Steve Zeller, who guided Wells to the Nevada Class A football championship in 2004, has resigned to accept the head freshman job at Elko High, the Web site Nevprep.com reported.

Zeller, who had a 35-15 record during his five years as the Leopards' head coach, said he is giving up the Wells job with some reluctance, especially given the level of talent the team is expected to have this coming season.

"I definitely have mixed feelings about the change," said Zeller, who will be a full-time science teacher at Elko -- his alma mater -- in addition to his coaching duties. "I am leaving Wells after having had a great summer camp where we were very competitive at the Idaho State 8-man camp. The team is going to be very good this year as well as next season."

With only five seniors on its 25-man roster, Wells went 4-6 last season -- its only losing season under Zeller -- and lost to Eureka in the first round of the 1-A state playoffs. One of the Leopards' losses was to Tonopah, 52-6.

In 2004, the Leopards went 10-2 and ended two-time state champion Carlin's 18-game winning streak with a 26-14 win in the state semifinals before beating Alamo 18-6 in the title game for only the school's second state title ever in football.

"I am pleased with the condition that I leave the program in," he said, "and I'm extremely grateful for the opportunity that I have had at Wells. I will greatly miss 8-man football (Elko, a 4-A school, plays 11-man football), my assistant coaches, the kids from Wells, and the 1-A."

Zeller said one of his main considerations in taking the Elko job, in addition to the fact he played and graduated from there, is the fact he lives in Elko. His wife teaches at Great Basin College, and he feels the fact he'll no longer be making the 100-mile round-trip commute to Wells will enable him to spend more time with his family, which includes three young children.

"I believe that the saved commute time will be of a great benefit to my family," he said, "not to mention the rising price of fuel."

The addition of Zeller to the Elko football coaching staff means the Indians now have three former 1-A head coaches in the program: Zeller, second-year head varsity coach Dan Chappuis, who was the head coach at Carlin from 1996-98 before moving on to 3-A Spring Creek as an assistant, and varsity assistant Dan Farnam, who succeeded Chappuis as head coach at Carlin.