WI Football: Coach savors 200th victory

Perhaps because you tend to compare the numbers to basketball or baseball, it’s easy to overlook what a remarkable milestone 200 football victories is.

But just think about what a collective effort it takes to just win six football games in a season, a number most schools would consider a successful year.

Then think about the difficulty of doing that for 30 straight years. Then realize that if you do, you’re still 20 wins short of 200.

In his 39th year, Creston/Orient-Macksburg’s Dick Bergstrom earned win No. 200 last Friday, as the Panthers held on for a 28-27 opening-night victory over Chariton.

The 61-year-old Bergstrom is in his 33rd year at Creston, following stints of two years at Sibley, one year at South Winneshiek and three at Sac City. His career mark is 200-151 (.570) entering Friday’s game at Grinnell, and he is now the 43rd coach in Iowa history to have reached the milestone.

“It’s very satisfying,’’ Bergstrom said Monday. “A lot of people probably have a more impressive percentage. But we’ve done it here where it hasn’t always been a quote-unquote football school. We’ve just kept plugging away, and most of the time we’ve been pretty successful.’’

Bergstrom entered the 2008 season with 198 wins, but the Panthers endured a 1-8 struggle last year. That — and the way the fourth quarter transpired Friday — made the milestone triumph even more meaningful,

Creston led 28-0 with seven minutes left in the game. Amazingly, it had to turn away a two-point conversion try that would have put Chariton ahead by one with 4:26 left, and it had to sweat out a 52-yard field-goal miss with six seconds left that would have sent it to a crushing defeat.

“It sure wasn’t pretty,’’ Bergstrom said. “We kind of melted down. To lose after leading 28-0 would have been pretty devastating, but the kids hung in there.

“Last year, we’d compete for a quarter or a quarter and a half. It was a little scary on Friday because it was almost like, ‘Here we go again.’ But at least we did battle back. We always say before every game that we don’t care if it’s 7-6 or 49-48, we just want to win the game.’’

Creston turned it over on three straight possessions in the fourth, allowing the Chargers to score 27 points in a span of 2:28.

After pulling to within 28-27, Chariton was lined up for a potential tying kick, but then Creston jumped offsides. With the ball moved from the 3 to the 1½, Chariton decided to go for two. Nick Neitzel and Travis Kipp sacked Dalton Storm to keep Creston in front.

Chariton kicker Ian Luehring nearly made a 47-yard field goal earlier in the game, but he was short on his 52-yard try, allowing Creston to exhale.

“We played really well for three quarters,’’ Bergstrom said. “We had 408 yards of offense, but we also had six turnovers and 121 yards in penalties.”

For Creston, Luke Eblen completed 15 of 26 passes for 201 yards, with two touchdowns and three interceptions. Brody Jay ran for 134 yards on 21 carries with a score.

Like most successful coaches, Bergstrom said he’s never been in it to get to the next round number.

“I’m not trying to be Mr. Modesty, but it was not a lifetime goal to get to No. 200,’’ Bergstrom said. “I’m happy, but I’m happier for these kids because they’ve been working hard.’’

Bergstrom said he hasn’t yet given serious thought to stepping aside. He still enjoys teaching and he still enjoys coaching. Until something changes within that formula, he’ll continue to do what he loves.

“I do think kids have changed a little bit,’’ he said. “But I still love the game of football. When it feels like it’s not fun anymore, that’s when I’ll find something else to do.’’

Contact the writer:

444-1055, kevin.white@owh.com

« SPORTS04

Share