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  • Mike Maceranka, head football coach at Segerstrom High School in...

    Mike Maceranka, head football coach at Segerstrom High School in Santa Ana, works with his varsity squad on Tuesday.

  • Mike Maceranka, head football coach at Segerstrom High School in...

    Mike Maceranka, head football coach at Segerstrom High School in Santa Ana, works with his varsity squad on Tuesday.

  • Mike Maceranka, head football coach at Segerstrom High School in...

    Mike Maceranka, head football coach at Segerstrom High School in Santa Ana, center, with his defensive coordinator, Marty Albert, left, and assistant coach Nick Canzone.

  • Mike Maceranka, head football coach at Segerstrom High School in...

    Mike Maceranka, head football coach at Segerstrom High School in Santa Ana, center, with his defensive coordinator, Marty Albert, left, and assistant coach Nick Canzone.

  • Mike Maceranka, head football coach at Segerstrom High School in...

    Mike Maceranka, head football coach at Segerstrom High School in Santa Ana, center, with his defensive coordinator, Marty Albert, left, and assistant coach Nick Canzone.

  • Mike Maceranka, head football coach at Segerstrom High School in...

    Mike Maceranka, head football coach at Segerstrom High School in Santa Ana, works with his varsity squad on Tuesday.

  • Mike Maceranka, head football coach at Segerstrom High School in...

    Mike Maceranka, head football coach at Segerstrom High School in Santa Ana, works with his varsity squad on Tuesday.

  • Mike Maceranka, head football coach at Segerstrom High School in...

    Mike Maceranka, head football coach at Segerstrom High School in Santa Ana, works with his varsity squad on Tuesday.

  • Mike Maceranka, head football coach at Segerstrom High School in...

    Mike Maceranka, head football coach at Segerstrom High School in Santa Ana, works with his varsity squad on Tuesday.

  • Mike Maceranka, head football coach at Segerstrom High School in...

    Mike Maceranka, head football coach at Segerstrom High School in Santa Ana.

  • Assistant coach Nick Canzone.

    Assistant coach Nick Canzone.

  • Defensive coordinator Marty Albert.

    Defensive coordinator Marty Albert.

  • Mike Maceranka, head football coach at Segerstrom High School in...

    Mike Maceranka, head football coach at Segerstrom High School in Santa Ana, works with his varsity squad on Tuesday.

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(The story has been updated to correct an error made during the editing of the story.)

SANTA ANA – Success is subjective for high school football programs. Some expect annual dominance, while others are content with ocassional triumphs in their league or the playoffs.

Since Segerstrom opened in 2005, the Jaguars’ football program has climbed from the depths – regularly losing by lopsided scores – to become a four-time league champion.

As the Jaguars enter their 10th season at the varsity level, they are proud of the success they’ve had, and they don’t mind seeing expectations go up.

Mike Maceranka has been the team’s coach since Day 1, and he has seen every high and low along the way. The turning point for the program, he said, was when it won the Golden West League championship in 2009.

It was the first for Segerstrom, and it was the first since 1995 for a team from a Santa Ana school.

“They hadn’t won one (in Santa Ana) in so long, the whole city,” Maceranka said. “We were so driven to make that a reality that everybody, from the kids to coaches.

“We just worked with that goal in mind, that we were good enough.”

Segerstrom’s structure as a fundamental school in the Santa Ana Unified School District has played a major role, Maceranka said, in the football program’s development.

“It’s a fundamental school, so we were academically going to be different,” he said. “Kids opted in (to attend Segerstrom), and when they opted in, they (knew they would be) held to higher expectations. Because of that, I feel our football program’s been more successful, because our teachers and the parents and the kids all are held accountable.”

All of the school’s athletic programs struggled in the beginning. The school opened in 2005 with only freshmen and sophomore classes.

The first three seasons for the football program were filled with one blowout loss after another. Maceranka recalls a matchup against Laguna Hills where Segerstrom fell behind, 28-0, in the game’s first three minutes.

“Our first couple games, it was like men playing boys,” Maceranka said. “They just destroyed us.”

Maceranka knew he needed to find a way to give his program an edge, something that would make the most of the school’s talent base. He knew Segerstrom wouldn’t be in a position to pluck the best talent from Orange County.

“As a staff, we’re not going to focus too much on who walks through that door,” Maceranka said. “When they get through that door, we’re going to do whatever we can to make them successful.”

Maceranka and his staff came up with an offensive system, built around the ground game.

“We had to come up with an identity that was different,” Maceranka said. “The offense we run, there’s only two or three other schools in the county that run it. We knew we were going to get good kids to lead the offense and kind of revolve around four or five guys instead of relying on one guy (at quarterback).”

Segerstrom’s offense gets several players involved in the team’s game plan.

“It’s just something that’s unique,” Maceranka said. “Teams aren’t prepared for it because they’re not used it.”

University coach Mark Cunningham said he was so impressed with the Jaguars’ offense that he made a trip to Segerstrom to watch the Jaguars practice.

“I have a huge admiration for Coach Maceranka and the entire program,” Cunningham said. “I guess I think the reason they have the success that they have is they have a system. They believe in the system, and they stay with the system.

“They make minor adjustments, but you pretty much know this is what they’re going to do, and they’re going to do it very well. They have tough, hard-nosed kids that are smart and execute the process that he has set up for them.”

Segerstrom’s breakout season came in 2009 when it won its first league championship, but even then things were far from easy. The Jaguars had a 1-4 record as they headed into league play, but the Jaguars coaches had seen encouraging signs.

“We were inching (forward) every week,” Maceranka said “We were getting better, but we were just losing by small margins.”

The game that solidified the program’s status as a contender, according to Maceranka, came in Week 8 of the ’09 season. The Jaguars defeated league powerhouse Westminster, which hadn’t lost a league game in five years – a span of 30 games.

Maceranka said everything Segerstrom had done to that point had been geared toward beating Westminster.

“It was the homecoming week,” Maceranka recalled. “Our kids felt confident. We had our homecoming assembly that day and the chant was ‘30-1’ … (Westminster had a 30-game league winning streak going into the game.) And it actually happened.

“The whole school finally believed in the football program. It was a pretty awesome moment.”

The Jaguars went on to capture the league title that season and reached the CIF-SS playoffs for the firt time.

The Jaguars won Golden West League titles in 2010 and 2011, giving them three in a row, and claimed their fourth title in 2013. The Jaguars fell short of the title in 2012, but finished 9-3 overall.

Entering tonight’s season opener against Santa Ana Valley, Maceranka said he was excited about seeing his team back on the field. The Jaguars went 3-7 a year ago, as they struggled to execute the offensive system.

A year ago, Segerstrom had five seniors on its roster; this year it has 31. Maceranka, who has an overall record of 53-37 at Segerstrom, changed the team’s offseason routine, adding more practices and participation in passing leagues.

Maceranka said he sees Segerstrom winning a CIF championship in the next 10 years, but it’s going to take everything going right for the program.

“Westminster is that thousand-pound gorilla again,” Maceranka said. “They’re the dominant program in this league, and we have to physically be up to the challenge.”

Segerstrom is no longer in search of relevancy in the Orange County football scene. Over the past decade it has become a steady contender and has earned the respect of its peers.

“(Maceranka) was one of the first people to email me after the season and congratulate me on turning things around over here,” said Santa Ana coach Charlie TeGantvoort, who is in his second season with the Saints.

“I thought that was great of him, even after we beat them. He was still able to send me that email that said ‘good job.’ I think that says a lot about someone.”