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Coach Gal starts 19th season with awesome win!

Coach Gal

Haverford High's Coach Gal loves to win - who doesn't? But he knows there's a lot more to playing football than winning and he is determined that the young men placed in his charge understand the importance of training and conditioning, teamwork and most of all, never giving up and always striving to do your best.
Joe Gallagher began his 19th season at the helm of the high school's football program this year with a shut out victory over Chichester High's team (40-0.) It was particularly sweet knowing that he is working with mostly new players. "A lot of sophomores and a freshman," he said, a few days before the game. He saw a lot of promise in this rebuilding year.
Wining is important, but, Gal knows there is more to winning than a score. Ask him about his coaching career at Haverford and he will tell you it's the 1996 team that takes top billing.
"Of course I remember going to the play-offs for the first time a few years back, and my Central League Champion team in 1995," Gallagher said looking up at the picture of that team that had a prominent place on the bulletin board above his desk. But it was the next year, "a real heartbreaking year" that Gal remembers most acutely. With only one player returning from the championship '95 team, the young players had battled at every match losing twice in overtime as well as suffering through a few very close losses.
"It was week 10 (of the season). Our record was 1-9 and we were scheduled to play West Chester East. Their record was 9-1. The game was a total mis-match," he said. "My team could have just folded"