Last Season Forgotten as Savanna Returns to Playoffs

Savanna High School, once one of the least successful football teams in Orange County and last season among the most notorious, erased a lot of bad memories Thursday night at Glover Stadium.

With a 42-0 victory over Magnolia, the Rebels clinched a spot in the Southern Section Division VI playoffs. It will be their first playoff appearance since 1983.

Savanna will finish no worse than third place in the Orange League but could finish either first or second depending how Brea-Olinda and Valencia do tonight.

On Thursday, the Rebels were satisfied just to be in the playoffs.

A year ago, they finished as the league’s co-champion with Valencia but had to forfeit all their games because of an ineligible player.

The booster club attempted to get a court order to reinstate the team, but was denied.

“For the (current) seniors who were on the team last year, this is great,” said junior quarterback Brad Belanger, who was on the junior varsity in 1989. “We’ve talked a lot about getting back to the playoffs. I’m really happy we did it.”

Belanger was a big reason why the Rebels (6-2-2, 3-1-1 in league) are in.

On Thursday, he completed 16 of 20 passes for 217 yards and four touchdowns. He had 155 yards passing the first half, throwing touchdown passes of 14 and 20 yards to Hien Nguyen and nine yards to Scott Bird.

Savanna led 28-0 at halftime.

Nguyen scored on a 43-yard punt return in the third quarter, and Belanger also threw a 32-yard touchdown pass to Randall Morgan in the fourth to complete the rout. It was the sixth shutout loss this season for Magnolia (1-9, 0-5).

“This is just a good group of kids who work very hard,” Savanna Coach Fred DiPalma said. “We don’t have much size. We don’t have much speed. We don’t have any superstars.”

For many years, the Rebels also didn’t have much success. Between 1985-88, the school won only eight games.

The program took an upswing last season, winning its first league championship in the school’s history, only to have to give it up.

“The kids remembered last year, but only from the aspect of wanting to get back to the playoffs,” DiPalma said.