Football Boosters Host 2019 Junior High Football Banquet (10/28/19)

on 28 October, 2019 at 18:04

(Photos submitted) Above: Academic Athlete, these athletes maintained the highest GPA’s all season while in football. We stress grades are the most important part of football! Front L-R: Jake Smith (Clarion-Limestone) Mason Gourley (Clarion Area) Drake Irwin (North Clarion). Back L-R: Tyler Klugh (Clarion-Limestone) Peyton Ward (North Clarion) Colby Wright (Clarion Area) with Junior High Coaches

(By Coach Todd Matthews)

The Clarion Football Boosters hosted an end of year banquet for the Junior High Football Team Sunday evening, October 28th. It was a wonderful celebration of the athletes, with over 150 people in attendance.

We had 32 athletes on the 7th and 8th grade team and 18 on the 9th grade team.

Front Row L-R: Most Improved 9th grader-Doug Fox, Most Improved 8th grader- Dauntae Girvan , Most Improved 7th grader- Braylon Beckwith. Coaches in back.

We focused the 7th and 8th grade on learning football and getting everyone involved in the game. Coach Quinn and Coach Ferguson did a terrific job making sure every kid saw the field! We didn’t focus on the wins and losses, just playing the game and learning.

The 9th grade team we focused on winning games! We ended the season at 4-4. That is an improvement from last year.

The athletes had to learn an all new play system, coaching staff and playing a 9th grade schedule. Clarion has not had enough athletes in the past to run two schedules. Coach Cathcart made sure we still got all of the athletes in the 9th grade games which is a huge bonus.

Front L-R: Impact Player 7th grade- Jase Ferguson, Co-impact Player 8th grade- Holden Sparks, Co-Impact Player 9th grade – Chris Anthony, Co-Impact Player 8th grade – Noah Naser, Co-Impact Player 9th grade- Conner Kopnitsky. Coaches in back.

Even though we had 4 losses, we didn’t get blown out! I’m looking forward to next season and I hope we get the number of athletes up to 50-60. These boys didn’t care about colors, mascots, or schools. They just wanted to play football and have fun with their friends.

I’d like to thank all three school boards for allowing this to happen. It truly is a great experience for our students. Just ask any of them!

Also thank you to Clarion Athletic Director Mrs. Nancy Mills for her hard work all year and getting us a total of 15 games between the two teams.

Last I would like to thank Clarion Football Boosters for the banquet, awards, feedings for games and so much more. This is an amazing group that’s supports us with countless hours of hard work!

(Thanks to Coach Matthews for this article. Thanks to the coaches, boosters and everyone involved in working with the Junior High Football Program. Great Job, Junior High Cats!!!!)