Loyola’s Grady Goes for Victory No. 200

Loyola football Coach Steve Grady will be going for his 200th victory Saturday when the Cubs play Crespi in a Del Rey League game at Glendale High.

But it’s doubtful the milestone victory will mean more than No. 3 Loyola’s 3-0 victory over No. 5 Bishop Amat on Friday, which put the Cubs on track for the league title.

No team had shut out Bishop Amat since 1982, a span of 187 games. The Lancers could have become only the third team in state history to score in 200 consecutive games. Midwest City (Okla.) set the national record by scoring in 224 games in a row.

Santa Fe Springs St. Paul once held the record by scoring in 207 in a row. But Loyola ended that streak with a 24-0 victory over the Swordsmen in 1983.

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Concord De La Salle’s football team, which has won a nation-leading 71 consecutive games, will play perennial Southern Section power Santa Ana Mater Dei next year in the third game of the season. Mater Dei will play at De La Salle in 1999.

De La Salle will try to tie the national record of 72 consecutive victories Friday night when it plays Pittsburg, which is coached by former Long Beach Poly co-Coach Thomas Whiting. Pittsburg was the last team to defeat the Spartans. The Pirates won, 35-27, in the 1991 North Coast Section championship.

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Today’s Ocean League football game at 3 p.m. between Beverly Hills and South Torrance will be broadcast at 7:30 p.m. by FOX Sports West 2, but not in Beverly Hills and parts of the South Bay because Century Communications does not carry the network.

Players and fans, however, can watch the game at Jerry’s Famous Deli on Beverly Boulevard and in Westwood Village as part of a special promotion.

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Long Beach Wilson and Harvard-Westlake, ranked first and fourth, respectively, in this week’s Southern Section Division I water polo poll, will participate in the 16-team State Invitational in San Jose this weekend.

Wilson (20-0), the defending Division I champion, defeated Harvard-Westlake, 15-7, on Friday.

The Bruins have won all of their matches by six or more goals.