LAMBERT, MT – This past Independence Day the 24th annual CanAm Bowl was played on American soil for the first time in the 25-year history of the event with four players from Wyoming–one from Fremont County–participating in the football game against our brothers from the north.
The 6-man All-Star football game pits some of the best Wyoming high school senior football players that have recently-graduated and pits them against Canada’s (Alberta & Saskatchewan). Alongside Wyoming’s players are athletes from Colorado, Montana, Nebraska and Texas.
One person that was lucky, and skilled, enough to participate in such a fun annual event was Dubois’ Max Claar. The 6’2”, 230 pound running back and defensive end for the Rams really showed out this season, but not just in football.
The multi-sport athlete has made his name known across Fremont County, and Wyoming for that matter, as he broke a handful of records in track and field for his high school as well as helped lead his team to a 22-3 record in basketball last season, including an undefeated 6–0 record in the 1A Northwest conference.
Some of those track and field records that Claar holds are impressive, especially considering they don’t all necessarily have to do with the speed that Claar clearly carries with him everywhere. He currently has the furthest distance thrown in the shot put in Dubois High School history with a final length of 45-feet and 3.25-inches. He also is second all-time in the discus (1.6 kg) throw for Dubois with a final throw of 130’11”.
Aside from those records he also has helped two separate 4×400-meter relay teams reach new heights with two of the top-five times in that event having his name in the second-runner spot. He also holds a top-20 spot in the 100m dash and a top-13 spot in the 400m dash.
But back to football, because that is ultimately where Claar has shined over the past month since school has ended. Not only did he play for the American team in the CanAm Bowl but he was also part of the Wyoming All-Star football team during the annual Wyoming–Nebraska All-Star game which Wyoming won 68-44.
The stats he has brought in over the past month in both the Wyoming–Nebraska game and the CanAm Bowl don’t add to his actual stat total from this past year, which was a stout 4.3 yards per carry when he got the ball in the backfield. He totaled 38 rushing touchdowns in his four years at Dubois but this previous year he got into the receiving game much more, averaging 19.3 yards per catch and adding up eight TDs to bring his grand total to 14 receiving TDs in four seasons.
In this year’s CanAm Bowl, which was on this side of the border for the first time since the event began way back in 1997, Claar helped Wyoming blow out Canada by running in a short touchdown run and helped make some serious stops on defense.
The game was eventually won by America by a score of 71–30 but it didn’t start out that way. Canada actually held the lead midway through the second quarter, 18–16, but after America found the endzone with 36 seconds left in the first half it was all U.S.A. till the final whistle blew.
Claar and the American team would score 53 straight points to put the game so far out of reach that the Canadian team would have no choice but to throw their arms up in defeat.
This blowout victory put America up in the all-time series, 19-5, bringing the win and the bragging rights back to this side of the border after giving up one of their five losses back in 2019 when Canada won the last-played CanAm Bowl in Wakaw before COVID sidelined the game for two years.
Congratulations to Claar and his amazing final year of high school, and good luck with every sporting event you participate in during these upcoming years!
By: Shawn O’Brate
Staff Writer
