This is a printer-friendly version of an article from Zip06.com.
01/11/2017 11:00 PMMcClay Marshall had a huge senior season on the ground for the East Haven football team by gaining 1,301 yards to go with nine touchdowns this past fall. McClay was coming off a solid junior year, but he got even more carries this season, and made the most of his chance by averaging 7.6 yards per run.
“The line obviously helped a lot with that. This year compared to last, I got my hands on the ball a lot more, so I had more opportunities to make something happen. I made a lot more happen with that and it means a lot,” says McClay. “I never thought I’d do nearly that playing in a tough division like we do. It means a lot to put up those kinds of numbers, but they came with a lot of help from the team.”
McClay’s offensive stats earned him a nod on the All-SCC Division II/III Team. It’s a great accolade for McClay, but it meant just as much to him to have been one of East Haven’s captains in his senior year.
“Being captain of a varsity football team is pretty big and I learned a lot,” says McClay. “I’ve normally been a quiet kid, but I can always use my voice more now than I have. My leadership abilities definitely progressed because, at the beginning, I didn’t know how to be a captain. As the season went on, I knew more of what to do and what being a captain entails.”
McClay rushed for 581 yards as a junior when Austin Thornberg was East Haven’s primary running back. McClay says he learned a lot from Thornberg, and Head Coach Melvin Wells says that McClay took on a lot of responsibility after Thornberg graduated.
“He did a great job of supporting the senior group. He’s the kind of kid you don’t ever have to talk to in terms of effort, which made it easy for us,” says Wells. “Moving forward into his senior year, he took it upon himself to be the workhorse we lost last year. He spent the offseason working as hard as he knew how to and came out on fire. He did some good stuff offensively, running, catching, and even throwing the football, and I’m looking forward to seeing him go play at the next level.”
McClay also runs the sprinting events for East Haven’s indoor and outdoor track teams. His greatest accomplishment thus far came in the winter of 2016, when the Yellowjackets’ 4x200 relay of McClay, Mike Griffith, Garrett Pates, and Jay Donaldson set school records with a time of 1:34.25 for a banked track and 1:34.72 on flat track. That group also went First Team All-State with their victory at the Class M State Championship.
“That means a lot between the records and All-State banner,” says McClay. “We were the first boys’ All-State in a while, so it definitely means a lot.”
As McClay narrows down his college selections, he says that he’d like to play football, but adds that he’s going to let academics determination his destination, and will play if the opportunity presents itself.
“I do want to play at the next level, but I’m not going to choose a school based off of football. I’m going to chose a school and see if I have the ability to play. If I do, I will,” says McClay. “One school I’m definitely looking at is Springfield College because I want to major in physical therapy and they have a great program. The recruiting process has been very exciting, but nerve-wracking at the same time...It’s definitely been fun. It’s made me nervous, but it’s been fun.”