John Millea: Must not and did not miss a beat

Glencoe is the kind of town where football means much more than football. For instance, it means food, too. Friday nights begin with a $3 pregame pork chop at the field and end -- or do they? -- when you walk to the car and find two flyers stuck under the windshield wipers: one advertising the postgame $4.95 pizza and pop buffet at the Pizza Ranch and one bragging about the $6 burger, fries and pop deal at Lindy's Café.

Scott Tschimperle knows about all the traditions, gastronomically as well as athletically, at Glencoe-Silver Lake. He played football at Silver Lake High before graduating in 1985, became an assistant coach there and remained on the staff when Glencoe and Silver Lake merged in 1994.

But this year is different for Tschimperle, as it is for a whole bunch of players and followers. The Panthers won the past two Class 3A state championships with Dave Dose yanking on the coaching reins and a talented cast of 2008 graduates pulling much of the load. The changes began last fall when Dose announced his retirement, and then the class of '08 walked away with diplomas in hand. (Fact: The Panthers scored 56 points in last year's state championship game, and seniors accounted for 48 of them.)

When Tschimperle (pronounced SHIMP-er-lee) was named the new head coach, he began thinking about the shoes he was stepping into.

Pressure? From the day Tschimperle was promoted from offensive coordinator, everybody in town has been asking him about pressure. Two days before Friday's season opener against Hutchinson, that question was raised for about the millionth time.

"Right now I don't feel pressure," he said. "This head coaching thing is just a title; we're all doing the same things we did before. It's not broke, and I'm not going to try and fix it."

But after Glencoe-Silver Lake rolled to a convincing 20-7 victory over Hutchinson, Tschimperle, 42, wasn't afraid to admit that pressure was indeed felt ... at least a little.

"I wanted this one bad," said the special education teacher. "You're playing on your home field and in front of these fans, the greatest fans in the world, and the way our defense played and the way our offense came out and played ..."

Then the coach hesitated for just a second. "It all goes to the kids," he said, smiling. "They got me this win."

Confirmation came from senior linebacker Tyler Lang, part of a step-it-up defense that kept Hutchinson in a hole all night.

"We wanted to get a good 'W' on the board for Tschimperle right away because we knew there was a lot of pressure on him," Lang said.

Dose retired as an elementary teacher a year ago and now works as a substitute teacher and volunteer Panthers football coach. His youngest child, Brian, is a sophomore who plays quarterback and linebacker on the junior varsity. Two and a half hours before the varsity kicked off Friday, Dose sat in the stands watching Brian play and chatting about game days.

"I feel the same as I did when I was the head coach," he said. "And I don't like that feeling. I'm still as nervous and edgy as ever. I guess that feeling's ingrained."

So are actions. Dose, 56, watched the varsity game from atop the press box, but at halftime he was in a more familiar spot, standing in front of the team and explaining defensive football as he drew circles and lines on an erasable white board. The jargon -- "Sam ... Will ... Monster ... B gap ... crush ... stay flat" -- flowed as if he had never left.

Dose is more vocal than Tschimperle, or as senior running back Mitchell Nowak explained after rushing for two touchdowns against Hutchinson, "Dose's a screamer and a yeller. Tschimp seems to get right to the point and he knows what he's talking about. So does Dose, but he's a little feistier."

Tschimperle was the picture of calm throughout his first game day as leader of the Panthers. He mowed his lawn, spent time with his four kids and arrived at school at 3 p.m. "He said he wouldn't be here until 4," joked assistant coach Dean Schwirtz.

Before the team took the field, Tschimperle's speech was calm and brief. The marquee statement: "This is where it starts."

On the other sideline, Hutchinson coach Andy Rostberg didn't anticipate any surprises, and none came as the game played out. "I think they'll probably try to keep as much consistency as they can, with all the success they've had over the years," he said.

Rostberg played quarterback at Hutchinson in the early 1980s, and he remembers the Tigers winning a big playoff game against St. James ... that St. James team was coached by a guy named Dose.

"It's hard to replace good people, whether they're players or coaches," Rostberg said. "And Dave is a great coach."

And the Panthers remain in good hands, a fact that's as easy to swallow as a juicy, $3 pork chop.

John Millea • jmillea@startribune.com