Dave Vestal

JACKSON TWP — Dave Vestal is taking a lot of great memories from his time with the Hopewell High School football team, but he’s hoping for even more at Seneca Valley.

Vestal, who was the head coach of the Vikings from 2001-14, was approved as Seneca Valley’s varsity coach at Monday’s school board meeting. He was chosen out of approximately 30 applicants and takes over for Don Holl, who resigned in November.

“It’s a great feeling to be named Seneca Valley’s head coach and I am excited to get started,” said Vestal, a McDonald resident.

Hopewell went a combined 1-17 the last two seasons, but Vestal’s tenure with the Vikings was a successful one. His 14 seasons as head coach included nine WPIAL playoff appearances, three trips to the WPIAL Class AAA championship game (2001, 2002 and 2009) and WPIAL and PIAA titles in 2002. His overall record was 92-59.

The Vikings last made the playoffs in 2012 when they reached the quarterfinals.

“It’s tough to leave Hopewell,” said Vestal, who remains a physics teacher at the school. “I had a great experience with the kids and administration. Beaver County is a special place, but I’m up for a new challenge.

“I got wind (of the opening at Seneca Valley) before Thanksgiving,” he added. “I drove up and fell in love with the place.”

Vestal was a position coach for Hopewell in 1995 and became the team’s defensive coordinator in 1996 prior to taking the reins of the program five years later. He’s always tried to instill a certain mentality with all of his teams.

“We were never the biggest team at Hopewell, but we were always physical. We took pride in our system and played in one of the toughest Class AAA conferences (Parkway). It’s going to be more of the same in the Northern Eight.

Holl led the Raiders to a 37-25 record and four trips to the playoffs in his six seasons. Seneca Valley went 2-7 this past fall.

“We scrimmaged Seneca Valley in the past and I know they had a lot of recent success,” said Vestal, 46. “I don’t have a lot of details on who is coming back next year, but I know there’s a lot of kids.”

One hallmark of most of Vestal’s Hopewell teams was a strong running game.

“I’ll have to look at the strengths of the kids who are coming back and that will determine our style of play,” he said. “My first order of business is to meet the players, check out the conditioning they are into and put together a coaching staff.

“I’m absolutely going to consider keeping some of the current assistants on my staff. Seneca Valley has a lot of great coaches and, with the help of the athletic director (Heather Lewis), I’m going to talk to them right away and see if they have any interest.”

Vestal hopes his work over the next few months will lay the foundation for a return to the WPIAL Class AAAA playoffs.

“I want us to be as good as we can be,” he said. “I’m going to dive right in. I’m looking forward to this opportunity.”