Submitted Photo Youngsville graduate Logan McDonald, center, was recently presented with the Paul Clough Memorial Scholarship award given to an outstanding wrestler in Warren County. Shown presenting the award to McDonald are Jennifer Clough, Paul’s wife and Collin Clough, Paul’s son.

When former Youngsville wrestler and head coach Paul Clough passed away last March at the age of 40, his family knew it had an opportunity to make something positive grow out of a terrible situation.

The result was the Paul Clough Memorial Scholarship presented to an outstanding wrestler within Warren County. The first recipient of the award was Eisenhower’s Cael Black in 2022.

This year, the award was presented to Youngsville senior Logan McDonald.

McDonald started wrestling as a freshman and worked hard from the get go, a trait that the late Clough admired greatly. The recent graduate overcame several obstacles in becoming one of the cornerstones of the Eagles’ lineup the past two seasons. After narrowly missing out on the postseason as a freshman and having his sophomore campaign lost to COVID, McDonald bounced back with a vengeance in his junior and senior years.

As a junior, McDonald placed fifth at sections and qualified for districts as well where he finished in eighth. Not yet content, as a senior McDonald was the section runner-up and sixth at districts, allowing him to advance to the PIAA Northwest Regional tournament where his impressive season and career came to a close. He finished his career with 54 wins.

The award was presented to McDonald recently by members of Paul’s family, including his parents Dean and Caryll, his wife Jennifer, son Collin and daughter Lilly.

“My dad really liked Logan because he appreciated that Logan knew he was new and had to put in the work to reach the level he wanted to be,” said Collin. “Logan was very coachable and it wasn’t long before he was winning matches and improving drastically. He took criticism and made his adjustments, which my dad appreciated a lot. This year watching him in the postseason — especially against his (rival) Nate Stearns — I saw a fire in him. I saw a lot of myself and my dad. I have no doubt my dad was looking down watching him and would be very proud.”

The scholarship funds for the award come from monies given in the late coaches’ memory. If anyone would like to contribute monitarily, they can do so by sending it to the Paul Clough Memorial Fund, Community Foundation of Warren County, 310 2nd Ave., Warren, Pennsylvania, 16365.