However, the overall feelings of how Temple finished those seasons are quite different, and they should be.
Last year, Temple - which had a 4-26 record from 2004-06 - couldn’t help but feel great after it rallied back from a 1-3 start to win the District 13-5A championship at 6-0.
The Wildcats lost their bi-district game 34-31 in overtime to Pflugerville, but they knew they were only a play or two away from beating a team that advanced to the Division II state title game.
Temple’s feeling was an optimistic one, along the lines of, “Hey, we could have gone a long way.”
Now, fast-forward one year.
Coach Bryce Monsen’s Wildcats lost their three non-district games and their first two 12-5A games, then recaptured their second-half magic by winning five straight to tie for second place and return to the playoffs.
But in the aftermath of Temple’s 40-14 Division I first-round loss to DeSoto last Saturday at Waco ISD Stadium, the Wildcats’ feeling should be more like, “Man, we’ve got a long way to go.”
Confident going in, the Wildcats seemingly never had much of a chance to beat the Eagles, who also entered 5-5.
Temple allowed a touchdown three minutes into the game and had a blocked punt returned for a touchdown during DeSoto’s 20-point second quarter that produced a 26-6 halftime score.
The Eagles’ hulking, aggressive linemen controlled the action on both sides, and the statistics showed that.
Taking advantage of huge holes to run untouched or close to it several times, DeSoto junior Marcus Murphy rushed for 227 yards and four touchdowns to pace a 276-yard attack.
Meanwhile, the Wildcats’ Wing-T offense simply couldn’t get going.
Temple’s junior tandem of speedy running back Lache Seastrunk and powerful fullback Derrick Davis had averaged 253.6 rushing yards and 4.4 TDs per game during the five-game win streak, but DeSoto limited the duo to 64 yards and no scores on 19 carries.
The Eagles were so dominant in the middle that Temple gave Davis only three carries for a total of 5 yards, and they also were fast enough to keep Seastrunk from zipping around the corners for long runs.
Other than Daniel Carr’s 82-yard TD sprint in the second quarter and reserve Itai Meki’s 27-yard gain in the waning seconds, Temple rushed 41 times for only 122 yards. And in extremely windy conditions, the Wildcats passed for just 24 yards.
Of course, one difficult defeat shouldn’t overshadow Temple’s many positives of 2008.
The Wildcats won their final five district games for the second consecutive season (pushing their league record to 11-2 the last two years), and they reached the playoffs in back-to-back years for the first time since 1996-97.
Seastrunk rushed for 1,511 yards and scored a total of 18 touchdowns in his second straight 1,500-yard season. With career totals of 3,043 yards and 37 touchdowns, he’ll enter his senior season only 27 yards and five TDs away from surpassing Delarrius Wilson as Temple’s all-time leader in both categories.
And he’ll be among the most highly recruited players in Texas and perhaps the country.
Monsen made a crucial decision at the season’s midway point by letting star linebacker Davis also play fullback. All Davis did during the ensuing five-game winning streak was rush for 493 yards and 11 scores while softening up defenses for Seastrunk and Carr.
Although Temple allowed 40 points or more four times, the Wildcats played stellar second-half defense in their last four regular-season games. Seniors-to-be such as relentless linebacker Stedman Moore, cornerback Ryan Powell and lineman Nich Crosswhite emerged as strong players.
Temple will miss the play of many departing seniors - Baylor-committed receiver Tevin Reese, Carr, quarterback Kevin Lock, center Brett Gunn, offensive lineman Joseph Maxwell, defensive linemen Garfield Hawk and Nick Clarke, linebackers Patrick Johnson and D.J. Daniels, cornerback Toravion Belcher and kicker/punter Chris Winkler.
As for the Wildcats’ season-ending loss, they should feel the sting of it for quite a while. And for Temple’s 2009 season to be as good as it can be, that’s probably the best possible thing.
