A Warning to Opponents: Peare Is a Tough Customer

Chad Peare had just finished his 24th pushup, which was a heck of a lot tougher than the previous one, when Trabuco Hills assistant football coach Bill Crow posed the question.

“Are you good at math?” he asked Peare, the Mustangs’ senior linebacker.

“Yep.”

“What number are you on, Chad?” the coach asked.

“Twenty-five.”

“Good,” said Crow, grinning at the punch line he was about to deliver. “Then you know you’re 25% of the way done.”

Peare could only shake his head and drop to the ground for another pushup.

But Crow’s humor did draw some laughter from Peare’s teammates, who gathered to watch the linebacker’s punishment for punching a Costa Mesa player during Trabuco Hills’ 34-24 victory last Friday night.

They serenaded him with an off-key version of “Living on a Prayer.” They mocked him with one-liners.

“We don’t see any chow yet,” they yelled at Peare as he neared pushup No. 60.

“You’re going to see my foot somewhere in about a minute,” Peare shot back.

Quarterback Pat Barnes stopped by to razz him.

“Shut up, you damn quarterback,” Peare snapped as Barnes jogged away laughing.

Even Mustang Coach Jim Barnett got in a jab.

“Hey Chad, save some of it for your newspaper interview,” he told Peare, who was looking a bit weary by No. 70.

At No. 81, Peare looked at his teammates, then turned to Crow and asked, “How come they don’t have to do this?”

“Because they were tired out on the field last week when you sat on the sideline and rested,” Crow explained. “Now, they get to watch you .”

By now, Peare, 6 feet 3 and 230 pounds, has the routine down.

Back straight, knees high and gasp for more air. He’s in such good shape, he could probably teach your 9 a.m. aerobics class.

He finished practice each day this week by running in place and dropping for a pushup each time Crow called out, “Hut.” Crow said it 100 times.

Call it cruel. Call it unusual. Call it punishment.

But Peare had it coming, and he’ll be the first to tell you so.

Officials threw Peare out of the game for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. The way Peare sees it, he got a little out of hand and threw a punch.

Peare played only a little more than a quarter, finishing with seven tackles.

“It wasn’t a smart move, punching him,” Peare said. “They sent four guys at me on (a goal-line play) and I didn’t like it when they went over me. So I punched him.

“I shouldn’t have done it. It could have cost us the game; they might have needed me on the field and I couldn’t play.”

Then came the tough question: “Where did you hit the guy?”

“The face?”

Nope.

“The stomach?”

Nope.

“Where?”

“Here,” Peare said, grabbing himself below the belt.

For the record, let’s just say it hurt. A lot.

After moments such as that, it’s little wonder that Peare is one of the most feared linebackers in Orange County.

Ask Laguna Hills running back Brandon Portnoff, whom Peare leveled with a clean but brutal hit in the Mustangs’ 42-0 victory. Peare finished that game with eight tackles.

Ask Capistrano Valley’s defense, which got decked by Peare on a two-yard touchdown run in one of his rare appearances at fullback.

Or how about El Toro, which he stopped cold with 12 tackles.

Peare has 95 tackles this season, his first as a starting linebacker.

“I like linebacker because it’s so physical,” Peare said. “It’s a high-collision position.”

Peare started at noseguard on Mission Viejo’s 7-4 team last season. He attended Trabuco Hills as a freshman and sophomore before transferring to Mission Viejo when his parents moved into the district a year ago.

But Peare was unhappy as a lineman, often giving up as much as 35 pounds to opposing linemen. He received an intra-district transfer back to Trabuco Hills for his senior year.

Peare didn’t plan on playing football this season. Instead, he wanted to train full-time for the track and field season, when he competes in the shotput and discus.

He started competing in the shotput and discus as a sophomore, winning the Pacific Coast League title in both events.

He repeated the feat in the South Coast League as a junior, then finished second in the Southern Section meet in the discus and third in the shotput. He went on to win the Masters’ meet in the discus and finish sixth at the State meet.

Much of Peare’s power comes from his time in the weight room. He bench presses 405 pounds and squat lifts 600 pounds.

He also trains with Olympic discus thrower Brian Blutreich and Blutreich’s father, Len, three times a week at Capistrano Valley High.

“They’ve helped me with my technique, all my weak spots,” Peare said. “It’s great. I get double coaching with (the Blutreichs) and the high school coaches.”

But Peare limited his discus workouts to weekends when he decided to come out for the football team again.

“It was the week before fall practice,” Peare said. “I was watching college football on TV and I said, ‘I have to come back and play. “

Trabuco Hills coaches welcomed him back and immediately put him in the starting lineup. He has torn through offenses ever since.

“Chad is as good a linebacker as I’ve seen in our area,” Barnett said. “I can’t figure out why he doesn’t get more interest (from colleges).”

He has generated some interest, receiving letters from Washington State and Arizona for football and from Cal State Northridge and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo for track and field.

There are no serious offers, which seems to be the least of Peare’s concerns. He’s too busy enjoying his senior year.

“I was glad I transferred back to Trabuco Hills,” he said. “This is the best year I ever had.”

Except, maybe, for all those pushups.