PREP FOOTBALL ’99 : EMPIRE LEAGUE : Cypress Likes This Thing Called Winning : Centurions have a new spring in their step after their first league title since 1978 and their first winning record since ’81.

The navy blue helmets Cypress High football players will strap on this season are the same ones from a year ago, but for some reason they look a bit shinier.

The pass routes in practice are sharper, the hits are harder and the topic of conversation around the team is one unheard for much of the last 20 years: winning.

Cypress, long a doormat in the Empire League, enters this season as defending champion.

The Centurions, who hadn’t posted a winning record since 1981, went 7-5 last year and won their first league title since 1978.

A 4-1 Empire League record represented the most league victories at Cypress since 1981. Since 1980, the Centurions compiled an overall record of 59-119-4--and 28-70-4 in the Empire League.

So it’s no surprise that beginning a season as defending league champions is a little different for the Centurions.

“There is a little more pressure this year,” said Joe Long, a senior offensive lineman. “A lot of people think it was a fluke that we won, so we have to prove them wrong. But I think it’s pushing us more than it’s hurting us.”

Three times between 1985 and ‘91, Cypress was winless in league. In the eight seasons before winning the 1998 title, the Centurions won a total of 10 league games. In 1997, they were 3-7 overall and 1-4 in league games.

“Other teams have always had a tendency to look past us,” said third-year Coach Kerry Crabb. “In the preseason I’m sure you still aren’t going to hear a lot of people pick Cypress, but we probably forced some people to take a harder look.”

Before the Centurions try to convince the rest of the league they are for real, they must convince themselves. The older players are finding it difficult to shake the reputation as a loser and instill the attitude and work ethic of champions in the newer players.

“We had to work our butts off last year to win that title,” said Jonathon Rice, an all-league defensive back last season and the team’s top returning player. “The younger kids don’t really have much respect for that, but we’re trying to get them into it.”

Said Long: “Sometimes it’s a little frustrating when the new guys come in with the attitude that, ‘Hey, we’re league champs, this is going to be a cakewalk.’ Last year we won the league, but that was last year. This year is a whole new thing.”

Cypress returns 11 starters. The biggest void left by graduation is at quarterback, where Jeff Crooks earned the Empire League MVP award last season. Justin Rice and Chad Halbert are battling to replace him.

The offensive line, with all five starters back, should provide plenty of protection for either passer. Terrance and Clarence Moore, twin 6-foot-4 receivers, have the size to dominate teams with relatively small secondaries. Kicker Paul Kerr has attracted interest from some Pacific 10 schools.

What a difference a year makes. Last summer, few people around Cypress dared talk about a league football championship.

“We’re all excited,” said Chris Crooks, a senior offensive lineman. “We set history for the school. Our peers doubted us, our classmates thought we weren’t that good, but once people found out we were winning, they started coming to watch.”

What they watched, the Centurions hope, was the start of a trend.

“We definitely have something to prove,” Rice said. “Everybody is after us.”

He paused for a moment, reflecting on the statement he just made.

“Wow,” he added. “That’s kind of weird.”