(Osceola) Clarke kicks off the 2024 football season at Atlantic on Friday with new Head Coach Justin Clutter. The Iowa native returns to his home state after coaching high school football in South Georgia for 17 years. Despite his family still living in Iowa, Coach Clutter wanted a change of pace. Therefore, he and his family traveled 1,200 miles to Osceola to lead the football program at Clarke.
Coach Clutter is excited about the start of the season. He likes what he sees in this core group of kids and is impressed with their work in the off-season.
Coach Clutter expects his players to play hard every game and admits his squad will be a bit undersized compared to Atlantic when the two teams square off this Friday night.
Atlantic defeated Clarke last year in a week one game 47-33. The Indians must replace Jack Cooley, the quarterback who completed 61 percent of his passes for 2004 yards and 18 touchdowns as a senior one year ago. Ryan Diehl is the heir apparent, who enters the season with limited varsity experience.
Coach Clutter utilizes a trio of running backs, with Uriyah Fry and Alec Wright as the starting pair. According to Gobounds, neither of them had any carries a year ago. The Indians will have all new starters on the offensive line. Clutter mentions they have four returning starters on defense, including linebackers Brock Nall and Alec Wright, who each tallied around 30 tackles last year. Additionally, he is impressed by the speed of outside linebackers Uriyah Fry and William Santa-Cruz. Clutter is also optimistic about the defensive backfield, which includes Deegan Neese, Azahel Herrara, Tate Shriver, and Javier Munoz. The defensive line will consist of varsity newcomers.
Atlantic carries momentum from a week one 48-30 win over Council Bluffs, Jefferson in a Week Zero game last Friday night.
The kick-off is set for 7:30 at Trojan Bowl. We will have the broadcast on 95.7 F.M., and a live video streamed on westerniowatoday.com.
