Mirror photo by Michael Boytim River Valley football coach Ed Dalton chats with Purchase Line coach Matt Falisec and West Shamokin coach Phil Parks at Heritage Conference media day.

PATTON — Ed Dalton will be at the helm of a high school football team for the 35th season this year back in the district where he started in 1988.

River Valley, an Indiana County school that is the result of a merger between Blairsville and Saltsburg, hired Dalton in April to be its new coach after he resigned from McGuffey after last season.

Dalton began his career at Purchase Line, which plays with River Valley in the Heritage Conference, and led the Red Dragons to 18 consecutive wins and a state semifinal appearance.

“I think it’s really cool to be back,” said Dalton while speaking recently at Heritage Conference media day at Cambria Heights High School. “This league, it’s very personal with every school. I think that’s exciting. We have a good bunch. I’m really excited to be back.”

Dalton also coached at Mount Pleasant, Trinity and Altoona.

“Every place is great,” Dalton said. “What has happened in almost every place I have been at, probably except for (River Valley) is that I have walked into places that were a little bit down, and I didn’t see the negatives. It’s hard to believe that anyone sees negatives at Altoona with their facilities and all those things. We just walked in and got to work.”

Under Dalton, Altoona won district championships in 1996 and 1997 — and went undefeated in the regular season in 1997, including a win over nationally-ranked Cincinnati Moeller.

“I still stay in touch with tons of former players and coaches from there,” Dalton said. “It was a great time. We won some really big games. We didn’t win the state championship. We came close. I still talk to (Altoona athletic director) Phil (Riccio) probably three or four times a year, and Vince (Nedimyer Jr.) being the coach means a lot to me, obviously.”

Nedimyer played quarterback for Dalton in high school, and Riccio was on his coaching staff.

“Every experience I have learned something from. What I learned (at Altoona) is that you have to be on top of everything because of how big it was,” Dalton said. “If you think about back then — we had two seventh grade teams, two eighth grade teams, two ninth grade teams, a sophomore team, a junior varsity team and a varsity team. That’s a lot of management that really served me well the rest of my career.”

Dalton helped Mount Pleasant go 12-1 and advance to the WPIAL semifinals in just his second season at the school. At Trinity, he led his team to the WPIAL playoffs in seven straight seasons after the program had just four wins in 40 games prior to his arrival, and at McGuffey he inherited a team with a 16-game losing streak and took it to the playoffs nine times and won two section titles while going 77-48.

“It’s been fun, exciting,” River Valley senior Dakoda Sprague said. “He’s been teaching us a lot of new things. He’s been pushing us hard to be the best players we’re able to be. He’s very into the sport. He has a love for it.”

River Valley was picked by the Heritage Conference coaches as the preseason favorite.

“We’re more than confident,” River Valley senior Brody Hutter said. “We’re all excited to get back. We’re excited for new opportunities and just want to play football. We’ve been more intense this summer and came at it with more physicality.”

Dalton has learned how to handle his players over the years to get the most out of them.

“He’s hard on everyone,” River Valley senior Brody Stuller said. “He doesn’t give out compliments easily and keeps us all humble. It’s been good for us. He has a bunch of experience, and we can trust him.”

A unique challenge for Dalton at this stop, as he tries to lead a sixth high school to the postseason, is to balance two communities of kids and families — those from Saltsburg and Blairsville, where River Valley’s school is located.

“The kids really get along,” Dalton said. “I think the older community still remembers where they went to school, but you can’t tell from the kids. We have a good bond. They are working hard and have been all summer. We have good numbers with almost 60 kids. I think we have an opportunity to be pretty good. As far as the kids, the merger has passed. If I was a Saltsburg alum or a Blairsville alum, I’m not sure that will ever happen, but I don’t think it impacts this team.”

Dalton signed a three-year contract with River Valley and doesn’t plan to stop coaching any time soon.

“I was going to move to Florida, because I was at that age where I thought I would coach in Florida,” Dalton said. “Then something happened within my family that I wanted to wait a year. I hung around with my grandkids and realized I really can’t leave. I want to hang around with them, and I don’t want them to just see me on vacation. (Coaching is) all I do. I don’t hunt. I don’t fish. I don’t golf. I work out a little bit, but even that’s questionable now. I enjoy coaching. I enjoy trying to develop a staff. I’ll probably keel over on the sideline, and that will be it at some point.”