Papermakers cruise past Mount Rainier 57-20
The games keep getting bigger and bigger, and Jon Schultz just keeps getting better and better for the Camas Papermakers.
Individually speaking, he is the one getting the huge numbers on offense.
But he will tell you that, really, it is the whole team that is just excelling at the perfect time. Especially the offensive line.
“They were killing it,” Schultz said Friday night after rushing for a career-high 223 yards and three touchdowns in a 57-20 Camas victory over Mount Rainier. “They were doing a great job. That’s really all you have to say about that.”
Camas’ play does most of the talking.
The Papermakers threw the ball early and often, then unleashed the rushing attack to win this Class 4A state preliminary round playoff. With the victory, the Papermakers, the 2019 state champions, qualified for the state playoffs. The Papermakers will find out Sunday who they play next week when the seeding committee announces the brackets.
Our friend Byran Levesque was at Doc Harris Stadium on Friday. He kept the game statistics and got the quotes used for this report.
Taylor Ioane completed 17 of 23 passes for 126 yards and three touchdowns. He shared the ball, finding eight receivers.
The Camas defense was on point, as well. Mount Rainier’s Dev’Evon Chaney-Cooper scored on a 71-yard run in the first minute of the game. Mount Rainier would finish the night with 161 yards of offense. Total. That’s it.
Yes, this does make it a comeback victory for Camas, as well. Although certainly not a dramatic one. Camas scored two quick touchdowns to take the lead, then scored, and scored, and scored some more, rolling off 50 consecutive points to make this one a running clock.
That’s six wins in a row for the 6-4 Papermakers.
“A lot of people thought we wouldn’t be here when we were 0-4,” lineman Tyson Jacobson said. “We believed. We grinded. And now we’re here.”
This is the 10th time in the last 11 seasons that Camas has made it to state.
Against Mount Rainier, Camas finished with 449 yards of offense.
“Everything just clicked for us,” Ioane said. “Our line has been getting better and better every week. We’re not going to let anything stop us the rest of the season.”
Jacobson credited the coaches for teaching him and his fellow linemen the perfect technique.
“We get low, and we drive people,” Jacobson said. “We make it work no matter who we are going against.”
Schultz would have to agree.
In Week 8 against Skyview, he rushed for 164 yards. In Week 9 against Union, it was 165. Now in Week 10, with the season on the line, he cracked the 200-yard barrier.
As good as the Camas offense was, so, too, was that Camas defense. The Rams got 90 yards of offense after the first minute of the game. Zero passing yards.
“We just did our jobs,” said defensive lineman Brock Thornburg, who had three sacks. “Just having the opportunity and making the most of it.”
The Camas defense also stepped up just before the half. Mount Rainier had recovered a Camas fumble and moved the ball to the 1-yard line. Camas got the stuff for a loss of a yard on the final play of the half, preserving a 27-6 lead.
The Papermakers made it a running clock. Mount Rainier would take advantage of a couple of special teams plays to get two more touchdowns. Then Schultz capped his huge night with a 28-yard touchdown run.
Camas became the first Clark County team to qualify for this year’s state playoffs.
Four more local teams will be trying to make it to state on Saturday — Skyview (Class 4A), Ridgefield (2A), Mountain View (3A), and Hockinson (4A) all have home playoff games.
Three other teams lost in qualifying games this week. Columbia River (2A) fell to Tumwater on Friday night. La Center (1A) was stunned by Montesano. And Seton Catholic (1A) lost on Thursday against Eatonville.
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