Friday Night Lights has a whole new meaning in Camas tonight.
How about Friday Night Digs and Spikes?
Yes, the Camas Papermakers and their guests, the Ridgefield Spudders, are expected to play an outdoor volleyball match on a court set up at Doc Harris Stadium.
“The idea was to give our girls the Friday night experience,” said Stephen Baranowski, the athletic director at Camas. “(Coach) Michelle Ford has wanted to do this for years. Ridgefield wanted to jump in with us. It should be an amazing experience.”
This might be the first-of-its-kind high school volleyball match in Clark County, playing outdoors.
It also is being played on the 25th anniversary of the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. To observe the occasion, there will be a tribute to first responders before the match, including a parade of emergency vehicles around the volleyball court on the track at the stadium. Red, white, and blue fireworks are planned during the national anthem, too.
Also of interest is the time of the match, scheduled for 7 p.m. That was not determined until Thursday night, after the court was put down on top of the field turf on Thursday morning. Officials wanted to see if condensation affected the court in the evening hours. (There was an outdoor match in college volleyball recently that was cut short due to poor court conditions.) Well, late Thursday night, the court was doing just fine. So it has been determined that Friday’s match will start at 7 p.m.
This whole thing will be a learning experience. Baranowski said if all goes well, maybe next year there will be a Friday night outdoor match, then a volleyball tournament on Saturday at Doc Harris Stadium.
“We want to offer our kids unique and awesome experiences. We’re going to take some swings at things,” Baranowski said. “I can’t tell you how excited the players are for this game. The buzz around school is awesome.”
Football notes
Of course, Friday night traditionally means high school football. There are plenty of games featuring Southwest Washington teams.
That includes a lot of non-league rivalry games:
Hudson’s Bay and Fort Vancouver are renewing their rivalry. These programs from Vancouver Public Schools have not faced each other since 2019. But they have played each other 67 times, with Fort Vancouver leading the series with 37 victories. Bay, however, has won the past six meetings.
The battle for Battle Ground Public Schools is Friday night, as well, with Battle Ground facing Prairie at District Stadium. This is the 53rd meeting between the football teams. Bragging rights are on the line. The series is tied 26-26.
In a small-school rivalry, Woodland is hosting La Center. Woodland leads the all-time series 49-19-1, but La Center has won the past six meetings.
In Evergreen Public Schools, Evergreen has played Union 14 times since Union opened in 2007. Union won the first 12 games, but Evergreen has won the past two years.
Oh, and while we don’t necessarily count Columbia River vs. Mountain View as much of a rivalry anymore, they have a storied history. These two teams play Friday for the first time since 2013. But a long time ago, they battled for supremacy in Southwest Washington as league foes. Columbia River leads the series 13-11.
A shout out to our friend Bryan Levesque, Southwest Washington high school football historian, for his research.
