Camas, Ridgefield football advance, as do usual powers in soccer
This Saturday? Pretty impressive for Southwest Washington high school athletes.
Next Saturday? Could be epic.
But to get to next week, teams had to come through this week.
In football, Camas advanced to the Class 4A state quarterfinals, rallying in the second half to beat Puyallup.
Ridgefield advanced to the Class 2A state quarterfinals, rallying in the second half to beat Orting.
It wasn’t a perfect day for Clark County football. Skyview fell on the road to Sumner in the Class 4A.
Still, two football teams are advancing.
That’s nice, Clark County soccer might say.
The four Clark County high school soccer teams in the quarterfinals on Saturday all won their matches.
Which means next week, there are football quarterfinals, soccer semifinals and finals, and oh yes, Class 4A, 3A, 2A state volleyball which could see two Clark County teams facing each other in a championship match.
This post will try to catch everyone up from a wild day. Let’s start with football:
Camas 17, Puyallup 7
It starts with defense.
Then the offense comes along.
It adds up to a victory.
Repeat.
Repeat.
Repeat.
For the third time in four games, the Camas Papermakers have won a 17-7 football game. The first two games of that gave the Papermakers the Class 4A Greater St. Helens League title.
Saturday’s 17-7 result sends the Papermakers — the 2019 state champions — to the Class 4A quarterfinals.
Camas’ defense held Puyallup to 59 yards on its first five second-half possessions, allowing the offense the opportunity to rally to the victory Saturday night at Doc Harris Stadium.
“Being a senior, this is amazing,” Camas linebacker Jairus Phillips said of playing the last home game of his career.
The bracket has the Papermakers on the road next week as well as the semifinals should they advance.
“This is the last time I’ll play on this field. To go out in the playoffs, with a win, I couldn’t ask for anything more,” Phillips said.
Camas linebacker Luke Jamison echoed that thought.
“It’s been a dream for all of our lives, when we started playing in elementary school,” Jamison said.
He added that as a sophomore, he got a feel for what this meant, to have home playoff games. But as a senior?
“It’s insane,” he said.
Phillips and Jamison learned this week they were voted co-defensive players of the year in the 4A Greater St. Helens League.
They were instrumental in Saturday’s win.
Camas trailed 7-3 at the half.
“We’re still in this,” Jamison said of the message at halftime. “We’ve got nothing to worry about. Just come out and do what we always do. And that’s what we did.”
Still, Camas needed some offense.
With the Puyallup defense focusing on shutting down the Camas rushing attack, Camas quarterback Taylor Ioane took advantage, throwing two third-quarter touchdown passes.
“It feels great especially because I can count on everybody around me,” Ioane said. “When I need a big play, I know who my guys are, and I know I can trust them.”
The first TD went to Brock Thornburg for 27 yards on a fourth-and-2 play.
“When the play came in, one of my teammates said ‘Look at Brock. He’ll be open.’ I trusted him,” Ioane sasid. “I rolled out, and there he was.”
The design of the play was to get a first down. Thornburg had other ideas. He wanted a lot more, got past a defender, kept his balance along the sideline and scored.
“I didn’t even know,” said Ioane, who was running toward where he thought Thornburg ran out of bounds, anticipating the first-down play. “Then he was still running. I was like, ‘Dang.’”
On the ensuing drive, Puyallup went for a fourth-and-short and got shut down by the Camas defense.
Ioane and the Camas offense went back to work.
Ioane threw a 35-yard pass to Mark Thorkelson, who was still battling the defensive back when the ball was thrown. As Thorkelson turned, the ball was right there. He kept his concentration, held on to the ball and scored.
Ioane said the chemistry between him and the receivers has just been getting better and better throughout the season.
Kind of like the whole team, right?
Camas started 0-4 with that crazy-difficult schedule but now has won seven in a row.
The first-team defense has given up just one touchdown in the past four weeks. And that defense is not quite satisfied.
“It’s a big deal to us,” defensive lineman Holt Williams said. “But we also know seven points on the board means at least one mistake. So we’ve got to clean that up.”
“We expect nothing less from our defense, but at the same time, we expect more,” Phillips said. “We gave up seven points. We never want to let in touchdowns. If we keep it to zero, we’ll like that. We know we’re going to fight through the entire game regardless. We’re going to keep fighting.”
Next up is a game at Kamiakin in the quarterfinals.
“They’re playing for each other. They’re tough. They’re resilient,” Camas coach Jack Hathaway said after winning his first state playoff game as a head coach. “I’m just happy for the kids.”
The Camas defense is already starting to get focused on next week.
“We’re ready to go on the road and get another win,” Williams said.
Ridgefield 27, Orting 14
The Spudders were down at halftime but just by a point.
It could have been worse for the home team.
Only Wyatt Bartroff wasn’t having any of it.
Ridgefield was attempting a field goal late in the half to take the lead. But it was blocked. Orting was looking to return it for a touchdown.
Instead, Bartroff chased down the returner to make the tackle.
The Spudders trailed 14-13, but went into the locker feeling OK about things.
“That was really, really, really beneficial,” linebacker Matt Lewis said. “The game would have been completely different had they put seven on the board right there.”
Bartroff had one thought on his mind.
“We can’t let them score,” he said. “That’s going to give them a bunch of momentum right before half.”
Instead, Ridgefield had time to regroup.
“I was more fired up,” Bartroff said. “I was trying to get everyone fired up. First time this year we had to battle adversity. Let’s show them we’re a good team.”
(Ridgefield quotes and stats for this report came from our colleague Bryan Levesque.)
Ridgefield’s defense got the second-half shutout, the Spudders scored twice in the second half, and now the Spudders will be heading to the Class 2A state quarterfinals. It is the program’s first state playoff victory since the 1995 state championship team.
Logan DeBeaumont found Ty Snider on a 29-yard touchdown pass to give Ridgefield the lead for good early in the third quarter.
“It was just me running straight, the quarterback trusting me, and me making a play on the ball,” Snider said.
Snider gave Ridgefield a 13-7 lead in the first quarter with a 73-yard kickoff return.
“It’s funny. I’ve only been kicked off to twice this year,” Snider said. “Right when it was in the air, I was smiling through my mouthguard because I was so excited to get it.”
Isaiah Cowley found out he was going to be the main running back for the Ridgefield offense earlier on Saturday.
“I stepped up to the opportunity and performed as I should,” said Cowley, who had 116 yards on 18 carries with a touchdown.
“I remember bouncing off people, seeing my linemen blocking for me,” Cowley said. “I love those dudes. They make my job so much easier.”
The Ridgefield defense was on point the entire second half, with several fourth-down stops.
Defensive lineman Daniel McDonnell had some big stops, as well. And even when he didn’t get to the quarterback, the pressure led to some missed opportunities for Orting.
“It makes me so happy. If I’m not there at the quarterback, someone’s got my back and making the play,” McDonnell said.
Next for Ridgefield is a game against Squalicum in Bellingham.
“I know it’s up by Canada,” Snider said.
Sumner 24, Skyview 10
The Storm had several opportunities to tie, trailing by seven for most of the second half in a driving rain storm. Instead, Sumner got a late score to seal the victory.
Skyview’s season came to an end with an 8-3 record and the program’s 12th appearance in the state playoffs.
State soccer: Camas, Columbia River, Hockinson, Ridgefield all win
Stop us if you’ve heard this in the past.
Ridgefield. Columbia River. Hockinson. All going to the Class 2A final four. Just like in 2019.
Oh, and the Camas Papermakers are returning to the final four in Class 4A. Just like 2018 and 2017 and 2016, and 2015. You get the idea.
Ridgefield, this year’s district champion, beat West Valley of Spokane 2-0 in Saturday’s quarterfinals.
At the same time, last season’s district champion, Hockinson, was on the road beating Burlington-Edison 1-0.
And on Saturday night, Columbia River took down Fife 2-1 with a goal in the final seconds of the match. That would be Columbia River, the 2019 state champion soccer squad.
In 2019, Columbia River beat Hockinson in the finals. Hockinson beat Ridgefield in a semifinal that year.
This year? Ridgefield and Hockinson will play each other again in the semifinals at 6 p.m. Friday at Shoreline Stadium. Columbia River will face top-seed Archbishop Murphy at 8 p.m.
Camas was in a battle with West Valley of Yakima in Saturday’s 4A quarterfinal at Doc Harris Stadium. Tied at 1, the Papermakers scored two goals in a five-minute span to take command, then held on for a 3-2 victory.
Camas, the No. 1 seed in the state, will take on No. 4 Skyline in the semifinals at 8 p.m. Friday at Sparks Stadium in Puyallup.
Volleyball: River tops Ridgefield in a battle of powerhouses
The top-two ranked teams in the state battle again, and Columbia River got the best of Ridgefield in a five-set thriller to win the Class 2A District 4 title.
Do not be surprised if these two teams face each other again next week.
At the state tournament.
In the state championship match.
Won’t be official until Sunday, but Columbia River and Ridgefield could get the top-two seeds at state.
In Class 4A, Camas topped Skyview to advance to state.
