One is a high school football coach who travels on weekends to see his stepson play in the NFL, but also takes his special-needs daughter out to dinner every Thursday night. The other is a coach who rushes home from practice to wrestle with his 3- and 1-year old sons, and sometimes watches game film with the 3-year-old. One is a coach at a WPIAL Class AAAA school who also works as an athletic director. The other is a coach at a Class AA school who works as a physical education teacher. Terry Smith and Nick Kamberis both coach in the WPIAL, but live in different coaching worlds --and not just because of their schools. Smith, 40, is in his eighth season as coach at Gateway High School, his alma mater. Kamberis, 37, is in is 10th year at Keystone Oaks. Smith and Kamberis let the Post-Gazette in on their life for a week -- from Oct. 17-23. You'll see how one coach had his team looking past one opponent and ahead one week to a big game. You'll hear Smith talk about how his daughter has a positive effect on his life. And you'll hear about how Kamberis had to deal with his son being taken to the hospital the day of Keystone Oaks' big game. Here are their countdown-to-Friday stories.

The night before, Gateway ran its record to 7-0 with a 35-17 victory against Erie McDowell. Smith decides to give the team off Saturday and Sunday. Smith arrives at his office at Gateway's Antimarino Stadium at 7 a.m., and has a coaching staff meeting at 8. Smith and his staff don't watch film of their next opponent (Connellsville). Instead they watch film of McKeesport, one of the top teams in the WPIAL and the Gators' opponent in two weeks. Connellsville, by the way, is winless and has been getting trounced by opponents.

Smith leaves the stadium at 11:15, and he and his wife, Alison, have a 1:20 p.m. flight to Jacksonville. Smith's stepson (Alison's son) is Justin King, a Gateway graduate and second-year defensive back with the St. Louis Rams. The Rams play the Jacksonville Jaguars the following day.

Smith and his wife go to the Rams' hotel in Jacksonville, spend some time with King and pick up their tickets. Smith has his laptop computer with him and, when they return to the hotel, Smith watches some more McKeesport footage on DVDs.

"We want to get a jump on McKeesport, because obviously the winner of that game is probably going to get the No. 1 seed for the playoffs and also the conference championship," Smith said.

Kamberis' day, meanwhile, started with him closing the swimming pool at his house at 9 a.m. In mid-October?

"Because I'm pretty much in it every night. I was just in it last Tuesday," he said.

Kamberis attends Keystone Oaks' junior-varsity game at 1 p.m. In the evening, he watches the movie Race To Witch Mountain with his wife, Megan, and their sons -- 3-year-old Kooper and 1-year-old Deacon.

After that movie, Kamberis and Kooper watch some game film of Sto-Rox. Keystone Oaks has a big game with Sto-Rox in six days.

In the morning, Smith e-mails a practice schedule for the week to his offensive coordinator (John Ruane) and defensive coordinator (Mike Booth).

He and his wife then watch the Rams lose to Jacksonville, 23-20, and spend about 25 minutes with King after the game. Of the Rams' first five games, Smith and his wife have attended three.

"Justin is doing well, and he's just learning how to be a professional football player," Smith said. "But the losing is extremely tough on him. When we played at Gateway, we didn't lose much. Then he played at Penn State and wasn't accustomed to losing there, either. This losing has been mentally draining for him."

Kamberis goes to his office at school at 11:30 a.m. After coaches meetings and watching film with players, Kamberis doesn't get home until 8:30.

Smith flies back from Jacksonville in the morning and immediately goes to the Gateway athletic office. Fall sports are wrapping up at the school, and he is busy getting things ready for winter sports.

Later that day, Gateway spends the entire practice getting ready for McKeesport. Smith's idea is to worry about Connellsville later in the week.

Kamberis awakens every school day at 6:32 a.m. "Not 6:30," he says, with a laugh. "I don't know. I'm just weird with some things."

After his regular morning coffee with assistant coach Jeff Sieg, Kamberis teaches seven classes. Kamberis and his players watch film of Sto-Rox for 45 minutes immediately after school. Practice ends at 6 p.m., but Kamberis watches more Sto-Rox film and gets to his Castle Shannon home at 7:30.

His wife makes him his favorite dinner -- ground meat with hamburger gravy and vegetables, over mashed potatoes.

"My wife is tremendous. She's the best football wife. When I'm at school, she wants me to coach," Kamberis said. "When I come home, she wants me to be a dad for an hour or so. That's when I wrestle with the kids. Tonight, we played some football, I camped out a little with them and I read some books."

Megan Kamberis also is Keystone Oaks' dance team instructor.

Once again, Gateway spent practice preparing for Mc-Keesport. Connellsville still is an afterthought. On many Tuesdays, Smith will have a meeting with his staff after practice. But he canceled this one and went to meet his wife at a Lowe's store.

"We're looking for a new stove," he said, with a laugh. "Of course, we didn't get one. It's not that simple. I could walk in the first store and pick one out, but, with my wife, we'll have to still go to Sears, then Home Depot and wherever else because don't you know you have to compare? I saw one I liked at Lowe's. I don't need to see any more."

At Keystone Oaks, the Eagles spent some extra practice time working against the spread offense, which Sto-Rox uses. Sto-Rox has quarterback Paul Jones, a Penn State recruit, and receiver Drew Carswell, a Pitt recruit.

"It's hard to simulate those guys in practice," Kamberis said.

Kamberis arrives home at 8 p.m. He receives phone calls from Chris Jacobsen and Myles Caragein, two former Keystone Oaks players now playing at Pitt.

"There are a lot of things that aren't fun when you're a head coach," Kamberis said. "But when guys like that call you up just to talk or say good luck, that's pretty nice and kind of makes it all worthwhile."

As athletic director, Smith is getting things organized for the Gateway boys' and girls' soccer teams' playoff games. At football practice, Gateway finally starts preparing for the Connellsville game only two days away.

"The kids were getting a little confused going from McKeesport to Connellsville," Smith said.

At Keystone Oaks, running back-defensive back Jordan Maddox, who has close to 900 yards rushing, injures a hamstring and his status for Friday is uncertain. This has Kamberis a little uneasy.

Gateway usually practices lightly on Thursdays, going without shoulder pads. But they practice in full pads this day.

"Just because of the way Wednesday's practice worked," Smith said.

There were no staff meetings after practice. Smith takes his 10-year-old daughter, Haley, to dinner at Outback Steakhouse in Monroeville. This is a weekly ritual during football season. Haley Smith has Down syndrome.

"She's the one person who keeps me grounded," Smith said. "I got inducted into the East Boros Hall of Fame last week, and I said in my speech that she keeps me so grounded. She has taught me the value of patience. I think she has made me a better coach, too."

At Keystone Oaks, the Eagles go through a light practice, and Kamberis heads home at 5:30 p.m. His youngest son, Deacon, is starting to feel ill.

Smith tries to stay busy in the athletic office because he doesn't like to think about football so much, especially on game days. Gateway's team always watches a movie together after school on game days, and this time it's "Men of Honor." After the movie, there is a team dinner in the cafeteria, bought by the football boosters. The main course is Salisbury steak.

Kamberis has a Friday tradition where his wife and two sons come to school and eat lunch with him in the weight room. But Kamberis' 1-year-old son, Deacon, is ill and doctors suggest he be taken to Children's Hospital. So Kamberis' wife, Megan, takes Deacon to the hospital and tells her husband she will call him later with an update.

"Deacon had been real congested and was having a little trouble breathing, so the pediatrician thought we should take him to Children's," Kamberis said. "I didn't go to the hospital. My wife told me she'll call right away if I need to be there. They got there at 1, but I didn't hear anything again from them until 6:55. It was pretty stressful.

"But they called and said everything would be all right. They were going to give him some medicine and decided they should keep him overnight just for observation."

The games for Smith and Kamberis could not have been more different.

It turns out Smith was correct in his assessment that Gateway did not need to practice much for Connellsville. Gateway sets a school record for points and crushes Connellsville, 76-0. Gateway scored the first seven times it touched the ball. The starters did not play past the first quarter and 11 players scored touchdowns.

"It wasn't a fun game. I didn't enjoy it at all," Smith said. "Sometimes, as adults and parents, you don't know what to do. I didn't know what to do with the score. I can't tell my kids to take a knee. We had kids playing running back who never played there before. We had kids playing a lot who never played. I just didn't know what to do."

At Keystone Oaks, Kamberis admits going through pregame warm-ups and his pregame speech with his son, Deacon, on his mind. The game is a thriller, with Keystone Oaks winning, 27-20, but the outcome was not decided until the final few seconds when Sto-Rox turned the ball over on downs deep in Keystone Oaks territory.

After Gateway's game, Smith attended senior night festivities in the school cafeteria and went home immediately at 11:30.

Kamberis went home immediately after the game. His wife stayed with their son at the hospital while Nick stayed at home with the couple's older son.

"I didn't sleep at all," Nick Kamberis said. "With the game, and my wife and son not being home, I just stared at the ceiling all night. It was a great night, but also tough."

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