Dobbins coach a mentor to his players

When SEPTA workers went on strike last November, Dobbins senior quarterback Kevin Butler was without a ride to football practices.

He, and many of his teammates, knew exactly whom to call: Mustangs coach Lou Zambino.

"If I need any advice, he always tells me to call him. He always comes to pick me up for practice when I need somebody to pick me up," Butler said.

These days, Zambino is taking his players on a different kind of ride.

Zambino earned his second Public League Class AAA title on Saturday, as Dobbins defeated Roxborough in dramatic, late fashion, 13-12.

The Mustangs can win a city championship Saturday when they face Catholic League Class AAA champion Archbishop Wood in the District 12 AAA title game at 4 p.m. at Northeast.

"It starts with 'Zam' and the coaching staff," Butler said. "He's done a great job since he's been here and led us to this championship."

The Mustangs (10-1 overall, 7-0 Public League) are on a nine-game winning streak, and they have scored 30 or more points six times this year. They also have held opponents to eight points or fewer in seven games.

Zambino has 38 years of coaching experience, including three titles in the Catholic League Blue Division and two in Public League AAA play.

"I've been in athletics my whole life," said Zambino, who also coaches basketball and baseball and is the school's athletic director. "[Coaching] came naturally to me. I enjoy it."

Zambino, with blue eyes and brown, almost-shoulder-length hair, walks enthusiastically. At 59, he has sparkling white teeth, which illuminate his youthful smile.

After serving as the quarterback at Southern in the late 1960s, Zambino enrolled at Temple in 1969, ready to play at the college level. Zambino switched from quarterback to wideout in his sophomore year, enjoying what he called a "tremendous career."

Zambino started his coaching career at Archbishop Carroll, where he coached his two sons and won Blue Division titles in 2000, 2001, and 2002. He continued to coach at Carroll after taking a job at Strawberry Mansion, where he taught for 18 years.

Since Zambino started with Dobbins in 2005, he has taken the Mustangs to the playoffs each year. His impact on players goes beyond the end zone, though.

"He turned me from a boy to a man," senior wideout Jamil Williams said. "There's a lot of chaos going on around the streets and stuff, so just by him having football here, it's a good thing to do, a positive thing to do for me."

Zambino, who teaches physical education at Dobbins, acknowledges his role as a life mentor for his players.

"A lot of these guys come to me with their everyday problems," Zambino said. "I always try to make them feel that what we do, the obstacles we come across in athletics, that somehow, someway, you can transpose it into your relationships, or your life."

Saturday's game will be a rematch of the 2008 city league championship, when Wood crushed Dobbins, 56-6. A win for Dobbins on Saturday would give Zambino his first city title as a Mustang.

"These kids, they listen; they bought into our schemes," Zambino said. "Things have turned out pretty well for us."