The Clarke Central High School C-Team won against Hart County in their championship game. The success of the C-Team this season gives head football coach David Perno hope for the future of the program and varsity team. “It is good and you know, obviously the future looks bright,” Perno said. Photo by Julie Alpaugh.
By LUCIA BERMUDEZ – Print Editor-in-Chief
In light of the C-Team’s championship game win, Clarke Central High School football coaches and players reflect on their success this season and look ahead to the future of the program.
The Clarke Central High School football program has had a strong season, with C-Team winning their championship game, the freshman team winning nine games, the junior varsity team winning eight games and the varsity team qualifying for the state playoffs for the first time in three years.
The coaches feel the successes of the underclassman teams have been particularly good for the program, as these players will likely go on to play for the varsity team in the future.
“I think we are already building something this year,” math department teacher and varsity running back coach Aaron Cavin said. “The varsity team is already doing better than we have in the previous two seasons, and the ninth grade and middle school teams are performing well.”
Head football coach David Perno is also satisfied with the performance of the C-Team, JV team and freshman team, and feels the program was successful all-around this season.
“The C-team had a great year. They have a tremendous coaching staff led by head coach Milton Gresham. They surrounded themselves with great people and they worked hard and had been at it since the summer,” Perno said. “JV had a good year, ninth grade had a good year, so every team in our organization was, I want to say, over-achieved to some extent in a lot of areas.”
Perno attributes the program’s success this season to a committed coaching staff, and feels the program is gaining stability.
“(The success) lets you know what we’ve got and that we are pretty solid all the way through our organization,” Perno said. “Our ninth graders are talented and now you know you are going to have another talented ninth grade class, so that is exciting.”
JV and freshman team quarterback Isaac Ward, a freshman, feels that the underclassman teams’ hard work will pay off and be beneficial for the varsity team in years to come.
“Hopefully, it will show later on when we do become juniors and seniors and we do really well,” Ward said. “(I hope to see) all teams just keep improving, just keep the positive vibes going.”
