The former head football coach for Tomales High School, Leon Feliciano, will be inducted into the Marin Athletic Foundation Hall of Fame on Nov. 5. “I’m shocked and honored at the same time,” said Mr. Felicano, who helmed the Tomales Braves for 19 seasons from 1996 until 2014. During that time, the Braves achieved some of the their greatest feats, including three North Coast Section championship wins and six North Central League II titles highlighted by a 38-game undefeated streak. 

In 2008, Mr. Feliciano helped facilitate the installation of stadium night lights on the team’s Andy Azevedo Memorial Field. “Everybody looks quicker and faster under the lights,” he said. 

The San Francisco native played nose guard for San Francisco State University’s football team at a time when it was packed with noteworthy coaches, such as Mike Holmgren, who led the Green Bay Packers to a Super Bowl Championship; Dirk Koetter, the current head coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Andy Reid, now the head coach for the Kansas City Chiefs.

The San Francisco native played nose guard for SF State football team at a time when it was packed with noteworthy coaches such as Mike Holmgren, who led the Green Bay Packers to a Super Bowl Championship during the 1996 season; Dirk Koetter, current head coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Andy Reid, current head coach for the Kansas City ChiefsAt Tomales, Mr. Feliciano was responsible for instituting the Double Wing Offense, in which there are more offensive players at the point of attack than the defense can uphold. Per his decree, Tomales also never kicked for the extra point after a touchdown and always ran for the riskier two-point conversion, in which Mr. Feliciano said his team had a 66 percent success rate throughout his career.

Speaking to the Light this month, he recalled his coaching debut in 1996, against Cloverdale High. The score was tied 12-12 with seconds left on the clock. The team went for two, as opposed to the conventional kick. “It better work out or I’ll be run out of town after my first game, man!” he said. The Braves pulled it off and thus began a new era for the team. 

19-year-old Willy Lepori played running back for Mr. Feliciano during his final two seasons as head coach. “It was a dream of mine to play for Coach,” he said. “I grew up in Tomales and I was always looking forward to it. He really cares about his players and he knew how to put the right player into the right position.”

Mr. Feliciano retired from coaching in 2015, citing a sharp decrease in enrollment. “I could see the writing on the wall,” he said. “The school has about half the students than when I started. We just don’t have that stereotypical ranch kid who’s a little aggressive and wants to play football.”

Following his retirement, the football team began playing games with eight players on each side of the ball as opposed to the traditional 11. Tomales High math teacher Dominic Sacheli took over as head coach and led the Braves to 5-4 wins overall in the 2015 season. 

Mr. Feliciano now teaches physical education at Tomales, where his daughter is a freshman, and watches his oldest son play the game he loves at Butte College. And though he said he’s done coaching football, he admits he sometimes gets the itch to return. “Who knows,” he said. “We’ll see.”