If there was ever a question as to the far-reaching effects of high school football, you need look no further than Kenston senior Cohen Clark. Sitting in a Mexican restaurant in Kingsport, Tenn., back in March 2020, Clark glanced over the options his family had about where to move after father, Jason, had taken a job in Northeast Ohio. Then a seventh-grader, Clark bristled uncomfortably in his seat over the pending move, remembering how difficult it was to leave all of his friends when the family moved from Michigan to Tennessee a handful of years earlier. Related Articles High school football: Conference outlook for the 2024 season High school football 2024 day-by-day schedule High school volleyball preseason Top of the Crop 2024 Division III, Region 9 football projection Kenston volleyball: Bombers aiming high again after regional round appearance a season ago “It’s tough moving,” Clark said.”It’s tough leaving your home and leaving everything behind.” There were plenty of options that would put the family near the workplace of his father, a specialist in business marketing. Town names he had never heard of, places such as Solon and Chagrin Falls, were brought up. Then Clark found an article online about a town “up there” that had recently won a state championship in football. Four years have passed since the day Cohen Clark pointed to the Kenston Local Schools district as the place he hoped 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 what a rousing success it has become. When Kenston kicks off its 2024 season on Aug. 23 against West Geauga, it will do so with Clark starting at running back, the position he has fought and waited for ever since arriving in Northeast Ohio. He has scrapped and clawed on special teams and in backup roles for four years, and how he’s THE dude in Kenston’s backfield one year after ran for 574 yards and six touchdowns as the backup for two-time All-Ohioan Sean Patrick. It all started with a roll of the dice while sitting in a Mexican restaurant 471 miles away. “I read an article about Kenston and, shoot, four years later I’m a senior here,” Clark said. “I wouldn’t trade any of it. It feels like destiny, almost. … Kenston football opened their arms to me. It’s become my second home.” Cohen Clark of @Bomber_Football remembers the day he and his family decided to move to Northeastern, Ohio when his dad’s job brought him here pic.twitter.com/YUDUsr4luo — News-Herald preps (@NHPreps) August 18, 2024 Clark was all fired up and excited for his first day of school at his new home in Ohio in March 2020 when his new school sent out a message that spring classes would be pushed back because of a new illness that had come to America — the novel coronavirus. A week later, in-person classes for the rest of the school year were wiped out completely. “I never got to go to school,” Clark said. “I took online classes. Makes it hard to make new friends. The only people I talked to were people on video games.” It wasn’t until August of his eighth grade year that things really started to come together, when he met up with guys like Tymir Cardona, Dylan Krupp, Ethan Ballentine, Sam Meeks and Charlie Thompson — all among his current senior teammates at Kenston. If Clark was going to fit it, make new friends and open eyes of his new coaches, he was going to have to leave a good impression, he said. So he jumped in on every drill. He worked his butt off. Wherever the coaches needed a body, there was the new kid in town. By the time he was a freshman, Cohen Clark had earn playing time on special teams, first on kickoff coverage and kickoff return. They were roles he embraced. His special teams roles continued to increase into his sophomore year, where he also got to play tight end. Cohen Clark of @Bomber_Football discusses the challenge of moving schools and finding his place in his new home. He said he would not trade it for the world. pic.twitter.com/cpZSn5NqpX — News-Herald preps (@NHPreps) August 18, 2024 “Special teams is really where I focused my time because it was how I could get on the field,” Clark said. “It’s humbling moving up to high school at a new place. You’ve got to work hard. I had to get accustomed to a new area and the only way I could impress coaches as by showing up and going hard.” Coach Jeff Grubich and his staff learned of it rather quickly. “He’s a hard-working kid,” Grubich said. “He’s a blue-collar kid. He’s getting what he’s earned. He’s reaping the rewards of the hard work he’s put in. The best thing about him is he takes coaching.” Year by 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 change-of-pace, backup running back behind Patrick, including back-to-back 100-yard games against North to end the regular season and then Dover in the Division III, Region 9 playoffs. He ended the season averaging a gaudy 7.1 yards per carry (81 carries for 574 yards). “I don’t think anybody expected that, maybe even myself,” Clark said. “I knew what I could do but nobody else really did. That’s the part about coming in with a chip on your shoulder. It’s a beast when people are doubting you.” Said Grubich, “It’d be easy to tap out when you’ve got an All-Ohio kid like Sean Patrick ahead of you two years in a row, but Cohen is a team player. He knows what our team is about, the family concept. He buys into it and now he’s one of the leaders of this team. “Anyone who thinks our running game falls off because Sean graduated has another thing coming. Cohen’s a big part of that.” As the start of the 2024 season edges closer, Clark embraces the challenge ahead of him and his Kenston teammates. When you combine the experience he’s gained over the past handful of years with the guys — his new friends — around him such as 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 starting running back, but I have a lot of experience under my belt in varsity situations. I feel I’m ready for this.” Clark smiled thinking about his journey from Michigan to Tennessee to Northeast Ohio. Moving, making new friends and a pandemic didn’t make things easy, but he reiterated he would not change a step of his journey. Football with the Kenston Bombers is a big reason why he has no regrets. “I really couldn’t ask for a better situation to be put in here at Kenston, Geauga County and the surrounding area,” he said. “I love it here. I really do.”