After the last youth football game of Warrior Chiefs coach Dave Corbet’s career earlier this month, parents of the players say Corbet is leaving behind a cohort of boys shaped by his mentorship.
Corbet, who himself played under legendary high school football coach Harry Welch, has taken the Warrior Chiefs to the Super Bowl 10 times since 2015, not including 2020’s canceled season. Out of those 10 games, Corbet’s team won six of them. Corbet said 2025 was meant to be his last year, now that his youngest son is aging out of the program.
Amanda Telford, mom of Warrior Chiefs member Trevor Telford, said her son was developing some bad habits before he was transferred to the team for his final year of youth football. Since then, Amanda said Corbet has helped him grow in ways she never could.
“To see his 360 has been amazing … it’s very much, ‘You’re going to be held accountable, I don’t care how much I want to win,’” Amanda said. “He’s done it for so many years, and it works, and you can tell by his standings as a coach.”
What about Corbet’s mentorship style makes the difference? It may have to do with giving weight to his players’ choices – giving them the space to act with consequence, to have agency.
Amanda said Corbet runs a tight ship at practice, from procedure to behavioral consequences. Trevor’s former coaches, she said, would physically hold him back after a game to prevent him from acting antagonistic toward the other team. The expectation on Corbet’s team is different – you can act out, but you won’t play.
“Practice starts at 5:30 every day, because if you’re 15 minutes early, you’re late,’” Amand said.
Trevor himself testified to a psychological shift since playing under Corbet: He feels Corbet instilled something in him, that he now feels called to give his best effort, no matter the task.
“I feel like I give more effort on everything, mostly,” Trevor said. “Now when I see a team that’s maybe bigger, or maybe a team that’s maybe better, I think, ‘We’re going to beat this team,’ and that helps me through the game … that makes me more confident.”
And it’s not an attitude that’s exclusive to the field. Trevor said that other things, too, feel easier.
“I think it’s just going to make me a better person, make it easier for me to talk to people,” Trevor said. “I think he’s helped me more with life than about football.”
Amanda said the competitiveness of youth football in the Santa Clarita Valley is mismatched with a lack of sports-focused private high schools in the area. Parents spend thousands on their kids’ sports training – between proper nutrition, equipment and personal trainers – and when they do get into those sought-after schools, their daily commutes back into the valley can stretch well into the night, she said.
Because of Corbet, Trevor wants to go to one of those schools. Entrance exams and tours for those non-Santa Clarita Valley schools will loom large over the next few months, and while she wants to “dream with” her son, she’d be happy to send him to one of the SCV’s excellent public schools, she said.
Even if Trevor never steps foot on another football field after eighth grade, it’s possible the lessons learned under Corbet will stick with him for much longer – that he’s already been prepared for greater things, with or without it.
“Part of the experiences I had with my coach … (taught me that) football was a game that was there to teach us about life,” Corbet said. “What would make me the proudest is if I affected a group of boys in the last 10 years, if they’re more structured or more disciplined in how they handle their schoolwork or their careers.”
The Pacific Youth Football League Super Bowl game of 2025 wasn’t the one the Warrior Chiefs had hoped for: the team lost to the Conejo Rams by little more than a touchdown.
Composure comes easy after a win, but what a loss does to a team may be the bigger tell when it comes to evaluating how, and to what extent, a bunch of teenage boys have been influenced over the course of their season.
Based on their performance on a rainy Saturday, Corbet said the Warrior Chiefs should “keep their heads held high.”
“This was their first rain game … they weren’t complaining about being cold, or wet,” Corbet said. “They were just focused on doing their best … no one was pouting or putting their heads down.”
