Coach Chuck Wagner

"I don't think there is a greater game than high school football," notes Chuck Wagner. "Football was the key for me in regards to growing up and going in the right direction."

And now Wagner is using that same key to help many young men grow up in the right direction also, as Springdale's football coach. His key set mixes winning, goal setting and computers.

Chuck notes that success is a motivational key for the team. "There's nothing better than winning…I always felt once we do that we are going to get that momentum and we did.," Chuck says. "We got beat in the first round of the playoffs that year [2002] but came right back in 2003, went to Heinz [Field, site of the WPIAL playoffs] and won the [WPIAL] title and then we were back last year. We were one game away from going to Heinz again. Winning picks up momentum. As a result, it has an effect on the kids. They believe more. All of a sudden you have that momentum going in that direction, good things seem to happen."

Building on those good things is a big part of the coach's key ring. "We have our goals, over on the board, and that is to improve each week," points out Chuck. "You can't go anywhere unless kids realize each day is important…that puts us in position to go to the playoffs for the fourth straight year…we'd certainly like to make it to Hershey."

And computers play a strong role in Wagner's plans this year. "Another big key that has helped us is our off-season program. We bought into a "Bigger, Faster, Stronger" program," he says.

"[Assistant Coaches] Matt Noll and Pappy Bolton brought that idea to me…I'm not a big computer guy, but we did go ahead with it. We think that's been one of the greatest things that have happened to us. The strength of our kids is just outstanding at this time as to where it was. Not only is our strength such that we can match up with people in class A, but we've gone to strength tournaments and been with quad A teams and triple A teams and our kids have actually outdone them."

Coach Wagner talks about this year's edition of the Dynamos team, the Springdale youth football program and how high school football has changed in the online video at: http://www.alle-kiskitoday.com/webcasts/1470