“You saw it last year during the pandemic. “It’s cool that everyone’s a Cougar,” said Crum, who, as a kid, worked out in the garage of Todd Gerhart, the former coach whose son Toby was a Heisman Trophy runnerup at Stanford. Crum played JAAF (Junior All-American Football) in Norco High’s very stadium, and the youth team wears the Cougars uniform. It would take a battalion of wild horses to uproot Chastain and Crum from Norco. Norco is 8-2 with losses to Centennial and Sierra Canyon, but it did handle Santa Margarita of the Trinity League and scored more than 40 points in seven of its 10 games. Mater Dei is 8-0 and has a 407-108 point differential. They can play 22 different guys on defense.

“Mater Dei does not have a weakness like that. “Some teams, you say you’re going to attack this corner instead of that one,” Chastain said. Just chip away with those short, quick passes and see what happens.” Then they had some turnovers and didn’t score again (and lost 42-21). They got the ball quick and took advantage of the seams. John Bosco scored 21 in the first half against them. They run guys in and out and they’re all good. “I think their nose tackle is like 6-foot-5, 350.

“Their size and depth are the biggest things,” said Crum, who has committed to San Diego State. If the Cougars think they know horses, they’ll see thoroughbreds Friday. It’s also a chance to play the acknowledged No. “We will have played every Trinity League team.” “This completes the Holy Trinity for us,” Chastain said, laughing. On Saturday and Sunday mornings at the Cowgirl Cafe, where the country oldies were playing the other day at lunch, and on late Friday nights at the Blackhorse Tavern, people are talking Cougars. When quarterback Kyle Crum and his mates beat Corona Centennial last spring 38-36 for the first time since 2009, they were asked to stand up at a church service two mornings later, and got applauded for snapping Centennial’s 57-game league winning streak. In Norco and San Clemente and precious few other spots in Southern California, the team and the town are the same. Somebody might be out for a ride and decide to watch the Cougars late in the afternoon. The horse is the source of commerce and transportation here, a town with more horse paths than sidewalks. “They’ll look up on the hill, and they’ll ask me, ‘Is that a horse, watching us practice?’” Cougars coach Chuck Chastain said. NORCO - When football players transfer to Norco High, there’s always a moment when it becomes official.

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