“Start fast and finish strong” has been the mantra of the Mt. Eden Monarchs football team this season.

Five games into the 2012 season, this year’s group has started faster than any Monarch team in recent memory.

Coming off a 35-6 win over Mount Diablo this past Friday, the Monarchs (3-2) have already won more games this season than they have in the past three seasons combined, as they were 2-28.

Coach Paul Perenon is in his first season as the sole head coach, after serving the previous two seasons as co-head coach alongside Ron Thompson. Perenon previously served as head coach at Bishop O’Dowd High school for 25 years before being let go in 2010.

When Perenon first arrived on campus, he was shocked at the lack of discipline the athletes and program had.

“When we got down here this thing was kind of down in the corner,” Perenon said when discussing the program. “No one wanted anything to do with it.”

He said the players had no idea how to practice and it seemed like the first group of athletes he coached had different agendas than the coaching staff.

“There was a lot of resistance to an organized structured practice,” Perenon said. “They kind of wanted to go out there and helter skelter it.”

“It seemed to me like some of the guys who were on that first team we got down here, they wanted to do everything,” Perenon explained.  “They wanted to run the show, call the shots, tell everyone how everything was going to go. That is not the way organizations function.”

Since then, Perenon has seen continual growth in the program, while the record may not have shown it, as they have gone 1-19 in his first two seasons, he said the difference between now and when he first arrived are night and day.

Mt. Eden has not had a winning season since 2006. This year’s team is on pace to end that dry spell and even make a playoff berth. Thoughts like this were not previously believed by team members, but star running back Devante McGowan believes this team now has what it takes to win.

“It feels good to actually come to practice and know we actually have a chance to win because we have a team that actually wants to listen,” McGowan said.

Offensively, Mt. Eden has seen its production increase greatly due to a new and improved running game led by running back McGowan and the offensive line anchored by Juan Pardo.

Last season the offense struggled to score as they were shutout five times. In the five games they were not shutout they only scored more than 13 points one time.

This season the offense is averaging 22.6 points per game and has not scored less than 17 points in a game the entire season.

Perenon believes the new and improved offense is a credit to his offensive line and running backs.

The team has already compiled 1,232 rushing yards in its first five games with McGowan leading the way with 628 rushing yards and three touchdowns, while his partner in the backfield Khalil Thomas, is close behind with 489 rushing yards and seven touchdowns.

While the passing attack has not been as strong as Perenon would like, he noted even at his days leading Bay Area powerhouse Bishop O’Dowd, his teams always placed an emphasis on running the ball.

He brought the mentality his O’Dowd teams had and to be great at the few plays they have in the playbook.

“There are three or four plays these kids run as well as any high school football program in Northern California,” Perenon said.

Defensively, the Monarchs have seen substantial growth. Last season the team only held an opponent to under 24 points twice in a game, while this season’s defense has held every opponent to 24 points or less.

Three of their opponents have been held to single digits.

Perenon credits the addition of Bill Davies as his new defensive coordinator as well as the simplification of their schemes to much of the success, as well as the commitment the players have. He and Davies have shown very similar views in how they believe high school football should be played.

“We’re a lot better pursuit football team, we spend a lot of time talking about that and coaching that, were a lot better tackling team then we have been. And I think a lot of that is these kids,” Perenon said.

Now that there is a positive vibe around the program, the aspirations have become a little different. McGowan and his teammates want to continue the trend they have started.

“The goals before were just to win games, now that we know we can we want to make playoffs and actually make a bowl game,” McGowan said.

While the Monarchs may be halfway through the season, Perenon believes this is only the beginning of something special with this program.

“It’s a refreshing beginning, it’s an optimistic beginning, and it’s also an earn, these kids have worked pretty hard and they have been doing what they’ve been asked to do,” Perenon said.