A year ago this month, Bishop Luers was seeing its season end at the hands of the Eastside Blazers.
It was sectionals, and the Knights needed then-sophomore quarterback Carson Clark to step up. He didn’t, finishing 18-of-36 on the night and a pair of INTs in defeat.
Fast-forward a year and a lot has changed.
How much you ask?
Friday’s 56-49 victory for Bishop Luers (6-6) over Eastside saw a quarterback that once was timid play with confidence, someone who couldn’t read coverages pick up looks pre-snap and junior prove to the Blazers and to observers just how far he has come.
Clark and the Knights matched Eastside’s offensive attack, scoring time after time against an overmatched Blazers secondary, putting up the numbers to clinch the program’s 25th sectional crown.
The standout was Clark. Playing with swagger but not cockiness, the junior had a career night – finishing 21-of-29 for 354 yards and six touchdown passes while also rushing for a score.
“Without a doubt, he is a kid who has learned from his mistakes from a year ago,” Bishop Luers coach Kyle Lindsay said. “He is a kid who learns from his mistakes the series before.
“He comes to the sidelines after a perfect drive and wants to talk about the incompletion or the bad placing of a ball. That’s a sign of maturity and a very good quarterback.”
Clark threw just two touchdowns last season while getting picked off seven times. He threw into coverage, he made bad reads, he couldn’t just react without thinking. But he was learning.
Those harsh lessons have paid dividends in 2020. Clark has now thrown 26 TDs on the season with 10 INTs. The last five games he has been beyond exceptional, throwing 16 touchdowns without a pick.
Yet when you talk to Clark and his success, he is quick to bring up his failures.
“Last year I struggled reading defenses, I had happy feet in the pocket, I would just stare guys down,” Clark said. “Last year I threw a pick-six on a slant that I threw three seconds late. The mental part of the game and taking what defenses give me was something I had to understand. Make the game simple instead of complicated.”
Clark did plenty of that on Friday. He connected with Brody Glenn for four touchdowns and Nick Thompson and Krashaun Menson once each in the win.
But perhaps the most impressive play came in the fourth quarter, made not with Clark’s arm but his legs.
Eastside was within a score and had momentum defensively with the Knights facing a 3rd-and-long. The Blazers (10-2) were able to get pressure on Clark, who shook off a sack attempt, stepped up in the pocket then took off, picking up enough for the first down.
That drive ended in a touchdown to put Bishop Luers back up two scores.
“Last year, he takes a sack on that play and we punt,” Lindsay said. “Credit Eastside and (Coach Todd Mason) they have built a program, and the pressure was on there because that teams makes you make plays, and Carson made something happen.”
Many factors went in to Bishop Luers exacting revenge upon the team that knocked it out of the postseason a year ago, but none bigger than Clark. His development over the course of close to 370 days has helped the Knights’ offense become highly potent and able to outscore the foe it scored just six points against in 2019.
But Clark embraces his imperfections, quickly speaking in postgame about the plays he didn’t make rather than the ones he did.
But one thing is for sure, the junior QB for the Knights has a lot more positives to talk about than a year ago – both individually and collectively.
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