200 WINS!

With the Vikings' win on Friday night over Clarksville, Northwood-Kensett’s Hall of Fame coach Dave Capitani joined the ranks of Iowa coaches that have achieved what most will only dream of, winning 200 football games.
Cap is starting his 32nd year as head coach of the Vikings and is now 200-111 in 11-man and 8-man football combined. Cap started his N-K career in 1983 as a new teacher and assistant football coach. When he joined the coaching staff, the school had never been to the playoffs but that all changed in his second year as an assistant.
The team earned a playoff berth for the first time in 1984 and after Cap took the head coaching job in 1989 he has continued and built on that tradition, turning the Vikings into perennial playoff contenders with 18 playoff appearances, including three state semifinal appearences. 
In recent years, as you all know, the football game at N-K has changed, but at the same time stayed the same as the team starts its ninth year playing 8-man football, where Cap has compiled a 49-28 record.
When I say the game has stayed the same, I mean that Cap has not changed the way he prepares his team to win, whether it be in 11-man or 8-man, he believes the key to winning in high school is to keep the ball on the ground.
“There were years when I first started that we used to throw the ball a lot. Bob Sager down at Britt used to have a run and shoot offense, now they run the ball more than we do,” Cap said. "Obviously the game has changed a lot over the years, but when I started you had to run the ball to win, but even today, if you look at the best teams year in and year out, I don’t care if it’s Valley or Don Bosco, the West Bend Mallards, the Madrids, they run the football because if you’re going to win consistently in high school football you have to able to run the ball, period.”
Talking to Cap you understand that he really doesn’t have anything against the passing game, it’s just easier to run the ball.
“It’s just too hard to find that high school kid that can throw the ball that well, but I can always find kids to run the ball, that’s why we do it,” Cap explained.
And while it’s the guy in charge that rightfully gets most of the credit, Cap is always quick to point out that he didn’t build this program on his own.
“I’ve been blessed with a very good coaching staff that has been with me pretty much from the beginning, Daryl (Love), Marty (Cotter), Steve (Hartman), they’re part of the reason I’m still here, along with guys like Ryan Parker, who is an unpaid assistant, but he’s someone that works his butt off for this program and the kids.”
Cap also thanked the community, the administration, all the volunteers, the kids who have played for him.
“It really takes more than just one guy obviously, from the time I came here the administration, the district, the kids, the community, have all supported us and what we do, it’s nice to get 200 wins but none of it’s possible without their help.”
But after 31 years at the helm, 200 wins, HOF, has he thought about how much longer he wants to coach?
“Yeah, I think about that,” Cap said. “At this point, I’m taking it year by year. Sometimes at the end of the season you might think it's time, but then the new season begins and you think, this is what I want to do, so, as long as I think I can contribute, as long as I haven’t lost the kids, I’ll continue to coach.”