Two years after the movie debuted, Dave Florie fielded a team of "Rudys."

Florie, who retired in the spring after 21 years as a high school baseball coach, saw his 1995 Seneca Valley High School Raiders team hit a hot streak at the right time to unexpectedly claim the PIAA Class AAA title.

"We had just two starters coming back from our 1994 team," recalled Florie, 69, who retired after 16 years at Seneca Valley from 1985 to 2001 and the past five seasons at Butler Area High School.

He plans to continue officiating high school basketball games in the winter and teaching baseball lessons.

"A lot of people back then would have called them a bunch of 'Rudys,'" he said of his state championship team that took top honors a year after a more experienced team won the 1994 WPIAL title. "We brought most of the players up from [the junior varsity], and all of them had great years at the same time."

"Rudy" refers to a movie about Daniel E. "Rudy" Reuttiger, an undersized linebacker who achieved his lifelong ambition to play in a University of Notre Dame football game in 1975. He was the subject of the 1993 movie starring Sean Astin.

Florie's 1995 Seneca Valley team was 3-5 midway through its season, and its year was on the brink of disaster.

"We had to win six of our next seven games to make the [WPIAL] playoffs, and we did," he said.

The game that turned the season around for the Raiders was a come-from-behind victory against Butler.

"We were down, 4-2, to Butler in the sixth inning, and then we hit five consecutive doubles and went on to win 6-4," said Florie, who finished with a coaching resume that included more than 300 victories. "From that point on, the kids gained some confidence and started to believe in themselves."

The hot streak qualified the Raiders for the playoffs, but they lost in the WPIAL semifinals. Yet their season wasn't over.

"To keep playing, we had to keep winning," Florie said. "That 1995 team was one of the better coaching jobs that we did. If you believe in yourself, miracles can happen. Those guys thought they were great players, and they played like great players."

The team went all the way to the PIAA title game -- the Raiders beat Williamsport, 7-3, at Harrisburg's RiverSide Stadium. Just after the 2001 season, Florie decided to step down from the Seneca Valley program that he had started in 1985.

"I was happy babysitting and doing father and grandfather things," said Florie, a Zelienople resident. "But Tim O'Malley was the athletic director at Butler, and he asked me to take the job in 2005. My family felt there was a void, and I do have a great passion for baseball. So I took the job, and I had five great years there."

Besides officiating and teaching baseball, Florie wants to visit every major league baseball park. He plans to see the Astros' and Rangers' ballparks this year, while the Giants' and Athletics' stadiums are on next year's agenda.

This longtime coach believes he accomplished his goal to make the Golden Tornado respectable at Butler.

"The kids at Butler were similar to the kids at Seneca Valley," he said. "We had a good staff, and the players were receptive to learning our system. They had a lot of confidence, and we had some success."

Florie's final team compiled a section record of 6-6 and was 12-8 overall. The Golden Tornado tussled regularly with perennial powers Pine-Richland and North Allegheny. Pine-Richland won the 2010 WPIAL title, while North Allegheny took the 2009 regional crown.

Florie has no doubt where the best high school baseball is being played in Pennsylvania.

"It's the toughest section in the state," he said. "There's a lot going on right in those areas, and the programs are very strong. These kids are playing high levels of competition year-round. If you do that, you obviously will get better."

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