2009 Big School Coach of the Year

Written by: David Mika on Wednesday, January 6th, 2010. Follow David Mika on Twitter.

Head Coach Dave Hess, Selinsgrove

Dave Hess has coached for two seasons at Selinsgrove as the head coach. His overall record is 29-2.

He served as assistant to Bill Scott for 25 years, winning 276 games over that period. Hess was defensive coordinator for the last ten of those years. He graduated from Selinsgrove High School and played for former Coach Scott.

At Lock Haven he excelled as a defensive tackle and was a team captain on Lock Haven’s last PSAC championship team. He currently teaches Learning Support at Selinsgrove High School.

After replacing Scott as head coach he took the Seals to the Eastern finals losing to Archbishop Wood. But he returned the favor this season, defeating Archbishop Wood 28-0 in the 2009 Eastern final. That was the Seals sixth shutout victory of the season.

In the state playoffs, the Seals defeated Greater Johnstown 35-3, Allentown Central Catholic 31-10 and Archbishop Wood. The Seals were 15-0 heading into the state finals for the first time. They would face  15-0 Manheim Central.

One week before Christmas the Seals got their present. Seth Lauver scored the winning six-yard touchdown and Selinsgrove would win a hard fought 10-7 win over Manheim Central.

What lasting impressions are in your mind from the Manheim Central game?

“I think the greatest lasting impression for the rest of my life, when I look back at that game, was the fact that it took a total team effort to win that football game. It took all of our guys pulling together to fight through some real adversity. We had the toughest time, the worst adversity, that we had all year long the final week of the season. Four of our key players got terribly, terribly, ill. We had kids who were sick just before getting onto the bus to go and play in Hershey. We had two kids go down with injury. So, the thing I’ll remember is that everybody stepped up and everybody had to bring their best to the table. They played together and they fought hard for each other and that was just an amazing thing. It was an amazing game and I’ll never forget the drive at the end.”

Final thoughts on this year’s senior group that went 40 and 5 over their three years?

“I don’t ever remember a better group of young men in all my life at Selinsgrove. I played here in the mid-70’s. I’ve coached here for 27 years. I remember Selinsgrove football back into the early 60’s. My brother played in the 60’s. I’ll be honest with you, we’ve always had great kids in this program, but I’ve never seen a group as talented as this group. We’ve had hard workers in the past like these guys. We’ve had great people in the past like these guys, but these guys had an athleticism. They brought an attitude to the field that I’ve never seen in my life, this competitive spirit and this stubbornness about doing well and not being beaten. That’s the thing I’ll always remember about this group.”

What the state championship means for the Selinsgrove football program?

“For the past, the guys that have come through here before, they’ve got to understand that they have laid the foundation for this to happen. A couple of different times, if you look back through the history of our program, there has been a renaissance of sorts. There’s been a time when the program has come back from being down. The last time that happened was in ’97. We had a guy like Adam Ackley (who died in a motor vehicle accident on December 13, 2009), who led a young group of Seals. We lost the first two games and they won five straight. Ever since then this program has never looked back.”

Note: Selinsgrove finished 5-5 in 1997, but made the playoffs 12 straight years (one of the years in the Eastern Conference playoffs) after that season, including a trip to the District 4/11 Class AAA Sub-Regional Final in 1998 where the Seals lost at Allentown Central Catholic, 35-13.

Quotes provided by Jack Burns and Chris Schmouder of ESPN AM-1240

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