Nine area coaches received a vote from either their peers or local media in this season’s voting for Altoona Mirror Coach of the Year.

Remarkably, any of those coaches legitimately could have been selected as the winner and it would have been tough to argue that it was unfounded.

Penn Cambria’s Nick Felus won by 21 votes over Hollidaysburg’s Homer DeLattre and 25 over Bishop Guilfoyle Academy’s Justin Wheeler.

Before getting to what Felus accomplished, what did the two closest coaches do?

Oh, just won the most games in a single season in Hollidaysburg Area High School varsity football history and won both a District 6 and PIAA Class 1A championship, respectively.

Felus, however, did a combination of both making school history and making a name for his Panthers in the state playoffs.

Penn Cambria, after losing in the District 6 Class 3A championship to Central in each of the last three seasons, finally overcame its nemesis in the District 6 semifinals this season before the Panthers knocked off Tyrone in the final and beat Somerset and Hickory in the state playoffs to make the PIAA semifinals.

Penn Cambria’s District 6 title and trip to the PIAA semifinals were both firsts for the school, and don’t forget the Panthers also finished the regular season unbeaten and beat Guilfoyle for the Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference championship.

A lot of all that had to do with Felus instilling his “Mountain mentality” which may have started as a catch phrase but became a phenomenon that worked to inspire and bring a group of kids together to achieve great things.

Seeing Felus find success after he struggled at Altoona is encouraging, especially knowing how much he puts into it, including basically sacrificing having any type of voice the entire season.

What DeLattre did went beyond wins. He guided his team through a player nearly dying at one of his practices — not to mention several other injuries to very good players, including Hunter Albright, who had been slated to be one of if not their best linemen.

Wheeler heard all season how Westinghouse, the previous PIAA Class 2A runner-up in each of the last two years, was going to run through Class 1A. When BG got there, the Marauders weren’t intimidated. They played their best game of the year, went up 28-0, and won easily while rolling through the two best running backs in the state in back-to-back weeks in Class 1A to win a state title.

The next two coaches down the list, Claysburg-Kimmel’s Chuck Kassick and Bellwood-Antis’ NIck Lovrich, also each received some first-place votes.

Kassick led a Bulldogs team that didn’t even have a home stadium just a couple years ago to a squad that left a packed brand new stadium proud week in and week out during a great season that ended with an Inter-County Conference North Division championship and a trip to the District 6 semifinals.

Lovrich probably had a few people question his job status after the Blue Devils went 2-8 in their first year in the LHAC, but a 7-3 mark this year and a win in the District 6 Class 2A quarterfinals quelled any of that talk and also helped make it clear that B-A can and will compete in the new LHAC after years of dominating the ICC.

Cambria Heights coach Jarrod Lewis was next on the list after going undefeated in the regular season, winning the Heritage Conference and capturing the school’s second District 6 title in a row — but this one came after the Highlanders bumped back up to Class 2A.

Lewis did it without a superstar — or maybe he did it with 10 of them. It’s hard to say, because he did such a masterful job balancing players and using Heights’ depth to his advantage and making certain that everyone got their time to shine.

Northern Bedford’s Garry Black got his Black Panthers back to the District 5 Class 1A championship game despite graduating possibly his greatest group of seniors he’s ever had in Loysburg, and Dave “Spank” Trexler opened the season with one of the biggest eye-opening triumphs in recent memory when Glendale upset eventual District 5 1A champion Windber, 14-7. Trexler helped the Vikings qualify for the playoffs once again before choosing to step away at the end of the season.

Tyrone’s John Franco got only one vote, but the Golden Eagles overcame an injury to their best lineman — John Stanton — in the preseason and worked around that all year. By the end of the season, the line — and the team — found its groove. Tyrone got 250 yards rushing from Seth Hoover in a blowout playoff victory over Forest Hills, and the Golden Eagles led Penn Cambria at halftime in the District 6 final before some turnovers caught up to them.

A reminder that only 14 coaches were eligible to receive votes, so for nine of them to get votes and ALL of them being well cast is a testament to the great job done on the gridiron by so many head coaches across the area that sacrifice so much of their time to give their kids the best chance for success.

Michael Boytim can be reached at mboytim@altoonamirror.com or 814-946-7521. Follow him on X @BoytimMichael.