PREP FOOTBALL : Third Try Gives Loara a 3-0 Win : Patterson’s Kick Beats Western, and Herb Hill Just Takes it in Stride

There are two ways to look at Loara’s 3-0 victory over Western at Glover Stadium in Anaheim Friday night.

One might speculate that a season-opening loss to unheralded Loara doesn’t say a whole lot for preseason predictions. The Pioneers were ranked No. 1 in the Central Conference poll.

Then, there’s another theory: the Herb Hill Factor. In other words, forget about the way things are supposed to go when the Saxons take the field.

Hill, Loara’s coach, has built his career on winning the games people don’t think he’s going to win. So what if the Saxons are unranked and are supposed to be in, yes, another rebuilding season?

Score one for the second theory.

For most of the night, it looked as though neither team would score. Loara had the best opportunities in the first half but Jeff Patterson missed two field goals.

His first attempt, a 39-yarder, didn’t have the length and veered right of the goal post. With seven seconds remaining in the half, Patterson’s 31-yard effort went to the left of the goal post.

Finally, Patterson put an end to the boredom. The Saxons gave him better field position for his third try, a 27-yard field goal with 8:07 left in the game.

“I was thinking ‘I better not miss another one,’ ” Patterson said. “Especially on the third time. You’ve got to do it on the third time.

“They (the coaches) calmed me down. There was nothing I could have done except kick it.”

Hill was visibly pleased with the result, but to him the season opener was just another day at the office. Remember, he’s in his 25th year of coaching at Loara.

“Winning the opener is always special,” he said. “I don’t really get excited about this kind of thing. We have a lot of work to do on the offense.”

“Our kids just never give up.”

Neither does Hill.