CLARION, Pa. (EYT) – What’s navy blue and orange and plays with a football? The Central Clarion Wildcats.
(Photo by Jared Bakaysa of JB Graphics. See more of Bakaysa’s work here)
The Clarion Area, Clarion-Limestone, and North Clarion Football Co-Op now has a name to go with the colors, according to Clarion Superintendent Joe Carrico.
The winning mascot name is the Wildcats, reflecting back on a Civil War company with local ties.
“We’re going to incorporate a historically accurate emblem or insignia with the mascot and create a unique look,” continued Carrico who also worked closely with C-L Superintendent Amy Glasl and the initial committee. Carrico acts as the spokesman because Clarion is the host school.
“The Civil War unit was based in Jefferson County, but there was a huge contingent of Clarion County folks that were in the Wildcats,” said Carrico.
Most people are satisfied with the cooperative agreement, especially students on the teams, bands, cheerleaders, and other organizations.
Carrico emphasized that the co-op was not an attempt to build a “super” team and that was never the intent.
“We finished the season with the number of players in the low 30’s. We did have from 60 to 70 kids coming out and we’re hopeful for the future.
“We’re trying to give the kids a quality, comprehensive opportunity to play football. We need all three school districts to work together, and we’ve got to move forward. We’re hopefully optimistic that all of the schools are sticking together because we saw some significant success this year.
“I don’t talk about wins and losses, and we didn’t vie for a state championship, but we put a really quality good program together, and the kids stayed healthy, had a good time playing together. And, that’s what matters.
Glasl conducted a survey to see if there was still interest among the C-L players in the co-op and if they would like to continue orange and black under the Bobcat name.
“They wanted to move forward with a new name, colors, and mascot. We continue to review, and I think it is important.
“We spent a lot of time talking about the co-op process and why we originally entered it as a co-op process. The programs were becoming unsustainable numbers-wise. Kids could be put in harm’s way physically — we didn’t have JV programs; Junior High programs were getting kind of smaller — and smaller kids wanted to play. We’re making 7th graders play other freshmen in other school districts and stuff like that.
“Some of the net positives to the Co-op this year has been a full JV and Varsity schedule right away, and we ran 15 Junior High games.”
Uniforms and related equipment are the big investment and will be ordered with the new name (without any logos at this point). The committee conversation started to evolve to where we want to make sure that all three school districts are very comfortable moving forward.
Clarion-Limestone School Board meets on Wednesday night and will likely discuss the survey. Glasl provided Carrico with a few of the findings.
“They’re going to hopefully do an affirmation to move forward with everything. Once that happens next Wednesday, I will go ahead with an order for new uniforms.”
Carrico said that the PIAA agreement is a two-year one, and if a school dropped out of that agreement next year, they would have to play as a 2A team.
“This means you’re playing all of the big schools around here, and you’re playing more than likely an independent schedule.”
In terms of bands, cheerleaders, and dancers, there are no PIAA regulations, and it is all local schools that determine their level of competition. The schools have much more flexibility in working out any concerns of those groups.
“We’ve had many people get together consistently to try to make something work. There’s a five-year agreement in place, and I know Clarion Area and North Clarion are very hopeful and optimistic. We’re all going to honor this agreement for five years.”
