Don and T.J. Holl fill two different roles in each other’s lives.

The father and son, respectively, are the head coach and starting quarterback for the Seneca Valley football team.

It’s a relationship the younger Holl can take advantage of.

“I can talk to him about anything when it comes to football,” said T.J. Holl. “He’s played high school and Division I football (at the U.S. Naval Academy). He’s been through it all. He loves the game and so do I. That’s the biggest thing we’ve got going for us.”

T.J. Holl is coming off one of the best seasons for a quarterback in the history of the school. As a junior in SV’s spread offense, he threw for 2,098 yards and 12 touchdowns and added 821 rushing yards and 14 more scores as the Raiders reached the WPIAL Class AAAA quarterfinals.

For Coach Holl, who is also the team’s offensive coordinator, T.J. simply needs to fine-tune his game in 2014.

“This year, we’ll be looking for T.J. to improve on things like completion percentage and percentage of correct decisions made, which is something we chart. There’s plenty of room for improvement, but he’s had a great offseason.”

T.J. Holl grew up around football. His father was the head coach at Tunkhannock High School in Wyoming County in the late 1990s and at Cathedral Prep 2005-08. In between was a four-year stint as the offensive coordinator at Gannon University.

In football movies such as ‘Remember the Titans,’ there are scenes of children of football coaches watching game film with their dad. This rarely happened in the Holl household.

“I didn’t bring a lot of film home,” Coach Holl said, “but I’ve always had a pad around so I could jot a play or information down as it came to me. If you counted up the number of legal pads I’ve filled up over the years, it would turn out to be a strange number.”

T.J. and his older brother, Donny (now playing at Mercyhurst University), did spend a lot of time soaking in the football atmosphere on the practice field and as water and ball boys during actual games.

“We never pushed them in a certain direction,” Coach Holl said. “They played a lot of sports growing up, but both ended up gravitating toward football. When you have a common love for something with your kids, it’s something you can share with them.”

Just being around the game aided T.J.’s growth as a player.

“When we first moved here, I was in middle school,” he said. “While other players were thinking about the basic things, I can remember thinking about schemes and how everything fits together.”

Coach Holl’s first experience of having a son as his starting quarterback came in 2009, his first season at Seneca Valley, when Donny was calling signals.

“Donny was a late-bloomer when it came to playing quarterback,” said Coach Holl, “but it came out of need. In our offense, the quarterback runs a lot and Donny was a big and durable kid. His football IQ was high.”

As a junior, Donny Holl passed for 1,137 yards and six touchdowns and added nine more scores on the ground in leading the Raiders to the WPIAL playoffs. He returned as a senior in 2010, but had his campaign cut short by a knee injury suffered in a game at McKeesport.

“I was pretty rough on Donny,” admitted Coach Holl, “but I learned some lessons from it. Hopefully, I’ve grown as a man, coach and a dad.”

With both Donny and now T.J., Coach Holl has heard the claims that his son got the starting quarterback spot just because of who his father is.

“The goal is to win football games,” he said. “To do that, we have to put the best players on the field. T.J. has always been one of the best athletes in his class. He works hard and he wants to be the best. Coaches respect that.”

Don Holl can recall running spread formations at Tunkhannock over 15 years ago, but the brunt of his current offense at Seneca Valley was devised during his years at Gannon. The no-huddle scheme is a mobile quarterback’s dream.

“The best part is that you can make plays running and throwing,” said T.J. “Making the right reads, it’s a lot of pressure, but you get to experience everything the quarterback position has to offer.”

T.J. Holl will be fine with the numbers he puts up this season, so long as they help the Raiders win.

“I’d love to help lead this team to a WPIAL and state title,” he said.