Joe Cattolico was the scholarly sort even as a wiry 10-year-old.

When his father, Butch, hustled off to coaching clinics, his only son was in tow, armed with a notepad and reassuring smile that conveyed he would absorb all the football data. Sure enough, young Cattolico would chart every detail of what the guest speaker was talking about – defensive schemes, trap plays, all of it.

These days, father and son still share that kindred blocking and tackling spirit, now as head coaches. Butch is a legendary coach at Los Gatos High School, having won his 10th Central Coast Section championship Saturday. His son shoots for his second title and first with upstart Pleasant Grove on Saturday against St. Mary's in the Division I finale at Pacific.

Joe Cattolico was a star quarterback in San Jose as a prep but ditched the shoulder pads for good when he went to Princeton to study history. He teaches the subject at Pleasant Grove.

Butch said his son could have been anything he wanted – lawyer, stockbroker, doctor. But he became a teacher and coach. Score one for pops. And score one for Pleasant Grove, with principal Frank Lucia saying, "We found a great one."

Cattolico has become an instant wow sort of coach in the region, having elevated a new program in its third varsity season to a City Championship victory Friday to Saturday's title game.

He has done it with simplicity and discipline and the poise of a coach well beyond his 34 years. And there isn't a bigger fan than the old man, who took a moment Thursday from his trigonometry class at Los Gatos to explain.

"My son, I hate to brag about him, but I can't help it," Butch said. "He's my poster boy for a guy who has done everything right. I know he's a lot smarter than me – I mean, he went to Princeton – and what he's done as a teacher and coach … I couldn't be more proud."

The feelings are mutual. Cattolico said his dad made him and molded him, as a father, a leader, a teacher and a coach.

"I was lucky as a kid," Cattolico said. "I got to spend an awful lot of time chasing my dad around at practice, being a ballboy, the coaching clinics. It was fantastic, a neat deal. And it's been an awesome thing for us. I was at his game on Saturday, and he'll be at ours on Saturday."

Where his father had the sure-thing gig at Los Gatos with years of championship success, Cattolico has never shied from a monumental challenge. He directed two San Jose teams to success after inheriting winless programs. He led Overfelt High to a section title in 1998.

"What he's done with dead programs or this new one amazes me," Butch said. "Of all the things I have accomplished, I wish I tried to build a team from scratch."

Cattolico did that in an Elk Grove Unified School District where Elk Grove High has set the standard for regional excellence. Pleasant Grove went 10-2 with its first senior class last fall and repeated as the Delta River League champion with a magical playoff march, despite a rash of injuries and key players who are not college recruits size-wise but play every down with purpose.

"He's very impressive," Laguna Creek coach Mark Nill said of Cattolico. "Joe's team plays like who he is: under control."

Cattolico, tall and slender and looking as if he could still run a mile without collapsing in a heap, serves a three-fold role as coach. He is the head coach, offensive coordinator and defensive coordinator. He uses no headset and carries no scoresheet, unlike seemingly every other coach at every level of play.

Cattolico eagerly accepts input from his assistants and praises them for their ideas and impact. Butch said his son is able to calculate plays and drives and schemes and ideas in his head because, well, he's a Princeton guy. Butch said he tried to be the head coach and offensive coordinator one year and gave it up.

In the stands Saturday, Butch and his wife of 37 years, Berit, will be with their 2-year-old grandson, Joe Jr., and daughter-in-law, Natasha.

"It's going to be great to have my dad there, my family," Cattolico said. My hope is to have the same relationship with my son, the same bond that I had with my father. I've had so many good memories."

With more to come.

Call The Bee's Joe Davidson at (916) 321-1280.