2016 Clarion Bobcat Football Season Preview (08/23/16)

The Clarion Area Bobcat Football Team is currently preparing for their 2016 campaign. The team held their first scrimmage against Marion Center, at Memorial Stadium, this past Saturday (August 20th) and will travel to St. Marys to face the Dutch in the final scrimmage on Friday (August 26th) at 5:00 P.M. The Cats will host the Punxsutawney Chucks in the season opener the following Friday (September 2nd) at 7:00 P.M.

Returning Bobcat Lettermen

Coach Larry Wiser enters his 28th season at the helm needing just four more wins to reach the coveted 200-win plateau. The Bobcat’s record under Wiser stands at 196-94-1. Clarion’s program also has 489 wins, just eleven away from another coveted mark, the 500-win standard. It would be great to see this year’s team reach both these marks.

When asked about his goals for the season, coach Wiser’s approach hasn’t changed. He said, “Pretty typically, I think for us, we look one game at a time. I’ve never been one of those great prognosticators. All I know is we want to get ready for that first game and then start the next week, new game…new game… and new game after that.”

Pre-Season practice session

Coach Wiser sees a very balanced Keystone Shortway Athletic Conference this season. He said, “I’m expecting every game we play is going to be tough this year. Karns City returns most of their guys.

They should be tough. What happens with Union and A-C Valley. Obviously more talent. How will they play together? I think the potential is there. Dave Eggleton feels pretty good about what is going on at Clarion-Limestone. Redbank Valley, I think, crossed a big hurdle last year.”

Coach Wiser shared his projections for the this year’s team:

OFFENSE

From an offensive line standpoint, we return probably four kids. Nick Cherico returns at strong tackle. At strong guard we’ve got Zak Bauer. We’ve moved Seth Nellis. He’s at center, replacing Will Staub. Our quick guard Jay Remmick got some work last year at quick tackle. We’re looking at Tyler Finefrock and Jacob Selker at quick tackle.

We have the “Three Amigos” returning at tight end, from last year: Dominic Fleming, Thomas Wurster and Josh Vanek. I expect all three to hopefully stay healthy and they can rotate over to defense and so forth.

Spencer Miller, who got quite a bit of time as a back-up to his brother Brendan last year, will be our starting quarterback. Mike McCloskey and Kyle Patterson are our fullbacks. McCloskey returns from last year and Patterson will spell him so we can try to keep them fresh on both sides of the ball.

Our top rusher from last year, Colton Rapp is back. Korbin Shill is our other tailback.

I expect some other kids to perform, but for right now, given what we know, that’s who we expect will be our front people.

Our X and Z backs: Ty Burford returns after sharing a lot of time with Adrian Weber last season. Tom Hearst will rotate in there a little. We have three guys competing at Z back, Keeven Weaver, who has been battling an injury, Ryley McMaster, who will probably start and Brendan Zerfoss. We’d like to get Brendan in there for his speed.

Archer Mills comes up from ninth grade and he will handle the kicking duties on point after attempts and kickoffs. We’re pretty pleased with his leg right now. Spencer Miller who was so close, (.5 yards) from being the top punter in the conference last year, both Big School and Small School, returns.

DEFENSE

Defensively, I think we return more on that side of the ball. Karlin Hiles has looked really good. He’s our defensive tackle. Right with him is Nick Cherico who is really a pretty good tackle himself. We have Korbin Schill and Dominic Fleming at nose guard.

I expect all four of our D-ends to play, who all played last year. Vanek, Wurster, Selker and Colt Stimmell will be the four kids there. We’ll rotate them some how.

At linebacker, we return a pair of one-hundred tackle performers, Patterson and Rapp. McCloskey and Zak Bauer will be some of the other kids in there. And I think there will be a number of kids come in to help us there too, when they get a lot more experience.

This is probably the most depth we’ve had at linebacker for a while. I usually have four or five, now I’ve got… I’m pretty confident in putting these kids out there. You can’t replace Colton’s experience, his smarts, his play and of course Kyle’s hitting. He likes to hit. Jay Remmick comes back. He’s another one of those kids in there.

The secondary: Ty Burford’s going to be a corner. Ryley McMaster and Sterling Conner are working at strong safety. Spencer Miller will be at free safety. I think we will run Tom Hearst and Keeven Weaver who has been slowed up a little, with a hip injury in there along with Clayton Adams.

STAFF

Most all my guys are back. I’m going to do the offense this year. Lee Weber will be the defensive coordinator. Scott Miller is going to stay on special teams. Nate McClaine will coach the lines on both sides of the ball. It’s nice to have that experience of those guys.

Then having the Slike brothers. We have team manager Kevin at every practice and then Vance comes in (assisting Kevin at games and transporting team gear and supplies). We have Rich Herron at trainer. We have Tim Amorosa as a volunteer coach, working a couple of days a week with us. Dave McClaine will do the filming and Matt Buchanan will handle the stats.

FORMULA FOR SUCCESS

Overall, the big thing right now is, what I’ve said to everybody, ‘We’ve got to be a we team, not a me team.” Stats are important to everybody, but there is one stat that is most important to us and that’s the ‘W’. To be an individual in a team sport is tough. Do your job the best you can and if we can keep we and not me, I’m going to be pretty happy.

Last year, I think we lacked some consistency. We’d play well one week and then play not so well the next week. It’s getting used to coming in to practice. I’m pleased with how hard they’ve worked. We’re preparing for the first game, Punxsutawney. That’s where we’re at right now. Get our first test to see where we’re at with some things offensively:  (Marion Center scrimmage) and defensively: (St. Marys scrimmage). It gives us a chance to look at some more kids, especially the younger kids and then get ready for that first ball game.

(HAVE A GREAT SEASON, CATS!!!!)