It happened this year, but the turn-around of the Thiel College football program has been a work in progress.

And Seneca Valley graduate Chris Minton is one of the architects.

The senior defensive lineman was a four-year starter for the Tomcats who experienced his share of losing with the program. Thiel was 8-22 the past three years before finishing 7-2 this year.

This season marked Thiel's first winning campaign since 1991 and the Tomcats' first seven-win season since 1972.

"I was part of a freshman class that was brought in here to rebuild the program," Minton said. "There were 130 of us when I started. Only 21 of us are still here.

"But we're all three or four-year starters. The biggest senior class we had in my first three years was five."

Minton had 24 tackles and four tackles for loss this year despite playing on two bad knees. He had 48 tackles, 16 tackles for loss and six quarterback sacks his junior year.

Minton had surgery for torn cartilage in his left knee at the end of last season. He partially tore the ACL in his right knee during the third game of this year."I could have medically redshirted, but I wanted to go out with the class I came in with," Minton said."Our senior class was tremendous this year," Thiel coach Jack Leipheimer said. "We got the leadership and experience we've been seeking for so long."Chris Minton has such a great work ethic. He's a tremendous competitor. I have so much respect for all he's done here."Minton's play impressed his younger brother, freshman running back Steve Minton, who in turn impressed everybody involved with Thiel football."Chris played in pain every game," Steve Minton said. "We could all see it. But he was out there battling with us. He was such an emotional leader for this team."Steve Minton didn't start until the third game of the season, when fellow back John Dziurzynski went down with an injury.

The younger Minton wound up rushing for 935 yards - most yards in a single season by a running back in 100 years of Thiel football."I wasn't too excited about the record because it wasn't all that high," Steve Minton said. "My goal was for 1,000 yards or more. I set that goal at the beginning of the season."He maintained that goal even when he wasn't starting early in the year."He was pretty distraught," Chris Minton said about his brother not being named the starting back right away. "I had to convince Steve to come up here. He was planning on going to Robert Morris."It's such a family atmosphere at Thiel. There are no cliques. We're just one big family and I wanted Steve to experience that."Leipheimer is glad he did.

"Steve's maturity level impressed me," the coach said. "He runs hard, finds the holes and never got overwhelmed with his instant success."That's because he expected it."I always set lofty goals for myself," the younger Minton said. "I want to become the all-time rushing leader here. I want to break my own single-season record every year."Any running back wants to leave a school with his name atop the record books. I'm no exception."Minton had plenty of help up front. Two Thiel offensive linemen were named first team All-President's Athletic Conference. Another was named second team and sophomore lineman Ricky Gable, a Mars graduate, was named honorable mention."Not to take anything away from my brother, but we've had other backs here as good or better than him during my years here who didn't run behind the line Steve did," Chris Minton said. "You could drive a truck through some of those holes they opened up.""It was the best offensive line I've ever played with, that's for sure," Steve Minton said.

Gable is 5-feet-10, 26 pounds and already has 19 career starts under his belt.Leipheimer said Gable led the Tomcats' offensive line in knockdowns, a statistic the team keeps."He's a solid player with a nasty attitude," Leipheimer said. "He was always knocking a defender off his feet."Ricky is a very efficient lineman who makes few mistakes."The coaching staff has made few mistakes while restructuring Thiel's football fortunes.Eight of the team's 14 losses in 2002 and 2003 were by the margin of a touchdown or less."We've been competitive and we've had injuries," Chris Minton said. "It was just a matter of time before it turned around."While his playing days are over, Minton's Thiel football days are not. He will be a student assistant coach under Leipheimer next fall before graduating in January of 2006."Our best days are yet to come," Minton promised. "It's going to be a lot of fun."Two other Butler County graduates contributed to Thiel's success. Senior defensive end Jeremy Cypher (Knoch) had four tackles and 1.5 tackles for loss in a reserve role. Sophomore middle linebacker Jeff Wagner (Karns City) had 13 tackles and an interception wile playing behind first team All-PAC performer Robert Drake.