John Raffel
Sports Scene
When the Clare football season ended in a regional loss to Morley Stanwood in early November, two long-time participants in the program also closed a chapter in their respective sports career.
Long-time coach Kelly Luplow coached his son Brent at quarterback the past two seasons and watched as the younger Luplow shattered several school records.
Meanwhile, working for yet another season on the sidelines was Reyna Luplow, the coach’s daughter, who has been a football team manager since the first grade.
During the winter, Reyna Luplow will be a key player on the Clare girls’ basketball squad. She was on last year’s team that went 24-1 and lost in the regional finals.
Brent and Reyna are two-thirds of the Luplow triplets. The third member is their sister Jillian, who is also involved in sports.
Reyna never played organized football, but she hasn’t missed a game since first grade and has maintained a keen interest in the high school program.
“We played football all the time when we were growing up,” she recalled of herself and her siblings. “We kind of wanted to be involved. Me, my brother, Todd Wysong, and Aaron Haynak have been on the field together since the first grade.”
The basketball season has Reyna excited and ready to go for the winter.
“I don’t have one solid area,” she said. “I’m there to make sure the (taller players) get the ball,” she said. “I like passing. That’s my main thing. I try to be a floor leader.”
A memorable sports moment for Reyna and the rest of her family was going 13-0 in 2009 and qualifying for the Division 5 state finals game at Ford Field.
“I’ve always looked up to the players,” Reyna said. “I had been wanting to go to Ford Field forever.”
Brent is playing for the boys basketball team this winter, but Pioneer football fans aren’t likely to forget his achievements on the gridiron for a long time.
Luplow was 111 of 187 for 1,698 yards and 17 touchdowns with only seven interceptions. Aaron Haynak caught a school record 65 receptions for 1,152 yards and 10 TDs. Todd Wysong had 23 catches for 303 yards and two TDs.
“We only had seven seniors on our team,” coach Luplow said. “Brent, Aaron, Todd, and all those guys worked hard all summer long. Aaron and Brent played in a lot of summer tournaments. Brent went to five (quarterback) camps during the summer.
“Aaron had a great year and so did Todd,” Luplow said.
It was an offense that saw running back Jackson Gross surpass 2,000 yards in 11 games and break the regular season record with more than 1,900 yards.
Gross’ presence helped to open up the passing game, Brent Luplow acknowledged.
“Teams would expect the run and we’d drop it off,” Luplow said.
Luplow passed for 320 yards in the season opener against Freeland, a game that the Pioneers lost. A win over Houghton Lake to end the regular season featured 281 yards from Luplow.
“We threw the ball around a lot,” said Luplow, who only threw four interceptions this season, including two late in the first half when the team was passing and trying to make things happen before the intermission. Fortunately, those pickoffs didn’t have an impact on the score.
Kelly Luplow, the 2011 Jack Pine Conference coach of the year, has been the Pioneers head coach for 24 seasons and 30 overall. He was quarterback durng his playing days at Clare and acknowledged it was gratifying to see his son excel at that same position.
“It was challenging at times,” Kelly Luplow said. “Off the field, it’s father and son. But in game situations, it’s coach and player.”
Brent’s hard work on his passing game earned the young Luplow all-conference honors as a quarterback.
“I don’t think I’ve had a quarterback in my 30 years at Clare that has thrown the ball as well as he has,” Kelly Luplow said.