BREWER, Maine — Alec Clark rarely touched the football during his four-year career at Winslow High School.
But his presence near the line of scrimmage where the contact is constant and the rewards are more subtle has been a cornerstone of the Black Raiders’ string of back-to-back Class C state championships and four straight regional titles.
Clark, a 5-foot-10, 200-pound senior offensive guard and middle linebacker, was honored for that effort Sunday as he was named the Big Ten Conference (Class C North) player of the year during the league’s annual awards banquet.
A four-year starter on defense and a three-year starter on offense, Clark was named to the all-conference first team on both sides of the ball for the second straight year after earning first-team laurels on defense and second-team honors on offense as a sophomore playing for longtime Winslow coach Mike Siviski.
This year, Clark led a defense that posted seven shutouts while yielding just 27 points during the regular season and 64 points overall as Winslow completed its second straight undefeated season and stretched its winning streak over that span to 22 games.
Offensively he helped the Black Raiders average 44.7 points per contest this fall, an effort capped off by their 24-10 victory over Yarmouth in the Class C state final.
Clark was selected from a field of player-of-the-year nominees that included Marlin Hansen of Belfast, Brandon Brock of Foxcroft Academy in Dover-Foxcroft, Tyler Hatch of Hermon, Spencer Baron of John Bapst of Bangor, Nick Morales of Madison/Carrabec, Taner Bickford of Mount Desert Island of Bar Harbor, Riley Sprague from Oceanside of Rockland/Thomaston, Andre Miller of Old Town and Demetrius Ramirez of Waterville.
Clark was one of three Big Ten players to earn first-team, all-conference status on both offense and defense along with two other linemen, Winslow two-way tackle Nat Beckwith and defensive tackle/offensive guard Josh Rackliff of Madison/Carrabec.
MDI’s Mark Shields was named the Big Ten Coach of the Year. He guided the Trojans to a 6-2 regular-season record and a berth in the conference semifinals before they fell to Winslow 21-0.
Mark Arnold, a member of Shields’ staff, was named the league’s assistant coach of the year.
