Sylmar Defense Sticks It to Franklin

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

The Spartan defense recorded 12 sacks and denied Franklin four times inside its 25 to secure a 7-0 victory on a rain-drenched field Friday night in a City 4-A quarterfinal at Sylmar.

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 went in averaging 40.5 points--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 when faced with 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 had two passes intercepted. “[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 only 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 again failed at Sylmar’s nine-yard line.