On the sidelines: Football opening night 2011

It’s not every year that the Camas and Washougal high school football teams kick off the season at home on the same night. I siezed it by attending both games.

I picked a good place to start by going to Fishback Stadium first. It only took the Panthers 2 minutes, 17 seconds, to get on the scoreboard. After taking the football 30 yards on first down, Caleb Howard crossed the goal line on a 4-yard run. Austin Tofell added a 5-yard run on the opening drive, and Karsten Short snatched a nice pass from Colton Sullivan to get Washougal to first-and-goal.

On the next possession for the Panthers, Sam O’Hara smashed through the wall of defenders for a big gain up the middle. Sullivan hit Short on the fly for another first-and-goal. O’Hara finished the deal with a 6-yard run into the end zone. Three plays, and Washougal was up 14-0.

The Panthers were far from finished in the first half. Zach Boland, O’Hara, Tofell, Sullivan and Stephen Camden each completed first downs in a row. Howard then broke away for his second touchdown run, a 23-yard sprint into the end zone.

Washougal led 20-7 at halftime, before putting up 21 more points in the second half to win 41-9. O’Hara kicked 23- and 43-yard field goals, Short caught a 29-yard touchdown pass from Sullivan and Camden ran in a 4-yard touchdown.

Over in Camas, the Papermakers led Timberline 6-0 at halftime on two field goals by Roldan Alcobendas (34 and 43 yards). I arrived at Doc Harris Stadium just in time to see the Blazers tie the game up on a touchdown. They missed the extra-point kick.

Camas moved downfield, and looked for a big play on a pass to Kyle Goodnow. He couldn’t secure the ball, but John Norcross was there to grab the fumble and take it 25 yards for a touchdown.

On defense, Norcross scooped up another fumble and took it 42 yards for his second touchdown of the night. The Papermakers led 20-6 at that point, and controlled the clock the rest of the way.

Check out the photo gallery from these games on the Post-Record’s Facebook page.

Read more about these games in Tuesday’s print edition of the Post-Record. Also check out the fall sports special section for features on all of the Camas and Washougal teams.

See you on the sidelines.