Dec 1, 2018 4 min read

Ed Dalton stopped the film, shut off the projector and went a different direction in a meeting that split morning and afternoon practices during football camp earlier this year.

In a time typically designated to either review the video of the morning’s practice or prepare for the afternoon session, Dalton, who just finished his 31st season as a head coach and seventh year at McGuffey, asked a question to those stuffed in the classroom.

It was for an exercise to highlight positive traits, ones that will better the program as a whole.

His first question was “Who is great?” It drew a response similar to an academic setting when everybody pretends like they didn’t hear the question, nobody raises their hand and almost everybody hopes another person gets called on for the answer.

There was only one hand that shot up. It wasn’t from a player or a coach. It was from a soon-to-be eighth grader, Phillip McCune, who spends time around the team during football camp with his father, assistant coach Scott McCune.

“It was an exhausting afternoon in a meeting nobody wanted to be at,” Dalton recalls. “There were no other hands up other than Phillip. So I asked Phillip, ‘Who is great?’ He said, ‘Christian Clutter is great.’ This is a kid, now in eighth grade, who watches practices and is seeing what he wants to be or what he wants to do. He saw it.”

Everybody saw what Clutter, the senior wingback and safety for McGuffey, could do this season as he beat numerous strong candidates to be named the Observer-Reporter Football Player of the Year.

Dominating in all facets of the game, especially in important conference and playoff games late in the season, Clutter scored a WPIAL-best 42 touchdowns. Averaging an amazing 11.47 yards per carry, Clutter finished the season with 1,548 rushing yards and 28 touchdowns. He also scored on half of his 18 pass receptions and had five scores on defense and special teams.

“I’ve done this since Christ walked the earth and there haven’t been more than five players I’ve coached that have been like him,” Dalton said. “On both sides of the ball, it was the best season for a player that I’ve ever coached.”

Dalton coached Brandon Overdorff, an assistant on last year’s McGuffey team and Indiana’s current head coach, when he scored 42 touchdowns in 15 games at Purchase Line in 1990.

“I thought nobody would achieve that,” Dalton said. “He is a once in a decade player. He is intelligent, tough, hard-working and dedicated. Kids look up to him. They are afraid of him but in a good way. He is a joy every day. I don’t know his fault.”

Clutter scored in five different ways: rushing, receiving, twice on defense, a punt return and a kickoff return. He scored when it matter most, too. Clutter scored 23 of McGuffey’s final 27 touchdowns of the season. In the five games the Highlanders played teams that qualified for the playoffs, he scored 22 touchdowns.

“I wanted to win as much as anyone,” Clutter said. “Scoring that many times didn’t matter if we didn’t win the game. When everything was on the line I just put it out there. I just played the game. Every game it was about showing up and being ready to play.”

Clutter performed his best in the biggest games for McGuffey, running for 120 yards against rival Washington and 266 in a first-round playoff loss to South Side Beaver. He was the only McGuffey player to score a touchdown in those games, playing with a heavy heart after the passing of his grandfather the day after McGuffey’s senior night.

“Everything that happened after he passed away was for him,” Clutter said. “I thought about the one thing he would want me to do if he was still here was score more touchdowns and play the game that I loved. That’s what I tried to do.”

While his contributions on offense led the Highlanders to the playoffs, the biggest performances by Clutter might have come on defense. The captain set the entire Highlanders defense, including splitting the coverage in the defensive backfield to navigating the defensive line.

He finished with 45 tackles and five stops behind the line of scrimmage from his safety position.

“We put so much responsibility on him,” Dalton said. “I don’t think we’ve ever had a player like him. He takes everything in stride. I just think he was really good at showing everybody how it should be done.”