The 2007-2008 Bison basketball team put together one of the best seasons
in school history recording a record of 19-8 and earning a trip to the
PIAA State Playoffs for the first time in 10 years. Clearfield watched
their magical season end at the hands of Meadville in one of the closest
games in the state tournament last season, 48-47.
“We made the playoffs for the first time in 10 years, and that was a big
step. I feel we have a chance to get back there this year, but the
conference will be tough. Bradford lost a lot of players and have
dropped off a little, but they had a good junior varsity team and should
still be good. St. Marys has probably the best starting five in the
conference and will create problems. I think it will be a race between
us and those two teams, also Elk County Catholic will be a tough league
team,” said Clearfield Head Coach Forrest Campman on the upcoming
season.
The Bisons should be poised for yet another run into the state playoffs
once again as they return 3 starters from last year, including
preseason all district selection Matt Shiner, who lead the Bisons with
17 points a game. Clearfield also returns the teams third leading scorer
Jarrin Campman who averaged just under 10 points a game. Also returning
as a starter this season is senior Parker Herrington who led the team
in assists last year.
“Jarrin, Parker, and Matt are great players. They are going to score
points and make things happen every game. We are relying on Matt to go
out and score 15 to 20 points a night, and if he doesn’t Jarrin and
Parker will have to fill the void,” commented Campman.
Perhaps one of the biggest holes the Bisons will have to fill this
season is the loss of Todd Hyrn to graduation. Hryn was the teams
second leading scorer last season and is now continuing his career as a
starting guard at University of Pitt-Greensburg. The loss of Hryn,
though, opens up an opportunity for younger players to step up and gain
more playing time this season.
Even with the loss of a key player the Bisons were able to gain another
player of good caliber through a transfer. Senior guard Jeremy Priester
transferred this season after starting the previous three years for
Harmony High School. Priester enters this season with over 700 career
points during his playing time with the Owls.
“Jeremy is an outstanding player. He is a slasher and can get to the
basket and score points. He is going to be a good addition to our team,”
said Campman
The Bisons open up this year\’s campaign with a home game against Harmony
Monday night in the Arthur J. Weiss Gymnasium.