Football coaches never seem to stop coming up with new strategical approaches to the game.
Some of the old ones still work pretty well, too.
North Pocono proved that while winning its first District 2 title since 1993 in its fifth season under former Wyoming Area quarterback Greg Dolhon.
Playing tough defense, running off tackle and picking up field position advantages on the special teams were part of the entire season for the Trojans and were displayed Nov. 18 in a 21-6, home-field win over Berwick in the District 2 Class 4A championship game.
“It was physical defense and the running game,” Dolhon said of what got the Trojans past the Bulldogs. “Obviously, we like to throw the ball more and be more versatile than that, but the game did not really call for that.”
Although Dolhon brings his own personal touches to the coaching profession, the on-field persona his team has developed is no surprise.
Dolhon started his assistant coaching career under Paul Marranca at Wyoming Area and continued it with 11 seasons under his father-in-law, Jack Henzes, at Dunmore where he evolved to offensive coordinator in his third season.
“I learned from two of the best,” Dolhon said. “Paul Marranca and Jack Henzes are in the Pennsylvania Hall of Fame for football.
“If I can emulate what they do and do some things that are very similar, I’m proud to do so.”
The 2016 high school football season was a successful one for Dolhon and his “teams.”
Within minutes of winning his first championship as head coach, Dolhon had the update from Hazleton. He learned that Dunmore, with Henzes still leading the way and his best friend, Jeff Mills, calling the plays as a key assistant, had won its first-round state tournament game.
In a season when his alma mater was finishing on top of the Wyoming Valley Conference Class 4A Division and winning more games overall than any of the 16 WVC teams from District 2, North Pocono and Dunmore thrived. The Trojans and Bucks joined Scranton Prep as the three Lackawanna Football Conference teams that advanced to the state quarterfinals as the last representatives of District 2 before being eliminated with losses Friday night.
Dolhon, a 1989 graduate, spent two years as Wyoming Area’s starting quarterback on his way to playing football and baseball at Dickinson College in Carlisle.
“I decided to come home and finish my degree at King’s,” Dolhon said. “As soon as I came home, I went right into coaching.”
Dolhon ran the Wyoming Area freshman program with current Warriors varsity head coach Randy Spencer. For varsity games, he was in the press box on the headsets sharing observations with the coaches on the sideline.
“Obviously, you coach from what you come from and what you see,” Dolhon said. “The two programs I come from are successful, so why wouldn’t I copy those two programs.
“In the same respect, I think you have to be your own person. I’m not trying to be the next Paul Marranca or Jack Henzes.
“ … But I’m going to take a lot of what they did. What they’ve done is a great formula on the high school level.”
With Henzes approving, Dolhon and Mills helped the Dunmore offense evolve through the past 15 years.
“An I-offense, off tackle was a little bit different than what coach Henzes was doing,” Dolhon said. “So, I’m proud of the offense we developed at Dunmore and that I’ve taken to North Pocono.”
Dolhon chose not to pursue a few potential jobs earlier in his time at Dunmore before deciding North Pocono was the job to go after even though the Trojans had fallen on tougher times after being one Lackawanna County’s top programs in the 1990s.
The business teacher left a position at Lackawanna Trail after 14 years to both teach and coach at North Pocono, which had been winless in 2011 and was again in Dolhon’s first season in 2012.
When he returned to his home in Peckville, Dolhon had the support of his wife, Melissa, who has seen more than her share of high school football games and heard about the preparation for them for years.
Henzes, Melissa’s father, is the winningest active coach in Pennsylvania high school football with 421 wins in a half century as head coach, including 31 in four seasons at Wyoming Area to start his career in the 1960s.
“She’s been around the game for a long time,” Dolhon said. “She knows what it’s like and she saw her mother be a coach’s wife for a long time. Melissa is a person that’s behind me every step of the way.
“We talk about a lot of things and, when it was going rough early, she was a confidant and a person I could lean on, knowing that, hopefully, some day the good stuff would come. She went through the tough times with me, but I love her to death and we did this together.”
The first win had to wait until the third game of the 2013 season. That started an upward climb that brought the Trojans to the .500 mark in 2015 and a 10-4 season this year.
Dolhon, who waited until he was 40 for his first head coaching opportunity, looked a bit different than his mentors as the elation poured out as the final seconds ticked off the clock in the Berwick game, touching off a celebration for North Pocono at its newly revamped turf stadium.
“I try to be the person that I am,” Dolhon said. “I’m a very emotional person and I love being with kids and being emotional and having fun on the football field.
“ … That’s who I am. I love these kids and we’ve gone through an awful lot. For these seniors, we’ve had some tough times. To rise to this level was a very emotional time.”
