Probably not happening this year...

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North Torrance is due to appear in another Southern Section final this season, but Coach Todd Croce isn’t counting on it.

The Saxons (0-3) will be happy to record their first victory when they face Edmonton (Alberta) Sheppard at 7 p.m. Friday in what Croce believes will be the first football game at North Torrance involving a team from outside the United States.

‘We’re all working together and we’re just trying to get things turned around,’ he said of his team. ‘Hopefully, we’re still standing at the end of our nonleague season. It’s going to come down to a health thing for us.’

The combination of bad start and lack of depth has put a dent in any hopes North Torrance had of duplicating or improving on its postseason performances of 2001 and 2004, when the Saxonswere Southern Section Division X runners-up after falling in the championship games to Santa Monicaand Crespi, respectively.

‘We were hoping the every-three-years things would be going on, but it’s not happening this year,’ Croce said.

Junior defensive end Mike Smith already suffered ligament damage in his left ankle in last week’s 28-13 loss at Redondo, and senior two-way tackle Brian Allen is expected to sit out several weeks with a left-knee injury. He underwent an MRI Monday and is awaiting results.

Croce, in his eighth season at the Saxons’ helm, is philosophical about the losses, both on the lines and in North Torrance’s record.

‘It’s high school football,’ he said. ‘It goes in cycles, and you just deal with what you’ve got each year.’

- Lauren Peterson