Football
Favorite athlete: A.J. Brown
Favorite team: Eagles
Favorite memory competing in sports: Playing in the championship for Pee Wee against Marsh Creek
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: My first year of football ever was flag football, and I was going to score my touchdown. Nobody was around me and my flag fell out.
Music on playlist: Anything
Future plans: Work after high school and get my CDL
Words to live by: “Don’t count your days, make them count.”
One goal before turning 30: Own multiple properties
One thing people don’t know about me: I can ride a horse
By GORDON GLANTZ
When Tom Butts returned to his alma mater last season with a mission to resurrect the moribund Hatboro-Horsham football program, he knew the first step was changing the culture.
That meant players buying in. There was a small senior group that did it, but a larger group of juniors that helped spark a 5-5 regular season finish and a trip to the district playoffs.
“It was a little bit of everything,” said Butts. “We had a bunch of coaches that were in the building. We have five guys on staff that were in the building, so we recruited kids out of the hallways. But, honestly, the biggest change was the kids. They just bought into it. They didn’t have to trust us, but they trusted us. They bought into what we were selling. They did everything that we asked them to do, whether it was in the weight room
in the offseason or coming back at night and getting on the field for 7-on-7s. They gave us everything they had.”
Chief among that group was Michael Clauser, now a senior.
“This is only my second year back at the school,” said Butts. “I know he played a lot as a sophomore. Last year, he was a two-way starter for us.”
Although the roster may list Clauser as a running back/safety, his real position could be best described as a coach on the field, particularly on defense.
“He kind of sets the defense for us on the second level, as far as what coverage we are in,” said Butts. “We have checks, but they are checks that the kids need to know. He gets us into what coverages we need to be in, and whether he is staying up top or coming down into the box. He is the senior leader back there. He gets us where we need to be.”
Although the Hatters are currently 2-3, they are confident of matching, if not surpassing, last year’s success.
The second half of the 2024 schedule shows William Tennent, Springfield, Upper Moreland, Plymouth Whitemarsh and Wissahickon.
Clauser sees no reason there can’t be a strong finish, saying: “If we play our best football, we can win the rest of our games, but we have to play our best football to win them.”
Bulking Up
A year ago, it became clear that opponents were simply bigger and stronger than the Hatters.
Now? Not so much.
“Our kids crushed it in weight room this offseason,” said Butts. “(Clauser) never misses. He never misses anything. He is an all-football guy.”
Clauser, who is likely to get his commercial driver’s license and head into the working world after graduation, doesn’t plan to give up the gym, even if he gives up football.
It is has become too integral to who he is as a person.
“I like lifting weights,” said Clauser, who played baseball through middle school and ran track through last year to help keep him football shape. “That has always been fun for me. I like going to the gym. It helps a lot on the football field, but it just helps to keep my mind off things. After football season, I’m going to be at the gym every day.”
The Final Round
A part of Clauser’s current position on not playing collegiate football, despite drawing some interest and being an “A-B” student, is the toll the sport has taken on his body.
“I went to a West Chester camp, but I just get beat up every game,” said Clauser, who missed several games as a junior with a concussion. “I don’t know if I can take that.
“College ball is definitely a big commitment, too.”
Clauser missed Saturday’s 38-27 loss at Academy Park with a bad back sustained a week earlier against Upper Darby.
Watching from the sidelines was difficult. He tried to be supportive of his teammates but, ultimately, felt powerless.
“I wanted to be in there, especially because we lost,” he said, adding that he hoped to return to action in a week or two. “We had a couple of players go down in that game, too, so I really wanted to be in there.”
For the season, Clauser has 36 carries for 139 yards (3.8 average) and 4 receptions for 46 yards (11.4 average). Lining up at multiple spots on defense, he has 13 tackles.
However, his true impact can’t be measured in statistics. When Clauser does return to action, a major void will be filled.
“He has been great,” said Butts. “He is an absolute workhorse. He has a high football IQ. Offensively, he can play either halfback spot. Defensively, he is our strong safety. He is the absolute leader of our defense.”
Clauser has become a more vocal leader in the Butts era.
“I’m not a big talker, but I will get on kids,” said Clauser. “I will say stuff, but not as much as some others will. I lead more with my actions – by doing the right thing, doing what I’m supposed to do most of the time.”
Clauser was sort of a personification of an athlete in a once-proud program with two wins in the span of four years.
However, they were all business on the field. That included Clauser, in particular.
“Last year, it was kind of crazy, how quiet the entire team was,” said Butts. “They were as intense of a group of kids as I’ve ever been around, but they were just kind of super quiet. When they step onto the field, they are not talkative but, man, they get into their checks and get the communications down, as far as their verbal-visual of what they need to do.
“Michael kind of follows into that mode. He’s kind of a quiet kid off the field. When he gets on the field, he’s all business.”
Humble Beginnings
Clauser started playing competitive football for the Horsham Hawks.
He remembers when, at the flag football level, he was joyfully running for his first touchdown when his flag came loose and the ball was marked at the spot.
However, he remained undaunted. By the time he was done with youth football, Clauser got to play in a championship game against Marsh Creek from the Downingtown area.
“I might have been 12 or so,” he said. “The Horsham Hawks, we always had a good team. We never made it to the championship. That was the first time I remember making it that far with football, I guess. We didn’t end up winning, but it was a very good game against Marsh Creek. It was fun. It was the first big game I ever played in for football.”
His biggest fan along the way has been his dad, Steve, the owner of a local tree business.
“My father has always been there,” said Clauser, also giving a shout out to his mom, Debra, although her support has been more in the non-football realm. “My dad has been to almost every game, probably since I started playing. He just loves to watch me play football. If I didn’t play football, I don’t know what he would do.”
Meanwhile, like many of his teammates, HH assistant Ralph Rapino has been with Clauser since the Horsham Hawks days.
“I think he has coached me every year that I’ve played football,” said Clauser. “He knew how I could play. He knew what my talents. He is just a cool guy. Even outside of football, I just like him as a person as well.”
Clauser also gave credit to Butts and the rest of the staff for bringing about the aforementioned culture change at HH.
“Junior year, with the new coaches coming on, that is definitely when things changed,” he said. “It made football way more fun, being coached up and being able to win games. It was way better.
“Coming into a losing program, (Butts) just believed in us and kept running with it since.”
