Moon Area High School football coach Mark Capuano announced his retirement yesterday after leading the program for 24 seasons and compiling a 143-108 record, making him the winningest coach in program history.

The 1998 Tigers offered Capuano his shining moment as a coach, winning the WPIAL Class AAA title with a 34-7 victory against nemesis Blackhawk in the championship game at Three Rivers Stadium. That team featured one of the most dominant defenses in recent WPIAL history, posting nine shutouts that season in the first 14 games before losing in the PIAA title game to Allentown Central Catholic.

Capuano, who retired from his position as a math teacher in 2005, was the Parkway Conference coach of the year in 1982, '94, '99 and 2000.

"The reason I got into coaching was because of the great men who coached me and influenced me positively," said Capuano, whose team went 1-18 over the past two seasons. "It is not always going to be a bed of roses, and everything is not always going to work out your way. I think that is part of learning. You learn from the good and the bad, and I just felt the time was right to give another coach a chance to see what he could do with the program."