NORTHAMPTON — When new Pleasant Valley head football coach Blaec Saeger looked around Northampton’s gymnasium and saw coaches and players from across the greater Lehigh Valley at the Second Annual National Football Foundation-Lehigh Valley (NFF-LV) media event on Tuesday, reality began to hit home.

“Something like this signifies that I am really the head coach,” said Saeger, who was joined by three of his players. “I’m here among all of these teams, and I have faced all of these teams being at Becahi (Bethlehem Catholic) and North (East Stroudsburg North).

“There always has been such respect for teams in the Valley. It’s just neat to be here and be a part of it.”

Pleasant Valley, with their head coach and a handful of players, was among 18 teams that was represented at the event.

Saeger, who was hired in late January, had been acclimating himself to his players for several months before the official heat acclimatization period began Monday. He previously served as the defensive backs coach at Becahi, before a long stint as an offensive assistant at East Stroudsburg North.

“It’s been going for a while,” he said. “We have been lifting and moving through spring ball. We finally got things going yesterday.”

Saeger admitted his first day as a head coach certainly was an altered start from his previous ones on the high school front.

“It was a different feeling,” stated Saeger. “I hadn’t been nervous coaching in quite some time.

“I didn’t sleep much, and I was there plenty early to get everything ready. I was standing out on the practice field and said to myself, ‘This is my show to run.’

“If something goes bad, everything goes on me now.”

However, Saeger soon put everything in its proper perspective.

“Once we got rolling, I realized that this is what I do, and the nerves went away,” he said. “It was a little different.

“But as soon as this first whistle blew, it was back to normal, and it was just coaching again. That’s something I really love to do.”

The Bears posted a 1-9 record last season, and had won only three games over the previous two seasons.

But, Saeger already has seen plenty of energy and optimism.

“We had all summer with these kids, and they have been phenomenal,” he stated. “They have been consistently working. I’m looking forward to next week when we can put the pads on and get after it.

“This week has been a really good taste, but it definitely will be different once you put the shoulder pads on. It gets to be work and it gets faster, hotter, and more intense.

“We’ll get to see what these kids are made of, and I believe we’ll have a good feeling about it.”