Crenshaw Gains 317 for Sylmar : Prep football: Unbeaten Spartans coast past Venice, 49-7, in first-round City 4-A game.

Sylmar High’s Tyrone Crenshaw rushed for 317 yards and three touchdowns to pace the Spartans’ 49-7 rout of visiting Venice Friday in a first-round game of the City Section 4-A Division playoffs.

Venice (5-5) was no match for the undefeated Spartans (10-0), who have won 20 of their last 21 games. Sylmar will play host Wednesday to Crenshaw.

Sylmar’s high-powered ground game rolled up 441 yards and scored seven touchdowns on rushes. Ibn Bilal had 86 yards in 10 carries and scored on a 24-yard run in the second quarter.

Crenshaw carried 20 times and scored four touchdowns on runs of one, two, two and 77 yards. As usual, Crenshaw credited his teammates up front.

“It just seemed like the holes were there forever,” he said. “They never closed.”

Crenshaw’s two-yard scoring run just before halftime allowed Sylmar to take a comfortable 28-7 lead into the locker room and Venice never recovered.

The Spartans scored on six of their first seven possessions. Crenshaw fumbled on Sylmar’s first play of its second possession, but even that seemed to work in the Spartans’ favor.

“I knew I had to make up for that fumble,” Crenshaw said.

If Venice’s 80-yard scoring drive in the first quarter did anything, it proved Sylmar’s defense will give if pushed in the right places.

Venice quarterback Michael Blasi connected with Miguel Chacon over the middle on a 30-yard touchdown pass that tied the score, 7-7. The drive was kept alive by Blasi’s pass completion on fourth and 22 at the Gondoliers’ 47.

After Crenshaw fumbled on the opening play of the ensuing possession, it took Venice, which suffered four turnovers, five plays to give it back on an Anthony Murray interception.

Crenshaw wasted no time making up for the fumble. He broke around the right tackle on the first play of the Spartans’ third possession and scored on an explosive 77-yard run.

Sylmar’s defense, which was allowing just 158 yards coming into the game, allowed a season-high 291 yards--175 in the first half. “We need to work on our defense,” Sylmar Coach Jeff Engilman said. “I don’t know what happened.”