Winning never gets old. Neither does playing football.

Seneca Valley graduate Justin Winkler has been doing plenty of both this summer.

Winkler had not donned a helmet and shoulder pads since 2001, when he was a fullback and nose guard as a high school senior. He went on to culinary school and is employed as a chef today.

And he's back on the football field. Winkler is the starting right tackle for the Beaver County Vipers, a first-year semi-pro team in the United States Football Association.

"My father works with the coach of that team,"Winkler said. "The coach told him they were forming this new team and they were looking for some players.

"Dad came home one day and asked me if I wanted to play football again. I went to a practice to check it out and I've been there ever since."

Winkler was originally on the roster as a tight end. When the team developed a need for offensive linemen, he moved to tackle.

"He's a good tight end, but we had other guys who can play there," Vipers coach Mario Fattore said. "Justin volunteered to play on the line for us and he's been a mainstay there."

Despite being a first-year team, the Vipers have put together a 9-2-1 record and play in Akron, Ohio for the USFAchampionship at 1 p.m. Sunday.

Winkler is 6-foot-2 and weighs 230 pounds, just five pounds more than he weighed when he last played for Seneca Valley.

"You need guys like Justin to win games at this level," Fattore said. "He's willing to do what's best for the team. He just wants to play football."

The Vipers have about 40 players on their roster.

Despite not playing football — or any other sport — for five years, Winkler had little trouble getting himself into football shape.

"It wasn't very hard," he said. "I did a lot of running. After three weeks of practice, I felt like I was back.

"It took me a game or two to condition myself to play an entire game, but I'm fine with it now. Just having the chance to play this game again is a blessing, as far as I'm concerned."

The winning is gravy, Winkler said.

"We're not the most talented team in the league nor the strongest," he said. "But we play well together and everybody plays hard. Football's a team game and we're proving that.

"When I came out here for the first time, I thought play would be unorganized, that it'd be like backyard ball. After going to practices, seeing the sponsorships involved ... It was more than I expected."

Winkler plans to enroll in college soon and major in business management. He wants to continue working as a chef and perhaps get into hotel management down the road.

And he wants to keep playing football.

"As long as my body holds up, I'll keep coming back,"he said. "Next year, maybe I'll try another position. If they still need me at tackle, that's where I'll play.

"If I wind up with an opportunity at arena ball because of this, I'll certainly look at it. But, basically, this is something I'm doing for fun."