If there was ever any doubt about the far-reaching impact of high school football, look no further than Kenston sophomore Cohen Clark.
In March 2020, Clark was sitting in a Mexican restaurant in Kingsport, Tennessee, considering his family’s options for where to move after father Jason took a job in northeast Ohio. Clark, then a seventh-grader, sat uncomfortably in his chair about the impending move, remembering how hard it had been to leave all his friends behind when the family moved from Michigan to Tennessee a few years earlier.
“Moving is hard,” Clark said. “It’s hard to leave your home and leave everything behind.”
There were plenty of opportunities to bring the family closer to where his father, a corporate marketing specialist, worked. Town names he’d never heard of, like Solon and Chagrin Falls, came into play. Then Clark found an article online about a town “up there” that had recently won a state football championship.
Four years have passed since Cohen Clark identified the Kenston Local Schools district as the place where his family would settle in Northeast Ohio. For four years, Clark did everything he could to fit in socially and athletically at his new school, and it became a resounding success.
When Kenston begins the 2024 season on Aug. 23 against West Geauga, Clark will start at running back, the position he has fought and waited for since arriving in Northeast Ohio. He has battled his way through four years on special teams and as a backup and is THE guy in Kenston’s backfield after rushing for 574 yards and six touchdowns a year earlier as a backup to two-time All-Ohioan Sean Patrick.
It all started with a roll of the dice in a Mexican restaurant 756 kilometers away.
“I read an article about Kenston and, damn it, four years later, I’m in my senior year here,” Clark said. “I wouldn’t trade any of it. It almost feels like destiny. … The Kenston soccer club welcomed me with open arms. It’s become my second home.”
Clark was excited for his first day of school in his new home in Ohio in March 2020 when his new school sent out the news that spring classes would be postponed because of a new disease that had emerged in America – the novel coronavirus.
A week later, face-to-face teaching was completely cancelled for the remainder of the school year.
“I never went to school,” Clark said. “I took online courses. That makes it hard to make new friends. The only people I talked to were people who played video games.”
It wasn’t until August of his eighth-grade year that things really started to come together, when he met the likes of Tymir Cardona, Dylan Krupp, Ethan Ballentine, Sam Meeks and Charlie Thompson – all of his current major league teammates at Kenston.
If Clark wanted to fit in, make new friends and get the attention of his new coaches, he had to make a good impression, he said. So he threw himself into every practice. He worked like crazy. Wherever the coaches needed someone, the new guy in town was there.
As a freshman, Cohen Clark earned playing time on special teams, initially in kickoff coverage and kickoff return. He enjoyed those roles. In his sophomore year, he was used more and more on special teams, where he also got to play as a tight end.
“I really focused on special teams because that’s how I could get on the field,” Clark said. “It’s humbling going to a new place in high school. You have to work hard. I had to get used to a new environment and the only way to impress the coaches was to show up and work hard.”
Coach Jeff Grubich and his staff learned about it pretty quickly.
“He’s a hard-working kid,” Grubich said. “He’s a working-class kid. He gets what he deserves. He reaps the rewards of his hard work. The best thing about him is that he takes coaching.”
Year after year, Clark’s work ethic and willingness to play any position continued to pay off. As a junior last fall, he had his best season yet, serving as a relief and backup running back behind Patrick, including two consecutive 100-yard games against North to close the regular season and then against Dover in the Division III, Region 9 playoffs.
He finished the season with an impressive average of 7.1 yards per carry (81 carries for 574 yards).
“I don’t think anyone expected this, maybe not even myself,” Clark said. “I knew what I could do, but no one else knew. That’s the problem when you go into it with a grudge. It’s awful when people doubt you.”
Grubich said, “It would be easy to give up when you have an All-Ohio player like Sean Patrick in front of you two years in a row, but Cohen is a team player. He knows what our team is about, the family concept. He believes in it and is now one of the leaders of this team.”
“Anyone who thinks our running game is slowing down because Sean graduated is wrong. Cohen is a big part of that.”
As the start of the 2024 season draws ever closer, Clark is embracing the challenge that lies before him and his Kenston teammates. When you combine the experience he’s gained over the last few years with the guys – his new friends – around him, like Cardona, Thompson, Ballentine, Krupp, Meeks and Kenston quarterback Lucas Kaltenbach, it’s a dangerous combination.
“I’ve played a lot of positions,” he said. “I know the game. I know the format. I know our offense. This is my first year as a starting running back, but I’ve had a lot of experience in varsity situations. I feel ready for this.”
Clark smiled as he thought about his journey from Michigan to Tennessee to northeast Ohio. Relocating, making new friends and a pandemic didn’t make things easy, but he reiterated that he wouldn’t change a step of his journey.
His football career with the Kenston Bombers is an important reason why he has no regrets.
“I really couldn’t ask for a better situation here in Kenston, Geauga County and the surrounding area,” he said. “I love it here. I really do.”
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