Clear Spring football: ‘A lot of excitement for these young guys’
With practices in full swing and season openers around the corner, we’re taking a quick glance at each Washington County football team.
Clear Spring Blazers
Coach: Curtis Keller, first year
Last season: 2-8, lost to Allegany in 1A West first round.
Top returners: Jesiah Evans, Sr., WR/DB; Jacob Bryan, Sr., RB/DB; Jonathan Cunningham, Sr., QB/LB; Logan Fair, Jr., RB/LB; Hayden Hodge, Jr., QB/DB; Nick Cullember, Jr., OL/DL; Blake Kramer-Horton, Sr., RB/LB.
Key losses: Sammy Stonebraker, RB/LB; Todd Weaver, TE/LB; Hunter Oaks, WR/DB; Bruce Whetzel, OL/DL; Kenny Nicewarner, FB/LB.
New coach: Clear Spring's Curtis Keller wants to ‘make the community proud’
Notes: Keller worked as an assistant coach for the Blazers last year. He takes over for Jason Ankrah, the former NFL player, who went 3-16 in his two seasons as head coach. … This will be the 20th season of football at Clear Spring. … The Blazers have had one winning season, going 6-4 in 2010, and have finished .500 (5-5) four times, most recently in 2019. … Stonebraker, who led the team in rushing and scored seven touchdowns as a sophomore last season, transferred to Saint James. … Cunningham, Hodge and sophomore Alex Matthews are all competing for the quarterback job. “We’ll get through the practices here in August and see who comes out on top for us,” Keller said. “Any of those three that don’t end up at quarterback for us are going to be on the field offensively in one of the other skill positions helping us out.” ... Clear Spring is looking for a Week 7 opponent due to Trinity Christian recently canceling its season.
Biggest challenge: “Youth and inexperience,” Keller said. “We lost 10 or 11 seniors off last year’s team, a lot of two-way starters and a lot of offensive and defensive production. This year, we’re going to be pretty young. We only have six seniors on our squad.”
Reason to be optimistic: “We’ve had a lot of participation over the summer in our workouts and camps,” Keller said. “There seems to be a lot of excitement for these young guys. They seem to understand that there’s going to be a good bit of opportunity for them to earn some playing time on the field, so I expect a lot of good competition in camp. Right now, where we sit, we’re pretty excited. We have a lot of young kids out. Hopefully, they’ll be able to learn quickly, and we’ll be able to be a good, disciplined team and have some excitement for the community here this fall.”
Clear Spring football schedule
Sept. 1, vs. James Buchanan, 7 p.m.
Sept. 8, vs. Green Street Academy, 6 p.m.
Sept. 14, at Southern-Anne Arundel, 7 p.m.
Sept. 22, at Williamsport, 6 p.m.
Sept. 29, vs. Brunswick, 7 p.m.
Oct. 6, at Smithsburg, 6 p.m.
Oct. 20, vs. Tussey Mountain, 7 p.m.
Oct. 27, at Hancock, 7 p.m.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: Clear Spring High School football preview 2023
