Wolves Jr High Football Squad is Bigger Than Ever

by Jake DeLuca

The West Shamokin Wolves Junior High football team is ready for the season, and now with a bigger squad than ever the Wolves are poised to groom these young players into difference makers on the field.

Jason McClafferty, the Head Coach for the junior high program said that this is the biggest team in a couple ways that he has had in the years he has been helping with the program.

“It’s the biggest team I have ever had, both in number of kids and size (of the kids). I have 22 kids on the roster and we have two kids who wear a size 15 shoe, and they’re only thirteen years old, so we have some pretty good sized boys, and the rest of them aren’t that small either,” McClafferty said of his team.

Although it is nice to be bigger than the teams you face off against, size does not always equal victory, and Jason knows this and has steps to ensure his players progress well throughout the season. For example, in their first scrimmage McClafferty said the team struggled in pass blocking.

The solution? Having a couple varsity coaches come over to show them how they block properly.

“We struggled at blocking (in the scrimmage), but we addressed that. A couple varsity coaches came over to help address that issue and I think we will be alright,” McClafferty explained.

Like most junior high programs, West Shamokin also runs the same or a simplified version of the varsity playbook.

“The reason we (run the same playbook as varsity) at the junior high level is because it’s more about education and not about winning and losing. To them (the players) it is about winning and losing for their competitiveness, but by the time they are done with the junior high program and they step into JV they should know the offense and defense, so at this level that’s what we teach them,” Jason explained.

Overall Jason is very happy with how the junior high program has come along since he started working with the Wolves.

“This program is coming along. I have been here for a few years now and the numbers at the junior high level, we are starting to see them grow. We want to get kids involved at this level and get them ready for the varsity level - keep our numbers up, get the community involved, and have parents get kids involved,” McClafferty said.

McClafferty had one last message or call to action to those who are thinking about getting involved in local athletics at any level.

“Whether you’re just in the stands or if you want to try it out – get involved in any community activity; that’s the message I would like to get out.”