Casey Maholchic doesn’t have to look very far to understand what Serrano football means to the people who surround it.
He has been part of the program for just about his entire life.
Maholchic played for his father, Ray, at Serrano in the early 2000s. When his father retired from coaching after the 2016 season, Maholchic took over for the 2017 season.
He enters this fall having spent a decade in charge, a milestone he greeted with perhaps the most Maholchic-esque answer possible.
“Old.”
He shrugged.
“Sore.”
Another shrug.
“Short.”
Awkward silence followed by a chuckle.
“What else did you expect?” he followed up.
The jokes are typical of Maholchic, who rarely offers a lengthy answer without slipping in something that makes the people around him laugh.
But there is a more serious reason he has remained so invested in the program.
When Maholchic took over, he wanted Serrano to be about more than wins and losses.
“Just to be able to create a product that the Tri-Community can be proud of,” Maholchic said. “And try to create good husbands, good fathers, good people in society. We can win a million games, but if we’re not turning out great individuals, we lose every time.”
Maholchic has continued to emphasize the connection between the football program and the community around it. He believes that creates something difficult to replicate.
“I love our area,” he said. “I consider us kind of a unique situation as far as being a one-school town.”
That connection is particularly visible on Friday nights.
Maholchic remembers playing in the same stadium where he now coaches.
“Oh, there’s nothing like it,” he said. “Some of these people that come and watch the games were there when I played way back in the day.”
The setting adds to it.
Serrano’s football stadium sits beneath the mountains, surrounded by pine trees, with the San Bernardino Mountains providing a backdrop that makes it unlike most high school venues. The sunsets in August and September look like a Bob Ross masterpiece.
But for Maholchic, the significance isn’t really about the scenery. It’s the history.
The stadium has hosted league championship games, playoff games, semifinals and finals. It has been home to winning streaks and difficult losses, celebrations and disappointments.
“All those things rolled into one,” Maholchic said. “That stadium has a lot of ghost stories.”
Those memories are part of what makes Maholchic’s 10th season meaningful, even if he isn’t interested in making a big deal out of the milestone.
He would rather focus on the players in front of him.
He sees a group that has been enjoyable to coach, a group he believes works hard and takes pride in being part of the program.
“A lot of those kids, I absolutely love,” Maholchic said. “They’re easy kids to root for. They’re a fun group of kids that work hard and do what we ask. At the end of the day, that’s all we can ask for them.”
Ten years into his tenure, Maholchic still measures the program by more than its record.
The wins matter. The championships matter.
But so does what happens after the players leave the field.
This article originally appeared on Victorville Daily Press: Entering a 10th season as head coach, Maholchic remains tied to Serrano’s roots
Reporting by Jose Quintero, Victorville Daily Press / Victorville Daily Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Jose Quintero, Victorville Daily Press | USA TODAY Network
