Larry and Tony Johnson stand ominously near their own goal line. Their opponent is ready to kick off to the tandem and the ball goes sailing to about the 13-yard line, right into the waiting arms of LJ.

Larry takes a quick step to the side and hands the pigskin to his younger brother Tony. The unsuspecting coverage team can do nothing but flail at the speedster as he takes the ball some 86-plus yards for a touchdown.

The two run to their sideline, and within seconds of making it off the field they are embracing each other and a third man.

No, the man is not Penn State football coach Joe Paterno and the field is not in the middle of Beaver Stadium. The two have just scored on State College Area H.S.'s Memorial Field and are intertwined in a hug with their coach, Dave Lintal.

The scene took place in 1997, Lintal's first season as head football coach for the Little Lions, which also happened to be Larry Johnson's senior season and Tony's sophomore campaign. It was what TJ referred to as his favorite memory of the man who helped mold his life as a high school student and prepare him for the fast pace of Div. I athletics.

"I think Coach Lintal prepared us very well," Tony Johnson said. "There were no times when I had this great game and got to sit out of practice. I had to go in Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and bust my butt to get ready."

If numbers tell the whole story, then Lintal must be doing a fantastic job preparing his players. A look at the Nittany Lions' website this year reveals nine of Lintal's old Little Lions, and 13 are on the team if you count the walk-ons not listed. Having nine players on one prominent Div. I squad is impressive in itself.

But numbers never do tell the whole story and Lintal's influence doesn't stop there. The 52-year-old coach is also a guidance counselor at an institution that had 80 percent of its 2002 student body go on to either four- or two-year colleges, and those same students received 14 acceptance letters from Ivy League schools.

Although Lintal's days as State College's head man may only add up to seven years, his experience with students goes back well before that.

Lintal's coaching career spans 30 years, starting with his time at Wellsborough H.S. where he began coaching in 1972. He would later coach for five years in the early 1980s at Mansfield University.

He actually was an assistant to then-State College head man Ron Pavlechko for four years before taking the reins in 1997. During those four years he was counseling, and he still does that to this day.

Lintal's old players say he knows how to get his athletes and students ready for their days after high school graduation.

"In life, he got me squared away in a lot of things that had to get done," Tony Johnson said. "He said a lot of things regular counselors wouldn't tell you if they didn't care. He is a guy who cares about people, not just athletes, but all people."

*****

Lintal's work keeps him close to the lives of his students and athletes. He says he loves his job, a job that takes every ounce of concentration he has.

"It's kind of like being a juggler," Lintal said, "there are so many things going on. It can be very rewarding. Kids face many obstacles today.

"It's not easy being a kid today. For those who think it is easy to be a kid today, they are nuts. There are so many directions to go and the opportunities are both good and bad. It's rewarding to help them any way I can."

It works out that Lintal usually acts as counselor to most of his football players. They seem to come to him even if he doesn't start out as their designated counselor; he just has a closer relationship with them because of football.

"It worked out perfectly," said Penn State redshirt freshman quarterback and former State College H.S. student Chris Ganter. "He would help me out with my schedule and I felt like I could talk to him. He seemed to always know what courses I would want to take. In choosing a college he was a good help because he saw it from the academic side and the sports side."

Lintal's work puts him in direct contact with the families of his players. It is inevitable that the closeness of his interaction creates tight bonds between almost all of the families he deals with. Two of the closest bonds Lintal has are with the Ganter and Johnson families.

"I've been fortunate to get to know families, those two in particular," Lintal said. "I don't think you can find two better families."

The fathers in those families, Larry Johnson Sr. and Fran Ganter, not only have that special family bond in common with Lintal, but they also have a rare insight on the man who has coached a total of five of their children, with a sixth who will play at State High next year.

"All of us here [at Penn State] are in literally hundreds of high schools," Fran Ganter said. "We see the marine drill instructor, the boss coach, the lackadaisical whatever-happens coach. I feel so fortunate that my kids had a chance to play with Dave. He is a disciplinarian. He is strong. He gets to know the players. I know when older guys get back into town that he is a guy they want to see. I feel very lucky."

Chris and Fran Ganter and Tony and Larry Johnson Sr. all describe Lintal as a teacher, a coach who gets his point across without screaming and threatening. Johnson Sr. says that although his sons may have been the stars of the team in the local papers, they were treated as part of the team and that the team, and not individuals, is what mattered to Lintal.

Johnson Sr. and Fran Ganter also get to see the abilities Lintal's players have once they get to University Park. They know how well Lintal's former players respond at the Div. I level.

"The kids who come from there are very well-coached," Johnson Sr. said. "The kids are here a lot and have an opportunity to see us. State College kids have an advantage because they can see us more, see us in person, and understand what the program is about."

The connection between the Little Lions and the Nittany Lions may add to Lintal's relationship with the Ganters and Johnsons, but it is not the most important one to them.

"He's been at my house, been in my life ever since he came to State College," Johnson Sr. said. "He gave great advice and we always go back to him. It is an honor and a blessing for him to be in my life."

Lintal looks at it as an honor for him to be associated with the two families. His family, which consists of sons Marc, 25, and Matt, 22, and wife Debbie, had so much interaction with the Ganters and Johnsons because they also had children of comparable ages.

"That is what makes it more special," Lintal said. "It's not just a teacher, coach, counselor relationship."

*****

It's a Wednesday morning, but you wouldn't know that by Lintal's demeanor. On a day often referred to as hump day because of the grind midweek can take on the masses, Lintal is at ease. His blue button-down shirt is loose-fitting, matching his deep and inviting voice.

He is in his office, holding a picture from the senior prom of his first year as head football coach. In it is a group of wonderfully talented ex-State College athletes, including Jon Ganter and ex-Penn State baseball player Chris Wright. There in the lower left corner of the photo is a young man smiling bigger and brighter than everyone else.

Surprisingly, it is the same man who, during his dash toward the Heisman Trophy this season, called himself the nastiest running back in America -- Larry Johnson.

"Larry truly was a special kid," Lintal said. "Looking at Larry you could tell he had athletic ability, but the things that set him apart from other good kids is his attention and dedication. He never knows what half speed is. What Fran is saying I've been saying before. I always thought he would be my first to play in the pros."

As Lintal puts down the photo a smile almost as big as the one LJ is donning in the photo luminates from his face.

"He is going to be a rich man in a few weeks," he says of Johnson.

The Johnson family knows that some of the credit for that goes right back to Lintal.