The Chaparral Firebirds rebounded from their sole loss of the season with a convincing 49-0 pounding of the visiting Perry Pumas in the first round of the Arizona 5A-II playoffs Friday night.

It’s been a rough couple of weeks for the Firebirds both on and off the field. A 27-20 loss against Desert Mountain a week ago was preceded by two more dire events: the death of starting offensive tackle Andrew Gustafson’s mother, Teresa, and the near death of Coach Charlie Ragle’s wife Carrie, who had an ectopic pregnancy that caused severe bleeding.

So what did the players and coaches do to clear their minds?

“We went bowling,” Ragle said with a smile. “We went out had some fun, lightened the mood and the guys came out and played some good football.”

Firebird sophomore quarterback Conner Brewer had his best game of the year going 15-of-18 for 260 yards and three touchdowns, all in the second half.

Chaparral got things rolling on its first possession with a quick five-play 51-yard drive that was capped by a punishing 14-yard touchdown from Dwayne Garrett, his first of two. Garrett finished the evening with 116 total yards.

Up 21-0, Chaparral came out in the second half looking to put the game away quickly. On the second play from scrimmage, Cole Tyree took a screen pass from Brewer, broke into the open the field and sprinted away from the Puma defense for a 53-yard touchdown.

After Perry went three-and-out on the ensuing possession, Chaparral sealed the victory with a 39-yard touchdown pass down the right sideline to Danny Trittler, who would finish with 113 yards on seven catches.

“We told them in the locker room, ‘let’s put this thing away both offensively and defensively,’ and that’s what we did,” Ragle said.

The Firebird defense collected its first shutout of the year and held the Pumas to just 86 total yards in the game. Hunter Gregg led the way with his tremendous tenacity around the ball. He tallied six tackles and a fumble recovery. Colby Targun and Chris Fox also made their presence felt with seven tackles a-piece.

Chaparral backup running back Dayne Kamela saw significant action and took advantage of his touches, scoring twice and adding 33 yards on five carries.

Kyle Brown also chipped in with 46 yards on six carries for the Firebirds. Chaparral compiled 471 yards of offense in the game.