COACHING LEGEND: Wiser Field Ceremony Will Highlight Special Night at Clarion Area High School on Friday

CLARION, Pa. (EYT/D9) — The bleachers will be full.

Fans will line the fence in a loop around the field. The bands will play, the notes echoing off the tree line. Former Clarion Area High School football greats will be in attendance.

This Friday night will be a special one for Central Clarion football.

But the evening will certainly belong to Larry Wiser.

(Pictured above, Larry Wiser talks with his Clarion team. The longtime coach will be honored at a pregame ceremony on Friday with the renovated stadium at Clarion Area High School being named Wiser Field)

The longtime Clarion and Central Clarion football coach will have the renovated stadium behind the high school named Wiser Field after him during a ceremony before the Wildcats take on Port Allegany at 7 p.m.

“I’m excited for him,” said Central Clarion head football coach Dave Eggleton. “He had such a great career. He was Clarion football. When you think of Clarion football, when you think of Bobcat football, there’s no other name that would ever come to your mind other than Larry Wiser. It’s definitely a well-deserved honor to name a field that he won hundreds of games on after him.”

Central Clarion football coverage on Explore and D9Sports.com is brought to you by Redbank Chevrolet and DuBrook.

Wiser carved out two successful stints as the Clarion football coach.

He was 237-103-1 in his career at Clarion, first from 1988 to 2009 and then from 2011 to 2019. He spent 2020 as the Central Clarion coach in the first year of the three school co-op between Clarion, North Clarion and Clarion-Limestone before retiring.

Wiser’s teams won District 9 championships in Class A in 1997, 2009, 2013 and one in Class 2A in 2017.

“It’s hard to even put into words what it means to me personally,” Wiser said on the night he found out that his name would don the renovated stadium. “My eyes definitely teared up.”

(Wiser Field)

Port Allegany coach Justin Bienkowski said he is looking forward to being there to see Wiser honored.

The defending District 9 Class A champs relish the chance to take on the defending district Class 2A champs on such a special night.

“I’ve had the opportunity to talk to him a couple of times and coached against him when we played when I was an assistant,” Bienkowski said. “It’s pretty cool to be a part of it. Coach Wiser is part of football history in District 9 and in Pennsylvania.”

Central Clarion football coverage on Explore and D9Sports.com is brought to you by Redbank Chevrolet and DuBrook.