TEMECULA ---- Chaparral hit the snooze button once.
Then Pumas hit it twice more after second and third defeats derailed both state bowl consideration and a Southwestern League championship.
Heading into tonight's Inland Division playoff opener at 7 against Corona Roosevelt, Pumas linebacker Darius Guillory knows his team has used up all of its wakeup calls. One more slip-up and Chaparral's rollercoaster season ends with the Pumas slipping into a slumber until spring practice resumes.
"All it can take is three," Guillory said. "We don't have any more wake-up calls. It's the playoffs. It's one and done."
Of course, during the Tom Leach era at Chaparral, the Pumas have thrived come November football. Three years ago, Chaparral bounced back from a second-place finish in the Southwestern League to orchestrate the program's first section title run. Two years ago, they rode a second-place finish back to the semifinals and last year, the Pumas played in their second Inland Division championship game in a rematch against powerhouse Corona Centennial, the eventual state champion in 2008.
Chaparral, in fact, played Centennial twice last year and Leach intended to test his team again with preseason games this season against Centennial and Anaheim Servite. Regardless of the outcomes, the Pumas don't know a better way to pave a road toward December.
"Our goal is to win a championship," defensive coordinator Ryan Tukua said. "If we come up with anything short of that, we didn't reach our goal. Playing games like Servite and Centennial get you ready for playing against the kind of athletes that Roosevelt has."
Problem was, turnovers and penalties kept the Pumas (7-3, 4-1 Southwestern League) from living up to their billing as a state-title contender in a season-opening, 31-27 loss to Centennial (8-2) and Chaparral needed a half to get going before falling short in a 28-21 loss to Servite (9-1), now the No. 10 team in the state poll at calhisports.com.
After falling to No. 22 Vista Murrieta (10-0) ---- in a game that Leach missed because of a one-game suspension for unsportsmanlike conduct ---- and struggling in a win over Temescal Canyon (4-6), the Pumas found themselves needing to recommit to a season that began with talk of section titles and state bowl berths.
A loss last week, after all, could have sent the Pumas to a fourth-place finish in a league they swept a year ago.
"I think our team got too big-headed," said wide receiver Antoine Arnold, who leads the Valley with more than 1,100 receiving yards and 15 touchdowns. "We went to (the championship) last year and we thought we would automatically go this year. People started slacking, but I think now we've got our heads together.
"We're not going to have anything handed to us. We've got to go get it."
Roosevelt (8-2) won't make that an easy task, either.
The Mustangs finished third in the Big VIII League, losing only to Corona Centennial (50-13) and Norco (30-27) ---- the two teams that kept the Pumas from hoisting title plaques in 2006 and 2008 ---- in an otherwise spotless year for a young program that averaged 35.9 yards a game. Seniors Austin Hill (1,046 receiving yards, 9 TDs), Tyler Slavin (493 receiving yards, 6 TDs) and Harold Mobley have each drawn interest from Nebraska, as have defensive backs Aaron Brown (3 ints.) and Josh Mitchell (5 ints.), presenting quite a challenge for Arnold, Pumas quarterback Mitch Glasmann (2,041 yards, 21 TDs) and running back Jonathan Diaz (1,201 yards, 18 TDs).
The Pumas have rolled to 101 points in victories over Temecula Valley and Great Oak the last two weeks. Tonight's game against Roosevelt ---- their first-ever meeting with the Mustangs ---- will go a long way toward realizing the kind of potential that Chaparral boasted about at the start of the season.
"That's what we're excited about," Tukua said. "We've played 10 weeks, and we' ve either gotten better or we didn't get good enough and we'll get ready for next year.
"If we're not good enough to win CIF, then we won't win this week."
CALPREPS.COM PREDICTION: Chaparral 31, Roosevelt 28
