Bryan Wagner is returning home to Hilltop High School as new head coach of the Lancers football team.
The announcement came prior to the Sweetwater Union High School District completing the spring semester through online distance learning.
“I’m very happy to be back at my home school of Hilltop,” Wagner explained. “When I was there to meet with the team, it felt like I finally have made it home. I’m really looking forward to getting going, but I don’t know when that will actually be.”
The specter of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic continues to cloud the exact start of the 2020-21 high school sports season.
In the meantime, Wagner has been in touch virtually with the team through the Hudl and Remind apps.
Hilltop finished 9-2 last season in sewing up its third consecutive South Bay League championship. The Lancers received the No. 2 seed in the Division III playoffs but dropped their opening matchup in the quarterfinal round, 34-33, to the visiting seventh-seeded Brawley Wildcats.
The Lancers missed a potential game-winning field goal as time expired.
Wagner assumes command of the program from Drew Westling, who served as head coach of the Lancers for four seasons. Westling, who left the program to pursue other coaching opportunities, compiled a composite 28-18 record while making four playoff appearances.
The Lancers advanced to the Division III semifinals to cap the 2017 season.
“Drew did a great job over the last few years of winning,” Wagner said. “I want to continue that into a tradition of winning and make it a goal to go further in the playoffs. I know this year is going to be tough being in a new league, but I think we will be able to compete.
“It was a very hard decision to leave Sweetwater because I love those kids.”
Wagner graduated from Hilltop in 1980.
“I pretty much played every sport growing up,” he said. “I started with soccer for the YMCA at the age of 5 playing with my older brother, Randy, who is two years older. He actually was a better all-around athlete than me.
“I played Little League baseball, basketball at the Boys Club, but I never played tackle football, just flag. I went pretty far in punt, pass and kick.”
Wagner only played two years of varsity football with the Lancers but played all three years of varsity soccer and baseball, earning all-league honors in all of them. He was All-CIF in football and second team in soccer and baseball.
“My best memories of Hilltop, when I played there, was being a part of the turnaround and going to the playoffs three years in a row,” Wagner said. “My senior year we went 10-0 but lost in the first round of the playoffs. Oh, and I vaguely remember kicking a long field goal against Castle Park.”
That “long” field goal in the game against the Trojans (Oct. 26, 1979) measured 53 yards to set a section record at the time.
Wagner went on to play collegiate football at Cal Lutheran and Cal State Northridge, and then enjoyed a rather extended nine-year career in the NFL.
He was on the Chargers team that advanced to the 1995 Super Bowl.
In that game against the 49ers, Wagner set a Super Bowl record by averaging 48.8 yards per punt.
For the 1994 season, he appeared in 14 games for the Chargers, averaging 41.6 yards per punt.
Wagner also played two years for the Chicago Bears (1987-88), two years for the Cleveland Browns (1989-90), two years for the Green Bay Packers (1992-93) and two years for the New England Patriots (1991, 1995).
He also was an off-season or practice squad member of the Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants, St. Louis Cardinals, Denver Broncos, New York Jets and Detroit Lions.
His NFL career included 106 games, including nine playoff games. He averaged 40.8 yards per punt and 58.5 yards on kickoffs.
He completed his only pass attempt for three yards and rushed twice for no gain.
He played quarterback and punter at Cal State Northridge (1982-84). He set school records for punts (202), punting yardage (8,762) and average (43.4).
Wagner’s longest NFL punt traveled 71 yards; he nailed a 78-yard punt while at Hilltop (Oct. 1, 1979).
Wagner also holds the section record for most field goals kicked in consecutive games (eight in 1979).
“Playing in the NFL was a dream come true, but it was very tough to continue to make a team year in and out,” he explained. “I made it a point to make sure that I worked harder than anybody else. The NFL lifestyle is pretty nice, but I was always on edge about my performance on the field. One bad game or bad punt and there was potentially somebody there to take my place.
“Playing for the Chargers in the Super Bowl was something I never imagined would happen. Being on that stage, playing for the team I grew up watching and rooting for was incredible. It made all those hours on the football field at Hilltop, patches of grass wherever I could find them, and in the weight room all worth it.”
Wagner, who compiled eight wins in four seasons coaching at Sweetwater, is hoping for renewed fortunes at his alma mater.
“I’m not sure when we will be able to start because of all this craziness right now, but I’m ready,” he said.
Lancers to make the best of it as new season, era dawns
Bryan Wagner has played with and against the best at multiple levels of football in the United States: Hilltop High School where he set a CIF kicking record, California Lutheran University and CSU Northridege at the collegiate level and professionally for 11 teams over a 12-year span, including the hometown San Diego Chargers, in the National Football League.
But the former Lancer enters the 2020-21 high school season with a lot of questions to answer about his new team because of the lack of being on campus because of the ongoing COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic.
“I’m not really sure of what we have because all we have been able to do is condition and only for the last week,” Wagner explained. “The only time I have met the players was during a brief meeting after I took over the program in March. Everything else has been online.”
From his limited contact thus far, a few players have caught his eye, however.
Top returners include senior offensive lineman Esteban Collins and Michael Rodriguez, senior linebacker Rudy Lucero and senior tight end/receiver Jacob Zimmermann.
Lucero recorded 56 tackles, including 18 tackles for a loss, and seven sacks in 10 games last season on defense to rank third on the team in sacks and sixth on the team in tackles.
Zimmermann was credited with seven catches for 38 yards and one two-point conversion in five game appearances on offense last season.
As for impact newcomers, Wagner said he remains ready to see who steps forward.
Hilltop impressed last season with a 9-2 overall record and a trip to the San Diego Section Division III quarterfinals, ending its season with a 34-33 upset loss to seventh-seeded Brawley.
Wagner admitted the team’s move up to the Metro-Mesa League will present its share of challenges after winning three consecutive Metro-South Bay League championships.
“We need to continue to go fast pace on offense, but have to be better on defense,” Wagner offered. “We need to do well in our non-conference games, so we gain have some momentum going into our league. I expect to compete to the best of our abilities in league, which has realigned and will be tough. From what I can gather, we don’t have a lot of returning starters.”
The 2020-21 Lancers may have to make their own history.
HILLTOP LANCERS FOOTBALL SCHEDULE
December
30: Bonita Vista/Mar Vista at Hilltop, 6 p.m. (scrimmage)
January
8: Hilltop at El Capitan, 7 p.m.
15: Chula Vista at Hilltop, 6:30 p.m.
22: El Capitan at Hilltop, 6:30 p.m.
29: Hilltop at Morse, 6:30 p.m.
February
5: Hilltop at Escondido, 7 p.m.
12: Otay Ranch at Hilltop, 6:30 p.m.
19: Eastlake at Hilltop, 6:30 p.m.
26: Olympian at Hilltop, 6:30 p.m.
March
5: Hilltop at Mater Dei Catholic, 6:30 p.m.
12: Hilltop vs. Bonita Vista at Southwestern College, 6:30 p.m.
