NOAH’S ARC: Central Clarion’s Naser Finally Realizing Potential in Backfield After Two Difficult Years

CLARION, Pa. (EYT/D9) — Noah Naser remembers when he got hit, but nothing more.

It was Week 2 in 2021. The Central Clarion football team was playing Karns City at Diehl Stadium. Naser was a sophomore running back for the Wildcats.

And, bam!

That’s it. Everything else is a blank.

(Pictured above, Noah Naser runs onto the field at the start of the Central Clarion opener at Brookville last week. Naser had a breakout night, rushing for 88 yards and four touchdowns/Photo by Kirkland Photography)

“It was bad. It was bad,” Naser said. “It was a bad time for me.”

It was about to get worse.

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The concussion lingered. Naser, who was considered by the Central Clarion coaching staff as potentially the next great running back for the Wildcats, only got a smattering of carries the rest of the season.

Even less last season as a junior as he struggled with an ankle injury.

The physical ailments were one thing. What was going on inside Naser’s head was another. That, he says, was what was really holding him back.

“I just couldn’t mentally get tough enough to get past that,” Naser said. “I was just down on myself. I think I frustrated Coach Egg, too, because he saw so much potential in me. I wouldn’t say we butted heads, but we weren’t on the same page about things.

“It’s been a difficult couple of years,” added the senior who attends Clarion Area High School. “It’s always been a mental thing for me. I had to get past the mental thing, be coachable again. Listen to what he had to say. I’ve had concussions. I’ve been hurt. But it’s always been a mind game for me with football. It’s never been physical.”

Naser admitted that after his sophomore year, he did little in the offseason to get ready for the next campaign.

Actually, little may be an exaggeration.

“I did nothing,” Naser said. “Literally nothing. I wasted a whole offseason. I didn’t get bigger or stronger or faster or anything. And I could have helped the team. I didn’t want to do or feel that way again.”

Naser looked at his senior teammates last year, sullen after a loss to Westinghouse in the first round of PIAA Class 2A playoffs, and felt like he had let them down.

He felt the most for Ryan Hummell, who had played the season on a torn ACL and excelled.

And here was Naser, taking it all for granted.

“I was mad at myself,” he said.

Naser was going to be a senior and he had just 98 yards on 24 ho-hum carries to his credit in a Central Clarion uniform.

That did not sit well. At all.

“I thought, ‘This is my last year. I want to prove myself,’” Naser said. “I’m not proving it to other people. I’m proving it to myself. I’ve wasted two years now. I could have helped my team move farther into the season. Instead I was sitting being bummed out in the first round of the state playoffs.

“Part of it was looking at what Ryan Hummell did. Looking at all the seniors from last year and being bummed out because we got beat in the first round of the state playoffs when we were in that game. It was the realization that it’s my senior year and I might as well go as hard as I can and make it a great year. Just one great year for me.”

(Noah Naser breaks though a huge hole for Central Clarion/photo by Kirkland Photography)

So Naser did something this offseason. A lot of something.

He was a fixture in the weight room. He got healthy physically.

And he got right mentally, too.

It wasn’t easy, but Naser was determined to move post those lost seasons and have something — anything, really — to be proud of at the end of his high school football career.

In a scrimmage a week before the opener, the 5-foot-10, 175-pound back busted out on two 50-plus yard runs.

That carried over into Week 1 on Friday at Brookville, where Naser rushed for 88 yards and scored four touchdowns in a 49-27 road victory.

Finally, he was at least grazing his potential.

“It felt amazing, especially helping my team win and looking like my old self again,” Naser said. “This was how I played in junior high. I haven’t found that since then, since I got hit in the head my sophomore year. The first touchdown, I was like, ‘OK. Here we go.’ I was finding the fun in football again and that was just amazing.”

Eggleton has noticed.

He could see the frustration bubbling over in Naser over the last two years.

The coach has also seen the stark change in the senior running back/linebacker this season.

“He’s always been a kid we knew had a ton of potential, but he’s kind of had an injury-riddled two years,” Eggleton said. “As a freshman, we really thought he was gonna be the next star in the backfield. But his sophomore year, he got a concussion early and never truly recovered from that. His junior year, he had an ankle injury that just hampered him and he got frustrated with all that.

“He’s put a ton of work in. He put a ton of work in during the offseason and it’s paying for him.”

Naser hopes it keeps on paying.

In the film room, he is taking criticism now instead of bristling at it.

Naser said he realizes every player is always a work in progress.

He can always get better, as long as he accepts coaching with a smile instead of a snarl.

“Fix the mistakes I had last week, that’s all I’m trying to do, just some of the little things,” Naser said. “This year, it’s like , ‘All right, he’s just trying to make me a better running back because he knows what I can do.’ Last year I would have though Coach Egg was just angry at me.”

Naser said he is also blessed to run behind a big and experienced offensive line, which will be put to the test this week against another big and experienced line when Port Allegany comes to town.

“It’s awesome because we have Coleman Slater, who we all call ‘Smasher’ because he makes big holes for us. He just throws himself out there,” Naser said. “I’ll just say this is a running back’s dream. I mean, I play physical and I love running people over, but when I can just run as fast as I can and not be touched, I love that, too, and that’s all the offensive line.”

On Monday, Naser was already whipped into a frenzy.

If he could have, he would have suited up and hit the grass at Wiser Field, Clarion’s renovated on-campus stadium which will be named for longtime coach Larry Wiser, already.

That’s how different things are for Naser now.

He loves the game again.

“I know it’s only Monday, but, man, I’m excited,” Naser said. “I just have a good attitude now and that’s all Coach Egg wants from us, to have a good attitude and give 110%. That’s what I’m gonna do every time I walk on the football field because it’s my last time maybe doing this. The first day of camp was my last first day. Friday was my last first game. Maybe colleges come talk to me, but this whole year could be my last time playing football. It’s gonna hurt when I play my last game with these seniors.”


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