By Staff
In talking with Dowagiac varsity football coach Mike Stanger on Sunday evening after the announcements of the playoffs pairings, we had a chance to reflect on the 2006 season.
Stanger was quick to point out that Dowagiac's success on the football field was a collective effort of players and coaches.
And, he wasn't just talking about the varsity squad.
Dowagiac's football program has a bright future.
The freshmen squad may have just been 1-8 this past season, however, the team improved each week and won its season finale against Paw Paw 21-6.
There are some good sized kids on the freshmen team, so offensive linemen shouldn't be a problem in two years.
Dowagiac's junior varsity squad went 8-1 this year and also improved each week.
The JV has speed, but not a lot of size. When you mix the freshmen and JV teams together in two years, it should be a nice combination.
Dowagiac has been blessed to have some quality coaches at the lower levels of its football program.
Chris Machiniak, Scott Dodd, Brent Hatch and Tony Scaccia coached the freshmen team.
What I like about the coaching staff is that three of those coaches are Dowagiac alumni.
Matt Alward, Matt Stewart, Kyle Belew and Max Sala coached the JV squad.
Again, there are a couple alumni on that staff, but what I most enjoyed this season was having Max Sala back in the football program.
Max is a great football coach, who walked away from the program for many years. I still enjoy telling people about the time he drew up a new defense in the second half against an outstanding St. Joseph team and completely shut the Bears down in the final two quarters.
Or, there was the time over at Coloma that Max was talking with one of the Chieftain linebackers on the sideline and when he was done motivating the player, I wanted to put on the pads and go in to play.
Then there are the varsity coaches.
Stanger has put together a nice combination that works together well.
Assistants Pat Lyle, Mike Behnke and Andy Crawley have worked extremely hard to make the Chieftains a winner.
Again, we have two alumni on the staff, which I feel is important.
No one is going to take more pride in a program than former players do. They are willing to go that extra mile to make sure that the Chieftains live up to the long-standing tradition of Dowagiac football.
My hat goes off to all these coaches because I know they put in hour after hour of preparation to give the team its best opportunity to win.
As Stanger said to me on Sunday, "All the coaches on our staff did a good job. Even our junior high coaches. We are seeing dividends because of their efforts."