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SoCalHoops High School News

Sylmar Goes For The Big
Time Against Crenshaw--(Nov. 15, 1999)

In a move designed to get him the award as "Over-Scheduler" of the year, the Los Angeles Times' Eric Sondheimer noted last week that Sylmar's head coach Bort Escoto has finalized a two-year agreement to play Crenshaw in a home-and-home series. The Spartans will travel to Crenshaw Dec. 10, then host the Cougars next year.

As Sondheimer noted, "That's a gutsy move by Escoto, who wants his team to compete against the best in the City Section. . . . " Gutsy indeed, because Sylmar's graduating class was it's best in a long time, and it's likely that the Spartans will be in a rebuilding mode at least for one, and possibly two more years. While they will have some excellent players this year, including George O'Garra, Ernest Williams, John Valdez and a few others, but Sylmar will definitely miss having players like Jerry Calzada, Jeremiah Turner, Joey Youmans, George Wrighster, Brandon Jacobs, and T.K. Reid, the guys who led the Spartans to the City Section 3A Title two years ago, and a quarterfinal 4A game with Crenshaw at Crenshaw which ended in a one point loss at the buzzer last year.

Come to think of it, maybe scheduling Crenshaw more often is the shrewdest move by one of the sharpest coaches in the City Section because if nothing else, it will acclimate the Spartans to playing in the sweatbox which is Crenshaw's gym. . . . . Time will tell. Hopefully we'll have a preview of the Sylmar team up shortly. Stay tuned.