Mike Papoccia isn’t the only member of his family to win a football championship this past season.

Andrew Papoccia, 30, Mike’s son and a star running back at Newman in the late 1990s who later played at Illinois State University, coached the Parma Panthers of the Italian Football League to a championship this past weekend. The Panthers won their second straight IFL title with a 75-62 decision over the Bologna Warriors on Saturday.

“It was pretty wild,” Andrew said. “The score was more like a basketball game.”

Andrew has been in Italy since 2005, after leading Newman to second place in the 1998 Class 1A football playoffs and a four-year run playing football at Illinois State. He then played one year for the Peoria Pirates of the Arena Football League before beginning his European adventure.

A coach named Todd Ferguson, who served as a recruiter for the Italian Football League, made random phone calls to players of Italian descent to gauge their interest in playing in the league. Ferguson first contacted Mike Papoccia, then Andrew, about playing in the league.

“This guy just called me from out of the blue,” Mike said. “I didn’t know what to make of it, but it’s worked out pretty well for Andrew.”

Andrew fit the profile the league was looking for – a lower-level college player who had used up his eligibility, but wanted to continue playing football. Andrew was planning on playing for a team in Tampa, Fla., but instead headed to Italy.

“I thought it would be like a vacation – see a different part of the world, play a little ball and just see how it went,” Andrew said.

Andrew played two seasons for the Panthers, in 2005 and 2006. The Panthers won just two games the first season, then advanced to the IFL Super Bowl the following season before losing to the league’s powerhouse at the time, the Bergamo Lions.

“The league was very different at that time,” Andrew said. “Bergamo had major sponsorship and was able to bring in better players. They had 11 Americans playing for them in the Super Bowl and we had three. They won something like 80 games in a row and 13 or 14 championships in a row before other teams started to catch up.”

The league started limiting the number of American players each team could have on its roster, leveling the playing field. Current teams may have three Americans.

When Papoccia arrived in 2005, the Panthers went through multiple coaches who left for various reasons. Some left for other jobs or opportunities. Some got homesick. Some just didn’t want to coach anymore.

So, in 2007, Andrew took over as coach.

“I had already been running a lot of the practices anyway,” he said, “and we needed a coach. It’s been a lot of fun.”

The Panthers, when it comes to football, are about as far from the NFL as one could get. Their roster is made up of mostly Italians who couldn’t make it as soccer players and wanted to try a different sport. They hold regular jobs outside of football and don’t get paid to play. The only paid players on the team are three Americans: Jaycen Taylor, a running back from Purdue; Tanyon Bissell, a wide receiver from Boise State; and Nate Lyles, a safety from Virginia.

Papoccia is like most of his players in that he works outside of football. He’s an area sales manager for Dalper Alimentari, selling Parmesan cheese throughout northern Europe.

“I love coaching my guys,” Papoccia said. “They’re eager to learn, they haven’t picked up bad habits like some players who have played their entire lives and they’re playing just because they love the game.”

Papoccia noted the level of play in the IFL is about the Division III college level in the United States. He does have a few players, not including the Americans, who could possibly play football in America at a higher level. One player has drawn interest from the University of Maryland.

The Panthers have emerged as one of the top teams in the 10-team IFL under Papoccia. They made it to the Super Bowl in his final year as a player in 2006 and first year as coach in 2007. They advanced to the semifinals in 2008 and 2009, and now have won titles in 2010 and 2011.

Papoccia is the coach, but has seen spot duty as a player the past several seasons when one of the Americans has gotten hurt.

Parma went 7-2 in the 2011 regular season, with losses to the Catania Elephants and Bologna Warriors. They beat both of those teams in the playoffs, and they did it in groundbreaking fashion.

Three spots on teams are almost always reserved for American skill position players, particularly the quarterback. Papoccia’s signal-caller was a 20-year-old Italian, Tommaso Monardi, who threw for 30 touchdowns and just two interceptions this past season. It was the first time a team won a championship with an Italian QB.

“It was a big step for the Italian Football League,” Papoccia said. “Tommy is really talented. He’s got the ability to play at the Division III, or maybe the Division II level in the states. He’s a smart kid, a great athlete, and as long as he’s here I think the future looks pretty bright for the Panthers.”

The question is how long Andrew will remain there. While playing for the Panthers, his best friend was teammate Lorenzo Zambellino, who taught him the ways of Italian life, and perhaps more importantly, introduced him to his sister, Bea. Andrew and Bea married in 2008, and they have two children: Helen, 4, and Timothy, 18 months.

“I fell in love with the city, the team, my wife – I really grew some roots here,” Andrew said, “and it’s been a great situation for me these last six years. I’m very happy here, but I can see a time in the not too distant future when we come back to the United States.”

Papoccia file

High school: Newman, 1999

College: Illinois State, 2004

Resides: Parma, Italy

Family: Wife, Bea; children, Helen, 4; Timothy, 18 months

FYI: All-State running back at Newman in 1998, leading Comets to second in Class 1A as senior. ... Played football at Illinois State, then for Peoria Pirates in the Arena League. ... Player and now coach for the Parma Panthers of the Italian Football League