Santa Ana Blanks Punchless Loara

Coy Collins ran away from defenders all season. He ran Loara High School into the Southern Section Division III playoffs. He ran Herb Hill into the record book.

Friday night, Collins didn’t run.

Sidelined with an injury, Collins could only watch as the Saxons tried to extend Hill’s 31-year coaching career, 28 of which have been spent at Loara.

They couldn’t.

Loara managed to keep Santa Ana out of the end zone, but lost, 3-0, in a first-round game in front of 3,000 at Western High School. Without Collins, the Saxons (8-2-1) just had no offense.

“When you lose someone of Coy’s ability, it’s going to be noticeable,” Hill said. “If the playoffs had been delayed another week, Coy would have been ready. But you have to play with what you’ve got.”

A week ago, Loara defeated El Dorado, 43-7, in its final Empire League game. The victory made Hill the winningest coach in Orange County history with 191 victories, one more than the late Clare VanHoorebeke.

However, it was a costly victory. Collins, who gained 1,666 yards and scored 20 touchdowns during the regular season, suffered a deep thigh bruise which wasn’t discovered until after the game was over.

“I got hurt in the second quarter of that game, but I had so much adrenaline, I didn’t feel it until after the game,” Collins said. “Maybe if I would have felt it, I could have come out and been ready for this week. I would have killed to play tonight.”

Without Collins, the Saxons gained only 65 yards rushing. In fact, their leading ground-gainer was wide receiver Charles Gipson, who had 46 yards on three reverse plays.

So Loara was forced to pass and the Santa Ana players knew it. The Saints’ defensive front of Oscar Wilson, Oswaldo Guerra and Gilbert Marquez harassed Loara quarterback Sean Conner, who completed only four of 15 passes for 54 yards.

Conner was sacked four times, twice by Wilson.

“We certainly didn’t protect Sean very well,” Hill said. “They came up field at him all night.”

Said Wilson: “With Collins out, we came at them. We didn’t do anything different, we just beat them.”

The Saxons’ only scoring opportunity came at the start of the third quarter, as they drove to the Saint 14-yard line. Conner completed three passes on the drive, but was sacked by Marquez on a third-and-11 play.

Chris Hoffman then missed a 42-yard field-goal attempt.

The Saints (9-2) had their own problems on offense. They moved the ball well at times, but the Saxons were able to come up with big defensive plays.

Loara intercepted two passes, recovered two fumbles and had two sacks.

Late in the third quarter, the Saints drove from their 15 to the Saxon 15. The drive stalled and Plasencia kicked his field goal on the first play of the fourth quarter.

“Now that’s over, I really don’t feel anything,” Hill said. “I’d probably be a lot happier, though, if it was 3-0 the other way.”