Santa Ana Wins; Hill Ties Hill on Victory List

For Santa Ana’s football team, it was just the third victory of the season. But for Saints’ Coach Dick Hill, it was one of the biggest of his career.

Santa Ana defeated Lynwood, 23-14, in a nonleague game Saturday night at Santa Ana Stadium, allowing Hill to tie Herb Hill for most victories by an Orange County high school football coach. Dick Hill can break the record if Santa Ana defeats Westminster Thursday.

Dick Hill has a 191-81-3 career record. Herb Hill was 191-114-11 from 1956 through 1989.

Santa Ana (3-6) used a strong rushing attack that gained 288 yards. Kevin Pola had 191 yards on 34 carries.

“We figured we could run the ball against them,” said Hill, who was more willing to talk about his team’s play then his record. “We were certainly going to try to run Pola, but we thought the pass would be there if we needed it.”

As it turned out, the Saints didn’t.

Santa Ana started the scoring on its first drive, 67 yards in 14 plays. Pola ran one yard for the score, and Gustavo Plasencia added the extra point.

After the Saint defense forced a Lynwood fumble and recovered at the Knight 17, Santa Ana wasted little time running the ball in. Robert Tabile finished off a six-play drive from the one.

Lynwood (4-5) rallied in the second half, beginning with Jock Ingram’s 97-yard kickoff return for a touchdown. Ingram tied the game when he ran two yards with 7:34 left in the third quarter.

But Irvine took the lead for good on Plasencia’s 48-yard field goal and sealed the victory when Tabile capped an 11-play, 67-yard drive by running 16 yards with 1:16 left.