Kicking off the playoffs right

The “Double J” and “Maddie K” connection was too much for Todd Beamer to handle.

Four different Camas High School girls soccer players scored goals in the first 21 minutes of Thursday’s must-win game to return to the state tournament. The Papermakers delivered five more goals in the second half to turn the Titans away, 9-0, at Doc Harris Stadium Thursday.

Less than two minutes from the opening kickoff, Jenna Efraimson broke through with the first goal of the game for Camas. Jazzy Paulson fired a corner kick that was deflected by the Todd Beamer goalkeeper, but CHS senior Kiertsyn Heilbrun was right in the perfect position to retrieve the ball and score her first varsity goal. Paulson then threaded in a nice pass from Maddie Kemp into the net. Paulson returned the favor few minutes later, by assisting on Kemp’s goal in the 21st minute.

“Those three up front have good chemistry,” head coach Roland Minder said about Efraimson, Kemp and Paulson. “We had to replace nine starters at the beginning of the season, and they have stepped up and stepped right in.”

Efraimson fired a shot on goal at the start of the second half that the opposing keeper blocked, but Paulson followed the play, got the ball before the keeper and chipped it past her for a goal. Carla Jooste finished a header by Kemp off a corner kick from Paulson to make it 6-0 Camas.

Paulson and Kemp connected on two more goals to wind up in the record books together. Kemp scored her 82nd career goal on Paulson’s 16th assist this season. Those are both brand new records for the Papermaker girls soccer program, and they both came on the same play. Lisa Hogan earned 81 goals for the Papermakers between 2000 and 2003.

“I was so excited,” Paulson said. “I literally ran right to her and gave her the biggest hug.”

“I think I’m going to remember this more because we broke the records on the same play,” Kemp said. “I don’t even know how that happened?”

Kemp scored 16 goals as a freshmen, 31 as a sophomore and 36 so far this season. She said none of this would be possible without her teammates and coaches.

“I don’t try to focus on scoring goals, it kind of just happens. It’s kind of our job to finish,” Kemp said. “As a team, we just need to focus on coming together and doing whatever we can to get the wins. The goals will come if we continue to work hard and play for each other.”

Kemp added one more goal for good measure, Thursday. It was a beautiful, 25-yard laser beam that sailed past the keeper and scorched net.

Camas (13-2-2) faces Rogers, of Puyallup, in a seeding match for state Saturday, at Ingersoll Stadium, in Olympia. The game is scheduled to start at 2 p.m.

Minder said this was a great start to the postseason, but the opponents are only going to get tougher.

“Everything has to get better,” he said. “We have to get crisper. We have to get quicker. We just have to get better in all facets of the game as we go.”

Seniors Perri Belzer, Aliya Ponder, Heilbrun and goalkeeper Falissitie DePasquale have been a force on the backline. Minder believes Belzer’s leadership is the reason Camas hasn’t given up a goal since Oct. 3.

“Perri has impeccable character,” Minder said. “She is just an exemplary young lady. I’m just so pleased with the way she has led this team, as captain. She is absolutely one of the best captains I’ve ever had.”