylmar offense, which did show a few new wrinkles.

Sylmar, almost exclusively an I-formation team that harbors no secrets about its offense--run, run, run--came out with some creative ideas on offense, throwing the ball nine times in the first half and unveiling a double-wing offense.

But Albiston never seemed to have time to throw, nor were the Sylmar running backs given consistent holes to run through.

Albiston completed only six of 19 passes for 109 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions.

Fenton, who finished with six catches for 88 yards, had two on the final drive, including the touchdown catch over touted safety Corey Neal.

Neal, who ran for 67 yards in five carries, had a cast removed two weeks ago from a broken ankle sustained during summer passing league.

Notre Dame, which reached sectional championship game each of the last two years, will have to develop more of a running game--Pat Wade was the leading rusher with 33 yards in seven carries.

Brewster finished with six completions in 11 passes for 88 yards and two touchdowns to Fenton.