Paul Clark is all about state championships.
He has already been part of two state titles with Crown Point’s boys wrestling team, which could be in position for a three-peat, and he’s viewed as the favorite at 285 pounds after finishing third last season.
But nothing would mean more to the 6-foot-4, 265-pound senior lineman than winning a state title in football.
“The best one is football,” Clark said. “Wrestling’s more of an individual sport. There’s less variables. It’s not easy to win a state title in wrestling. But in football, you have to have the whole team bought in. The state titles in wrestling feel great. But the football state title would feel better than any of the wrestling titles.”
The history-making nature of the football team’s run also factors into the equation.
Crown Point (13-0), which ended the regular season ranked No. 4 in Class 6A by The Associated Press and No. 5 by the coaches, is making its first appearance in a state championship game and is the only newcomer among the 12 finalists.
The Bulldogs, who will play No. 3/2 Indianapolis Ben Davis (12-1) at 6 p.m. Saturday at Lucas Oil Stadium, are the first Region team to reach the Class 6A final since the expansion to six classes for the 2013 season. They’re also the first Region team to make it to the state final in the largest class since 2001, when Valparaiso finished as the 5A runner-up to perennial power Ben Davis.
Before the Vikings, the last Region team to make the state final in the largest class was Portage in 1994 under Craig Buzea, who was in his first season coaching the team. He has led Crown Point there in his third season.
“It’s incredible,” Buzea said. “To come full circle 29 years later, it’s surreal.”
Clark has been instrumental in making that a reality. He was a standout defensive end last season, finishing with 27 tackles, including 12 for loss. But with only one returning starter on the offensive line — senior Jeff Meschede, who tore the ACL in his left knee in January and was sidelined until early August — it was an area of need for the Bulldogs. So Clark moved to offensive tackle.
“Paul went through a position change this year, and not because of his choice but of our choice,” Buzea said. “We really had to talk to him and be open about what’s best for our team. I don’t think he bought in initially. He was hoping we were going to say, like, ‘Hey, you’re going back to defense.’ But we didn’t, and we weren’t going to because he’s too talented of a player.
“We spot him on defense. But he’s 100% an offensive player. We just felt we needed a statement figure on our offensive line because we lost so many from last year, and he was it. We needed somebody who had a little bit of presence and work ethic that the young guys on our offensive line could learn from.”
Clark acknowledged he wasn’t completely sold on playing offense at first.
After all, he said he “never played O-line in my life,” save for one game on the freshman team when a tackle was hurt. He had been a defensive end since he started playing football, taking over a starting spot for the Bulldogs midway through his sophomore season.
“I was like 50-50,” Clark said. “I still wanted to play defense. But as the season went on, I started picking it up, all the little stuff, the technique, all the stuff that was really hard in the beginning.
“I didn’t know how it was going to go, and the beginning of the season was really rocky. But I worked really hard, and I’ve been getting better every week. We have a great group of O-linemen. All of us are motivated for a common goal, and that makes it easier to get better.”
Clark’s college recruitment helped turn the tide. He received his first offer from Ball State in May — as a center. Buffalo also envisioned him at that position and offered, and he and his twin brother, Will, a linebacker, announced their commitments to the Bulls on Aug. 1.
“I never snapped a ball in a game,” Clark said. “Never snapped a ball in a game. My brother actually snapped the ball more times than me. He played center for like three games freshman year because our center got hurt. It’s funny.”
Buzea wasn’t surprised how the situation unfolded.
“He started seeing the writing on the wall, like, ‘Hey, my future is going to be playing on the offensive line,'” Buzea said. “That helped him understand why we were doing it.
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“In our scheme, he’s fantastic as a defensive end. But we always knew he’d probably be an offensive player, just in regards to his body and what they’re looking for at the next level.”
Another turning point for Clark occurred late in the regular season. He recalled allowing two sacks against Chesterton in a Duneland Athletic Conference game on Oct. 6, precipitating a heart-to-heart conversation with Crown Point’s highly respected offensive line coach, Tom Cicero.
“I started rolling, then that happened,” Clark said. “I had a talk with coach Cicero, and after that, it just flipped. It’s been going great, really well since that game.
“He just talked to me about my motivation at the offensive line spot. Did I really want to do it? And I did. I had started liking it well before that point, but it wasn’t really flipping. But I just saw how well the team was doing as a whole, and I just wanted to bring myself up to that level after that talk. I went up to that next gear.”
Buzea has noticed the difference.
“He struggled early, there’s no question about it,” Buzea said. “His wrestling mentality lends itself to more of a defensive player because you’re always leaning forward and trying to go forward, where as an offensive player that’s not what we want him to do.
“He’s gotten much better at pass protection. He’s definitely our best down blocker, which we do a lot. He’s the guy who’s really in charge of caving down the defensive line when we’re looking to run our down scheme. His improvement has been fantastic, and he’s really going to excel at the spot at the next level.”
Clark has helped pave the way for Crown Point to average 37.9 points and for monster seasons by junior quarterback Noah Ehrlich and junior running back Larry Ellison. Ehrlich has set program records with 150 completions, 2,236 yards and 27 touchdown passes, and Ellison has rushed for 1,776 yards and 26 TDs.
“We needed to find guys, and as a group, they’ve done an unbelievable job,” Buzea said of the offensive line. “Anytime you have a quarterback who’s done what he has and a running back who’s done what he has, it’s a tribute to the offensive line.”
Meschede also paid tribute to Clark and his development.
“It’s quite impressive,” Meschede said. “The strides he’s made from the summer until now, it’s astounding. His technical ability — he started out, and I had to remind him of all of these little things. And now, every time, it’s really good. It’s always really good.”
Clark recounted his playing time on defense this season: one snap against Valparaiso, seven against Lafayette Jefferson, three series against Westfield. He did it matter-of-factly, without wistfulness.
Clark, who said he attended his first Crown Point game in fourth grade and followed the team from an even earlier age, appreciates the bigger picture.
“I’ve been dreaming about this my whole life,” he said. “Ever since I watched my first Crown Point football game, I just wanted to play in the state championship game. It’s a great experience to be able to do this.”