TONIGHT’S FOOTBALL GAMES : Shutout Unlikely in Loara vs. Los Alamitos

For the past three years, the winning team in the Los Alamitos-Loara high school football rivalry has recorded a shutout and gone on to win the Empire League championship.

In 1986, Loara stunned Los Alamitos, 24-0, but since then Los Alamitos has won 17 consecutive league games, including 31-0 and 20-0 victories over Loara.

Defense has played an integral role in the rivalry, but another shutout is highly unlikely when two potent offenses meet at 7:30 tonight in Gahr High’s Hanford Rants Stadium in Cerritos.

“This year, it might be the defense that keeps the other team from scoring its 28th point that wins the game,” said Herb Hill, Loara’s coach.

Los Alamitos (6-1, 2-0) averages 36.7 points a game behind the passing of quarterback Todd Gragnano and the running of Erik Mitchell. Gragnano has completed 84 of 146 passes for 1,547 yards and 14 touchdowns. Mitchell has added 876 yards and 19 touchdowns, but was limited to 45 yards in 15 carries in a 14-7 victory over Cypress last week.

Loara (6-0-1, 2-0) counters with an offense that averages 28.9 points a game behind the running of Coy Collins. Collins, who missed five league games last year with an ankle injury, has gained 1,227 yards in 129 carries and has scored 15 touchdowns. The only blemish on Loara’s record is a 14-14 tie with El Modena.

Los Alamitos has dominated the league the past two years, but its defense has allowed 124 points in seven games this year, eight more than it allowed in 14 games last year.

Hill in one victory shy of tying legendary Coach Clare VanHoorebeke’s county career record of 190 victories. Hill, however, is downplaying the milestone.

“We’re going for a league championship, not a record for Herb Hill,” the coach said.

In other games tonight: Century League--Santa Ana vs. Canyon at El Modena; Empire League--Cypress vs. Esperanza at Valencia; El Dorado vs. Katella at Glover Stadium; Garden Grove League--Pacifica at Bolsa Grande; Rancho Alamitos at Garden Grove; Pacific Coast League--Laguna Beach vs. Woodbridge at Irvine; Orange vs. Costa Mesa at Newport Harbor; Sunset League--Fountain Valley at Westminster.