Community Sports
Meet the new football coaches at Peninsula and Gig Harbor high schools
When the Friday night lights come on this fall, new coaches will be on the sidelines for Peninsula and Gig Harbor high schools.
The Peninsula School District recently announced that Jeff Scoma will be the new head football coach at Gig Harbor while Clay Mauro will have the same job for Peninsula.
Ross Filkins of Peninsula and Darrin Reeves of Gig Harbor resigned this off season.
The two programs have experienced some turbulence when playing each other in recent years, but the air tends to get bumpy when it’s filled with intensity. Both new coaches are hungry for success but both seek a relationship between the programs that involves a partnership for 51 weeks out of the year and a rivalry for one.
Clay Mauro
Mauro, 30, grew up in the small town of Ely, Nevada. He explained that he came from a childhood of humble beginnings, but overcame adversity and it shaped him positively.
Mauro was raised by a loving single mother who he describes as “the best” and a “rock-star mom.” He remembers living in multiple rentals as a youngster and always adapting to a new situation. Through those tough times, Mauro learned to be resilient and tough.
Clay Mauro. Photo by Steve Marcu
When he was almost 9 years old, his mother married a strong father figure type who gave Mauro a solid mix of love and discipline. Add in a dedicated coach who followed Mauro’s class from the junior high to high school ranks, and the combination was just what the young man needed to succeed. Plus it gave Mauro a career path as a teacher and coach that might allow him to help youth that were once like him.
Mauro played four sports — football, basketball, baseball and track — in high school and flourished. He stood out as a punishing linebacker for the White Pine County Bobcats. The Bobcats went undefeated in 2012 and reached the state championship game, where they lost to Pershing County. Mauro was all-conference all four years of high school, all-state twice and won the Nevada Football Defensive Player of the Year Award his senior year.
After high school, Mauro played for NAIA Concordia University in Seward, Nebraska. He was a three-year starter and captain for the Bulldogs. He earned All Great Plains Athletic Conference honors as a senior linebacker in 2015.
Coaching career
After college, Mauro worked as an assistant coach for the Class 5A Green Valley Gators in Henderson, Nevada. If one is not familiar with the larger schools near Las Vegas, they are serious about football and 5A campuses look more like community colleges, with expensive stadiums, 3,000 students and plenty of pressure.
Mauro quickly rose up the ranks from defensive coordinator to head coach. His coaching record stands at 10-15 over the 2021-23 seasons, but his teams played well, particularly on defense. His Gators led the state by allowing just 79.5 rushing yards per game in 2021. In 2022, his team led the state in interceptions and reached the southern Nevada sectional semifinals.
Clay Mauro celebrates a big play while coaching at Green Valley High School in Las Vegas. Photo by Steve Marcu
Mauro loved his school and players and was fine with the pressure of being a head coach. But when he and wife Emily welcomed a daughter, Dempsey, they decided that the sometimes harsh environment of Las Vegas was not where they wanted to raise a child.
Emily grew up in the Northwest and attended Stadium High School. Thanks to a family member who was connected to Peninsula High, Mauro called Filkins to inquire about an assistant coaching position. Filkins hired him as special teams coordinator for the 2024 season.
Teaching
Mauro has bachelors and masters degrees from Concordia University and hopes to also teach at Peninsula High School. In his spare time he spends time with his wife and daughter, enjoys digital arts, works out, plays an occasional video game and has recently become a smoking meats enthusiast.
“I am beyond honored to be named the newest head coach for the Seahawks. I am humbled by Ross Filkins’ mentorship, the leadership team at Peninsula for entrusting me, the district leadership of PSD, and all of the hard-working community here in Purdy, Washington for believing in me,” Mauro posted in a statement on X.
“I promise that I hold this responsibility with the highest level of priority. I will bring every single day an energy and a drive that will place PHS on the national map and develop our young athletes into amazing community members.”
Jeff Scoma
Scoma comes to Gig Harbor after assistant coaching stints at Bellevue High School and head coaching positions at La Connor and Stanwood high schools.
Scoma grew up in Peoria, Illinois, where he enjoyed success on the baseball field before attending Arizona State University. He earned a business finance degree in Tempe and later worked at Kellogg’s in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Jeff Scoma. Photo courtesy Gig Harbor football
Scoma and wife Sydney — another Stadium grad — decided to raise their young family in Western Washington. They have three adult children — daughters Gianna and Ally and son Luke.
He owns Soccer West, a popular retail soccer store in Tukwila, and previously owned the Seattle Team Shop. Scoma hopes to work as a career and technical education teacher and possibly as a substitute teacher at Gig Harbor.
In his spare time Scoma golfs, goes to sporting events with his family, and hangs out with their golden retriever, Wrigley.
Coaching career
Scoma led a resurgence at Stanwood High School in 2021, the first year he was as head coach there. He took over a program that had previously found only mediocre success and quickly turned the team’s direction with a Wing T offense that proved difficult to contain.
In that first season, Scoma led the Spartans to the Class 3A state tournament for the first time since 1996. The team finished 6-5 that season, including a 40-35 playoff victory over a talented Lincoln team that won the Pierce County League and included several Division I athletes. Stanwood lost in the next round to Metro League power Eastside Catholic, but the Spartans averaged 30.4 points per game on the season and had earned respect.
Jeff Scoma speaks to his Stanwood team before a state quarterfinal game against O’Dea. Photo by Olivia Vanni
The state appearance was only the third in the Spartans’ football history. Scoma earned the 2021 Wesco Conference Coach of the Year award.
The Spartans were even better the next year, compiling a 10-2 record. They opened the season by scoring 42, 30, 38, 35, 37, 69, and 42 points in victories before their first loss to Ferndale. Stanwood advanced to the state quarterfinals before falling to O’Dea, 42-21.
The season included a rivalry win over Arlington in the Stilly Cup (an abbreviation for the Stiliguamish River that runs through Stanwood), that area’s equivalent to the Fish Bowl. Stanwood snapped a 12-year losing streak in the series with a 37-6 stomping.
Scoma’s 2023 Stanwood team went 4-6 after losing a large group of seniors from the state quarterfinal squad. The Spartans started the 2024 season with three close loses by a combined of 17 points. After a close loss to Oak Harbor, the Everett Herald reported a postgame verbal altercation by players on both sides.
Scoma resigned a week later, but the school district said his resignation wasn’t related to the postgame spat.
“I don’t wish to go into the details at this time, but it was a quality-of-life decision that I made,” Scoma said.
Scoma returned to his coaching roots at Bellevue High School, where he had previously been a varsity assistant and head coach of the junior varsity teams. Since Bellevue was already in season when Scoma stepped down at Stanwood, he was hired as a consultant and offensive assistant. The Wolverines went 12-1 and advanced to the Class 3A state championship game before losing to O’Dea.
The Wing T
What offense has Bellevue used to win 10 Class 3A football championships since 2001? You guessed it, the Wing T.
The Wing T offense was developed by Pop Warner, a pioneer of the game. It is designed to utilize misdirection running plays and short passes. It can be effective, especially when defenses aren’t familiar with the system and often don’t have enough time during a given week to prepare for it.
In the Wing T, the quarterback typically lines up under center with two running backs side by side behind him. It employs a single wide receiver and a wing player who lines up close to the tight end. The wing player often goes into motion and offers three choices for the quarterback to hand off or pass the ball to, based on pre-snap reads.
Scoma’s offense chews up game clocks. A team using the Wing T keeps its defense fresh, unlike pass-heavy offense that can be off the field in seconds if passes aren’t completed. Plus the Wing T in a word is “confusing” for high school defenses to stop, especially if they become impatient, start guessing and get out of position.
Coach Q&A
I asked both new coaches a couple of questions. Here are their responses in their own words.
Gig Harbor Now: What are your thoughts about getting the head football coach job for your school and what attracted you to apply for this position?
Scoma: “First personally, my wife went to Stadium High School and we have some friends and family in the area in both North Tacoma and Gig Harbor, so I was always familiar with what a great area it was. We came up and toured around a bit before I applied, and we both really liked the beauty and feel of this town. On a professional level, the area has a really strong school district, with a great community that has a big love of sports. They are strong academically and Gig Harbor has had some sustained periods of success on the football field, with some really good players to work with. But I think when you combine those things with having parents that care, support and want big things for their kids in life, that is what you’ll need to build and sustain a winning culture and I think that’s all very possible here in Gig Harbor.”
Mauro: I’ve told a lot of people this, I really do think that I’ve been given a beautiful responsibility. And that’s what Ross Filkins emulated to me as well, that the job is a big responsibility. Yes, you’re the head coach, your name’s at the top of the paperwork and you get your name in articles but it’s more about being a liaison for success for the kids. You have this community behind you, that wants you not just to be successful but to be a community leader, a virtuous leader and someone they feel comfortable with sending their kids to. That’s what attracted me to this place, plus the tradition of the 11 as 1, that no player is bigger than the team. It’s really the team, the team, the team, and I love that.”
GHN: Do you have a message for your returning players and what are a few attributes or characteristics that they are getting in you as you become their new head coach?
Mauro: “Well, they’re going to get a energetic coach that will have some fun. But I will want my players to be knowledgeable, we’re going to expect discipline, I’ll want my players to have integrity towards the program and my players should expect growth. Growth is a big deal to me, it’s rarely just about results. If coaches say that, then they’re in it for the wrong reasons. I think the players should be excited about Peninsula being what it’s always been but with a modern twist and some young coach energy.”
Scoma: “Yes, my mission is to build champions on and off the field. Character is a really big deal for me. I am half Greek and we have a saying that character is your destiny. I want to build players that have character and are resilient that can handle things both on the field and in life. The core values that I have, and that I teach involve the word FIGHT and those letters stand for fearless, integrity, grit, heart and toughness. Those are our core principles, and I want our players to not only talk about them, but to live with them.”
GHN: How about your assistants are you looking to bring in your own guys, maybe a new staff, mix in some from the the old staff or a little mix of all three?
Jeff Scoma: “Great question, a number of coaches will be coming back from last year’s team, which is fantastic and I’m really excited about those guys. I do have a few openings and I’ll look to fill that up by using my coaching contacts in the South Sound. … I’ll be looking for the best candidates out there, that could be a previous coach, or someone that’s referred to me or maybe applies. I’ve even had a coach in the past that moved into the area that was new that was a fantastic coach, that I wouldn’t have even known about if we didn’t run an ad. So that’s how we’ll look to fill those remaining positions.”
Clay Mauro: “I love the entire staff here, when Ross decided to step away and this position came open I think both of our coordinators (offensive coordinator Jim Fairfield and defensive coordinator Joel Epstein) were really enjoying the latter part of their educational years. As much as they love the program and as good as they could have been as head coaches, I think it was important to them to have someone that could be there for a very long time and be entrusted and that’s what would probably be best for the community. Both of those coordinators will be retained and much of the staff will be similar. I am excited for the next steps on both sides of the ball and I don’t anticipate gigantic changes but at the same time we will be actively looking to modernize our program. Not that anything is wrong with what we’ve done but I always want to offer our kids the cutting edge.”