North Clarion Celebrates 40th Anniversary Of Back To Back Wolves Boys Basketball District Nine Championship Teams During Meet The Wolves Night

on 21 November, 2025 at 15:13

Photos submitted – Above The 40th Anniversary Team Members in attendance (Front L-R) Kevin Obenreder, Bruce Kerle, Jolene Lencer Ion, Andy Carroll, Betsy Kerle Ochs, Dan Nugent. (Back L-R) Scott Weaver, Head Coach Scott Barton, Assistant Coach Rick Rathfon, Neil Faller, Ray Walters, Dave Siegel, Mark Weaver.

Something very special took place at North Clarion’s annual Meet the Wolves Night, at the Wolves’ Den, to introduce the boys and girls Junior Varsity and Varsity squads, on Thursday, November 13th, with the Wolves honored the 1983-1984 and 1984-1985 Boys Basketball Teams, with a 40th Anniversary Reunion.

The Reunion, the highlight of the evening, was a Celebration of their winning back to back District Nine Class-A Championships, the only time this has ever taken place in school history, held at halftime of the girls’ game.

**Bruce Kerle and Coach Rathfon. Bruce hit the shot at the buzzer to beat A-C Valley in the 1984 Championship.**

Head Coach Scott Barton and his wife, Peggy came all the way from Florida to be a part of the celebration. Assistant Coach, and current mentor for the North Clarion Junior High girls, Rick Rathfon, sporting the Championship Jacket, and a nice group of players and managers attended. When the team was all gathered together, Coach Barton told them, “You all gave Peggy and I some of the best memories of my 40 years of coaching!”

Coach Rathfon shared about a touching Tribute, within the Tribute. “The school also recognized and held a moment of silence for three of the players on the team that have passed away. Chuck Janke, Dale Lolley and Tom Staller were integral members of those teams.

“In a packed gym you could hear a pin drop. A great show of respect and remembrance for three young men.”

Joining together to be honored, was very special for the team members who could attend. “This is the first time in many years that many of the players had the opportunity to get together! It was a great evening to share memories of those amazing seasons!”

**Coach Scott Barton, Andy Carroll, Neil Faller and Coach Rathfon.**

To put into perspective how long ago this was, This was pre-Keystone Shortway Athletic Conference days. The teams were still members of the old Clarion County League.

**Scott and Mark Weaver with Coach Rathfon and Coach Barton**.

The teams both faced the league rival A-C Valley Falcons, coached by the legendary Ron Botz, in each of the district Championship games, held at Tippin Gymnasium.

1983-1984 Team: ( Front L-R) – Dave Siegel, Chuck Janke, Al Lepovsky behind Chuck, Bruce Kerle, Kevin Obenreder, Scott Weaver. (Middle L-R) – Brian Cyphert, John Zacherl, Brian Aramagost, Mark Caswell, Tony Beveridge, Head Coach Scott Barton. (Back L-R) – Assistant Coach Mike Shirey, Tom Staller, Ray Walters, Todd Priester.

A-C Valley won three out of the four regular season meetings over the two year span.

But the Wolves prevailed when the two teams faced off in the District Nine Championship games winning the first one 51-49, as Bruce Kerle hit the game winner from the top of the key as time expired (there were no three-point lines at the time) and in the second one North Clarion, with a stifling defensive effort, won handily 47-28.

**1984-1985 Team: (Front L-R) – Todd Priester, Scott Weaver, Mark Caswell, Brian Cyphert, Shawn Thompson, Manager Dan Nugent.** (Back L-R) – Assistant Coach Rick Rathfon, John Zacherl, Dale Lolley, Brian Armagost, Jeff Heasley, Tom Staller, Jim Gentile, Dan Kerns, Neil Faller, Head Coach Scott Barton, Volunteer Assistant Lee Haracy, Manager Jolene Lencer, Manager Betsy Kerle.

Coach Rathfon shared, “Funny thing was the night before the second championship game we had one of our worst practices of the year! Coach Barton and I were really worried going into the championship game.

“With about two minutes to go in the game I elbowed Coach Barton and said we need more practices like that. We shared that story with the guys the night of the reunion and Scott Weaver and Neil Faller both said and I quote, ‘We both knew we were going to win that game!’ “

The 1983-1984 Wolves finished the season with a 24-6 record.

They defeated Coudersport 61-44 in the District Nine Quarterfinal, Union 57-42 in the Semifinal, before winning the Final against A-C Valley.

They fell in a heartbreaker in the First Round of the PIAA State Playoffs to Frew Mill 51-49.

1984-85 Team Wolves finished the season with a 21-6 record.

They defeated Elk County Christian (now Elk County Catholic) 55-38 in the District Nine Quarterfinal and Union 51-50 in overtime in the Semifinal, before downing A-C Valley in the final.

They defeated Riverview 51-48 in overtime in the First Round of the PIAA State Playoffs to make it to the Sweet 16, dropping a two-point 51-48 decision to Midland.

Overall particulars on the Meet The Wolves Night: The first game was a girls alumni game with many of the players coming back. Most notably was the girls all time leading scorer Tori Obenrader with over 2,000 points! At halftime of the girls game, the 2025-26 Junior Varsity and Varsity girls team players were introduced.

The second game was a boys alumni game with multiple 1,000 point scorers playing! At halftime of the boys game, the 2025-26 Junior Varsity and Varsity boys team players were introduced.

A longstanding tradition took place as Bonnie Wolbert, longtime teacher, coach and Athletic Directer, came out of retirement to sing the National Anthem!

The recognition of the 40th Anniversary of the only Back to Back District Nine Champions in school history was emceed by High School Principal Ed Baumcratz, who was a great player back in the day for NC! He first introduced Coach Barton, then Coach Rathfon, then the players and finally the managers.

Coach Rathfon shared an interesting story, “I coached the girls at Clarion from 1991 thru the 1996 season. Our 1992 team made it all the way to the PIAA Class “A” Championship Game.

“We lost to Lebanon Catholic. We had to beat three other Catholic schools just to get there. I always told the girls we were the Public School State Champions!

“We went 25-7 that season and never lost to a Single-A school till the championship game.

“An interesting side note: Dale Lolley who played for me at North Clarion was a young sports reporter for the Oil City Derrick when we made our run to Hershey. He covered all our games and was there in Hershey for the game. After the game he came down to the locker room to interview me. He gave me the biggest and hardest hug and told me ‘I really wanted this one for you Coach!’

“So you know it hit me hard when I heard he had passed away.”

North Clarion Co-Head Volleyball Coach Bobbie (Simpson) Freeman (along with Jodi Burns) was a senior on the 1992 Clarion team, scoring 715 points. She finished the season with 1,765 career points, which is still the Bobcat Girls record and is second over-all (Boys and Girls) only to Don Hager’s (1956) 1,774 total.

(Congratulations to the North Clarion Boys Basketball 40th Anniversary Back to Back Championship Team!!!! And Congratulatios to all who worked so hard to make the 2025 Meet The Wolves Night a success!!!! And a big thank you to Coach Rathfon for providing quotes and other information for this article!!!!)