Freshmen Football Season Wrap-Up (11/05/14)

on 5 November, 2014 at 23:51

The Clarion Freshmen Bobcat football team finished the season with a 5-3 record. The 5 wins came against formidable foes in St. Marys, Union, AC Valley, Moniteau, and Keystone. All of the wins, with the exception of Union, came against schools of a higher classification than Clarion. The three losses were to Ridgway, Punxsy, and Brookville. The Brookville and Punxsy losses were down to the wire and came down to the last possession. With an above-.500 season, the young Bobcats are setting up to have a lot of success in the varsity seasons!

This year was the first “big” group of student-athletes coming down from North Clarion to be part of the cooperative agreement set up by the schools so the kids can participate in football. As a result of this co-op agreement, Clarion Junior High Football was able to utilize all of the kids and have success. Coaches Cathcart, Quinn, and Burkhart and I were extremely satisfied with the kids coming down from North Clarion and hope it continues and grows to a bigger group.

There were 19 freshmen that were part of the team. This is a very large number. Because of all the freshmen, Clarion was able to play a Freshmen schedule: a schedule that is being dropped by schools because of lack of participation!

This year the team was lead by Cameron Craig, running back, and Keevan Weaver, quarterback. Paving the way and protecting for those two was an offensive line group lead by Nick Cherico, Zak Bauer, Noah Meyers, Christian Smith, and Seth Nellis. Sharing time in the backfield with Craig was Sterling Connor and Colt Stimmell. Rounding out the starters were Tom Hearst, Ryley McMaster, and Jacob Selker.

Coach Alderton’s personal thoughts on the season and the future…
This team has a TON of talent. Even though we had 3 marks in the “loss” column, we didn’t lose to any better teams. Of all the teams we played against, Clarion is the best and most complete team I saw. Those losses won’t happen in the future and I would go back and play them all right now, and we would get 3 wins. Sometimes the cookie doesn’t crumble the way you want it to in football or in life!

Coming into the year, I didn’t have a starting fullback or a starting quarterback, because Colton Rapp and Spencer Miller got moved up to play varsity (and have done very well). I did have a lot of confidence in the line that was mostly returning from last year. That group of linemen (Meyers, Smith, Nellis, Cherico, and Bauer) is going to pave and protect for a lot of touchdowns in the future! They are a strong group of kids with a lot of determination. Now let’s get you five in the weight room!

I also lost my tight end from last year in Thomas Wurster moving to varsity. So in comes Selker. Selker had a good season for a freshmen tight end. Playing that position is tough. He is asked to block a lot, and occasionally run a few routes. Jacob had a good season and will continue to improve once his body matures a bit and weightlifting starts happening.

Sterling Connor had a huge year! He scored a few touchdowns for us and provided a spark when the team needed one. Against Keystone, I called one or two plays the whole drive, and I just kept pounding the ball to Sterling, who eventually did score a touchdown.
Connor is going to be a huge part of the success to this team in the future! Stimmell was also a good blocking fullback who led the way for the running backs. He didn’t get to carry the ball as much as I am sure he wanted to, but he had a lot of key blocks, and some huge catches on some third downs that kept drives alive for the team. McMaster and Hearst are two more offensive weapons that were used. Things happened when both of those two got their touches. Keevan Weaver! He is an all-around excellent athlete! I was lucky to have the co-op agreement to have had the pleasure to have a quarterback as athletic as he is. Weaver played very good all year.

A team like I had this year can only be strong if they have strong, reliable, backups fighting and pushing them on a daily basis. Traeson Douglas would have started for every other football team at quarterback. He is a fun kid to have on the team and is a natural athlete that could play multiple positions at the next level. Pushing the receivers along were Austin Hummell, Frank Weber, and Clayton Adams.

Clayton Adams is a very intelligent student, and is seeing the hard work pay off on the football field as well. He improved over the past year, and played very well defensively. I remember few plays against Ridgway when Adams deflected a pass in one series, and the next series came up and had a very big hit on their running back. If Clayton can get stronger, and add some mass, he will be very good on the field. Frank Weber and Hummell came along way this year as well. Weber has got more and more physical since he started football in 7th grade. Hummell played well and even had an interception against Union. In the Moniteau game, Austin even played defensive line and did a good job! A player that is more known for the accomplishments of his older brother, Chris, is John McSwain. John is a tough-nosed kid that is able to do some good things on the football field and will contribute to the team. One of the “biggest” surprises to the team was Trevor Crownover.

When Traeson told me that he got another North Clarion kid on the team, I didn’t know what to expect, especially since I am unfamiliar with those kids. When I saw Trevor or “Jelly” come onto the field I was eager to see what he could do because of his size. Trevor could be a player much like Benton Reichert, who was an excellent player!

Lastly, Korbin Schill! Korbin was an excellent, high energy football player. When the coaches would discuss Korbin in the coaches office, we used the term “moldable” and “clay”, because of his lack of experience, but willingness to learn and do well. Coach Wiser is inheriting a group of fantastic players that will have a lot of success and do very well!

It was a pleasure being your coach this year and I look forward to next year!

(Thanks to Coach Alderton for this review.Congratulation Ninth Grade Gridders on a successful season!!!!)