Noah Clark switching schools and switching sports
Noah Clark (12) was an All-Ohio quarterback at West Holmes, and will take up the sport again this coming season at The College of Wooster. Wooster head coach Frank Colaprete compared Clark's abilities to those of Gary Muntean, a Scots quarterback who passed for over 8,000 yards from 2014-17.
West Holmes graduate Noah Clark realized this spring that home is where his heart is.
And, that football is his true love when it comes to athletics.
With those factors in mind, Clark was thrilled to announce on March 27 that he’s transferring from Marietta College, where he was a pitcher on the baseball team, to The College of Wooster to play football.
The Fighting Scots graduated four-year starter Mateo Renteria and Clark will compete to take over right away as the quarterback. The 5-foot-11, 190-pounder will have four years of eligibility.
“I just really missed the culture of playing on a football team,” Clark said. “It's completely different.
“Pitching is fun, but I missed playing quarterback. It’s going to be awesome playing for The College of Wooster. (Head) Coach (Frank) Colaprete and (assistant) Coach (Zach) Dennis have been great during this whole process.”
Although Clark said he enjoyed being a part of the Marietta baseball team, he also missed his family.
“I was dealing with some arm issues from going about a year straight throwing the baseball without stopping and I missed being at home and seeing my family,” said Clark, a 2022 West Holmes graduate, who was a first-team All-Ohio quarterback after leading the best team in school history to a 14-1 record and the Div. III Final Four in 2021. “I've always been a rival of Wooster so it's gonna be kind of different wearing it on my chest. But being able to come back home, play in front of my family, friends and people who have supported me my entire life, is just gonna mean everything to me.”
Colaprete and Dennis recruited Clark while he was in high school, but understood when he chose to pursue baseball.
Clark was the Ohio Cardinal Conference co-Pitcher of the Year in 2022 after going 7-4 with a 0.64 ERA, 80 strikeouts and 33 walks in 65⅔ innings pitched. At this point, Clark is just planning to play football at Wooster.
“After baseball practice one day, I called up coach Dennis and asked if there would still be an opportunity for me to play football for Wooster,” Clark said. “I just wanted to learn more about it.
“He said, ‘The door’s wide open. We just graduated an All-American quarterback.’ It's not an easy process to transfer colleges, but the Wooster coaches have been super supportive. My mindset right now is (Renteria) is who I need to replace.”
Colaprete said he “loves” the addition of Clark.
“Noah is a heckuva young man and a great athlete,” said Colaprete, whose teams have gone 6-4, 6-4, 6-4, 5-5 and 6-4 going back to 2017. “We’re extremely excited to work with him. He’s as tough as nails mentally and physically. Everyone who he’s played with and been coached by, or played against knows that he’s a winner.”
Clark’s skillset is comparable to Gary Muntean, who passed for 8,295 career yards from 2014-17 and ranks second behind Renteria (10,083) in the Scots’ all-time record book, Colaprete said.
“Noah reminds me of Gary, both having strong baseball backgrounds,” Colaprete said. “Noah has a strong arm, he’s accurate and knows how to read coverages. We’ve had a winning tradition here, but Noah has the potential to put us over the top to be a championship team.
Despite the extremely high praise for Clark, Colaprete insisted it will truly be an open competition for the quarterback job.
“Nothing has been promised to Noah and I’m sure he wouldn’t want it any other way,” Colaprete said. “We’re excited to see what happens.”