By Andy Hutchison

WESTPORT — Twins Sean and Owen Clarke, longtime fixtures in Westport’s PAL and Staples High School football programs, have continued their careers at the collegiate level, while dad Ron Clarke holds a position with the Wreckers’ coaching staff.

Sean puts on the pads as a tight end at the University of Richmond and Owen laces up the cleats as a defensive end at Brown University.

Sean also played baseball and basketball during his days at Staples. Owen was also a standout rugby player, wrestler and baseball player. Owen earned All America accolades and was a two-time All State rugby player. He competed for the U.S. National Rugby Team.

The twins have continued to follow a similar football and academic path, with some variation, following their Staples days. Both Sean and Owen did post-grad years, Sean at Suffield and Owen at Choate Rosemary Hall. This was done since both were seniors when COVID hit and mostly missed out on the campaign which had only four games. The extra year of schooling before college gave the then 17-year-olds a chance to further develop their football skills and improve their already strong academic standings.

The twins are among five of Susan and Ron’s children; their siblings are Aidan, Kieran and Sean. 

Athletics runs in the family. Aidan and Kieran also both played football at Staples and there are well over 20 varsity letters between the four former Wreckers. Aidan also played rugby and received a grant to play at Furman University. Kieran also wrestled at Staples, was captain of the wrestling team, and following a strong senior season as one of the best grapplers in the state at 170 pounds, went on to club wrestle at the collegiate level.

Here is a look at the careers of Sean and Owen as the twins reflect on their playing days together and carry on the football tradition at their respective schools:

Touchdown for Sean at Richmond

Sean started playing football for PAL in seventh grade. He was an offensive lineman in year one and moved to tight end as an eighth grader. A wide receiver and safety his freshman year, Sean went on to play wide receiver and linebacker in both his sophomore and junior years. In his senior year Sean was captain; he continued to play wide receiver and also was a defensive end in an abbreviated campaign.

“Due to COVID my senior year we were not able to play a full season which hurt my recruiting. So I took a post-grad year at Suffield Academy and played receiver and linebacker at Suffield,” he said.

Sean earned All NEPSAC (New England Preparatory School Athletic Council) accolades during his season at Suffield.

The extra year proved beneficial, and the previous seasons at Staples hold a special place in Sean’s heart.

“I loved every moment playing at staples and had a strong sense of school pride. I think the students, coaches and faculty all make it a very fun place to play and create a strong sense of community around the team. Playing with my brother was an awesome honor as well. We were both captains our senior year and played similar positions on both sides of the ball. So getting to see him make a big play or celebrate with him when I made a big play was an awesome experience,” Sean said.

Speaking of awesome experiences, Sean caught his first touchdown pass in a game against Michigan State this year. A red-shirt freshman (a sophomore academically), the 6-foot-4, 245-pound football player is pursuing a degree in PPEL (philosophy, politics, economics and law) with a focus on political science and a minor in History. 

“I have loved college football so far. It is a huge commitment as most of your time during the week is given to football and there never really is an off-season. Your fall, winter, spring and summer are all football. An average day during the season would contain practice in the morning, then classes throughout the day. After classes depending on the day you will have a lift or a position group meeting to watch film and prepare for the opponent on Saturday,” Sean said.

Richmond had a great season and went 9-3 before falling to Albany in the NCAA Divisional Round playoff matchup on Dec. 2.

Owen suits up for all 10 at Brown

Owen started his playing days as a fourth-grader in the PAL program. He played offensive line, defense end and outside linebacker over the years and continued playing with PAL all the way through eighth grade.

“I spent those years looking up to my older brothers and everyone on the Staples football team,” he said.

On the freshman team, Owen started as a middle linebacker and tight end and was a team captain. As a sophomore, he was an outside linebacker and tight end on the JV team and played on the kickoff unit; he also saw some time at outside linebacker on the varsity team. In his junior year, Owen played defensive end for the varsity team and started in all 10 games. A defensive end and tight end in his abbreviated senior campaign, the captain earned some hardware. 

Owen won the O’Leary Award, which is awarded to a senior defensive player who has skill and leadership qualities consistent with outstanding performance on the field and in the classroom weekly.

“Playing for Staples was always a dream of mine so I loved every second as a Wrecker. Having Sean as a fellow captain and playing with Sean for the majority of my football career was awesome. It is nice to always have someone who you trust and constantly feel like you are on the same page with on the field with you. 

“As a freshman, we had a trick play where I caught a screen pass and then threw the ball downfield to one of the receivers. When we ran the play in a game a defender read the play and was on top of me the second I caught the ball. All I had the chance to do was huck the ball in the general direction of Sean and he was able to catch the ball and make the play,” Owen said.

Owen is a 6-foot-3, 230-pound is sophomore defensive end at Brown. Although he did not play as a freshman, Owen got in all 10 games this past fall, recording 12 tackles, one for a loss of yardage at Cornell, and got his first start against UPenn during the campaign which ended with a 5-5 mark.

Owen is planning on majoring in international and political affairs.

“College football has been an awesome and challenging experience. It is very different from Staples in the way that everything is just much faster and more intense. Skill level, practice and game speed, film, lifts and meetings are all a lot more intense and require extreme amounts of focus and effort,” Owen said.

College football is quite a time commitment and consumes hours before and after classes each day. 

“In season we usually have a lift or team meeting in the morning between 6:30 and 7:30. We then have our classes and treatment between 8 and 2. Pre-practice meetings begin from 2:30 to 3 and practice is from 4:10 to 6:10,” he said.

All of the hard work the twins put into their sport is worthwhile since they have a long-established passion for the game.

Andy Hutchison has been covering school sports — including Staples athletics — as well as news and feature stories in Fairfield County, since the 1990s.