SACCO: Casto has come a long way

After one season, he was probably wondering what the heck he was doing in Greenville.

Finishing 0-10 can do that to the toughest of coaches.

Seven games into his second year, that little enclave just south of Staunton was probably ready to run him out on a stick.

Starting your second season 0-7 will do that to a community. (Just ask Waynesboro.)

Eleven years and two state titles later, Robert Casto could run for Mayor of Greenville (if there even is such a thing) and win by a landslide. We’re talking 250 votes to none, folks. (Give or take a few extra residents of this tiny corridor that, for all intents and purposes, can be missed with a blink of your eyes as you drive along U.S. 11.)

Oh, how far he’s come. Two state titles, countless players that still call Casto, “Coach,” years after playing for him and the adoration of a community.

His stock didn’t need to rise anymore. Heck, the man could go 0-30 the next three years and someone at the Pilot Truck Stop would punch you in the mouth if you uttered an ill word about the man. But, on Friday, his stock did go up and we don’t mean because he beat county rival Wilson Memorial 28-0. We mean, because with that win, Casto now has 100 victories under his belt at the helm of the red, white and sometimes black.

His record is a paltry 100-43 in Greenville.

He’s led the Gladiators to five district championships, nine regional appearances, two regional championships and, of course, those two state titles. Two state titles that proved, yes, sometimes this sour-faced coach trolling the sidelines does smile.

What we’ve known already is that he cares deeply for the players. Ask Casto about recent Virginia Military Institute graduate Tommy Lloyd and his face lights up. We know. We’ve seen it. During the basketball season, Casto walked up to the Riverheads cabinet of honor in the gym lobby and looked at photos of his past players. He smiled and said, “We have a different breed of athlete out here.”

He pointed toward a straight-faced photo of Lloyd and spun yarns about how this kid, against all odds, turned out the way he did.

He’s right, they are a different kind of athlete at Riverheads. But part of the reason is they have a different breed of coach at the school — and Casto is the microcosm.

Casto demands excellence. He demands the players meet the high expectations placed upon them every year.

“We don’t think they’re too high, though,” he said before the start of this season. “They’re not unreasonable.”

They’re not. All he asks is that the players listen and remember their roles, roles hammered into their heads when they first take the field as midget, junior and senior players for Riverheads’ Augusta County Quarterback Club program.

If you’re a running back for the varsity program now, chances are you were a running back when you were biting ankles.

Chalk that up to Casto too.

“We have good kids,” he said once to us, and probably countless times to others after that. “That’s the success of the program.”

And a football atmosphere unrivaled in Augusta County followed suit. The Gladiators take the field to fireworks. Every touchdown is celebrated by the Middlebrook Volunteer Fire Department lighting up its truck under the scoreboard and blasting its sirens.

“That’s what we tried to give this place,” he said. “It’s the excitement.

“It’s a big deal to be able to wear the red the helmet.”

And it’s a big deal to be able to play for Casto and, hopefully, win a state title for him.

You know, so you can see him smile. So he’ll speak your name like he’s talking about one of his own sons. So he can remind you, that he started his career in Greenville 0-17.

One-hundred wins later, those days never felt as far away as they do now.