SOUTHERN SECTION FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS : Savanna Washes Away Past With Sweet Victory

As the final seconds ticked off the clock in Savanna’s 20-13 victory in the Southern Section Division VI title game Saturday, Mickey Hugo repeated a phrase over and over:

“I’ve been waiting for this for 33 years.”

After the final gun, Hugo, a Savanna math teacher, wandered around the field hugging any Rebel he could find.

In 1961, Hugo moved from Hawaii to take a job at a new school. Saturday, he saw its first Southern Section football title.

“Everybody gave up on them and thought they were going to get beaten,” a teary-eyed Hugo said. “But they showed that they were more than worthy.

“It was just tremendous.”

No less tremendous is the resurrection of the Savanna football program in the past five seasons. Except for a rebirth, there must be life in the first place and before Coach Fred Di Palma took over in 1989 the patient lacked a pulse.

In 1982, Savanna lost to Anaheim, 42-12, and the coach was fired that week. A newspaper had reported that the performance in the game was “an embarrassment even by Rebel standards.”

At one point during the 1980s, Savanna lost 17 consecutive games. From 1984 to ‘88, the Rebels won only six games, including a 4-6 finish in 1986. The ’87 team that went 0-10 lost one game 60-0 to Rancho Alamitos.

But that was the pre-Di Palma era. Di Palma had been an assistant at Valencia for a couple of seasons and saw possibilities at Savanna.

“I though there was some potential here, so I thought I’d give it a shot,” Di Palma said. “Sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn’t. This time it did.”

Almost immediately. In his first year at coach, the Rebels tied Valencia for the Orange League title and were preparing for their first playoff game since 1977 before they forfeited all six of their victories and a tie for using an ineligible player.

Savanna boosters took the Southern Section to court and lost, but the program bounced back.

They qualified for the playoffs the next two years and after missing the postseason in ’92 stormed through the Division VI bracket this year, including a 20-0 victory over two-time defending champion Valencia in the semifinals.

Savanna Athletic Director Tom Voight has only been at the school for four years, but he previously had worked at other Anaheim schools, including Loara. He said opponents used to consider games against the Rebels automatic victories--in nearly every sport.

Judging from the plaque Di Palma held above his head and Hugo’s bear hugs, that has certainly changed.

“I’m excited,” Voight said. “I never saw the bad times. I’ve only seen the good and I only see us going ever upward.”