Sea of red propels Papermakers past Pirates

Wearing red for the first time in a decade, the Camas High School football team didn’t waste any time against AC Davis Friday at Doc Harris Stadium.

“The first home game is always a special time, especially for the seniors,” said head coach Jon Eagle. “Boy, our community does not disappoint. I’m just always amazed by parents that have their kids all dressed in red.”

“It’s just become so much more than football,” he added. “If I can sit in a place where I don’t get wet and I got a place to park and there’s a good product on the field, then people will support you. And boy, that has sure been true for us.”

The Papermakers put up 28 points in the first quarter at a furious pace and sent the Pirates back to Yakima after a 52-19 shipwreck.

“The home crowd is such an advantage for us,” said Camas quarterback Kyle Allen. “Our fans get loud. The band was the biggest part, I thought. Just hearing them play the song is so much fun. It gives us energy, too.”

Ja’Michael Shelton snagged a 32-yard touchdown pass from Allen to start the tidal wave. Ryan Rushall intercepted a pass for the Papermakers on defense, Luc Sturbelle made a 21-yard catch down on the other side of the field, and then Randy Yaacoub capped off the drive with a 24-yard touchdown run.

“The O-line is getting better every week,” Allen said. “The receivers around me make my job easier. They can get open and they can make tough catches.”

After Kolby Broadbent came up with another interception for Camas, Will Schultz broke free for a 42-yard touchdown run. The Papermakers scored one more touchdown in the first quarter on a 5-yard dash-and-smash into the end zone by Semisi Schultz.

Camas kept pedaling in the second quarter. Yaacoub galloped nine yards into the end zone for his second touchdown. Andrew Boyle kicked a 17-yard field goal. After Davis scored a touchdown, Trevor Bentley took the kick off back to the end zone for seven more Papermaker points. Camas led 45-7 at halftime.

“When we score a touchdown, it’s more than just one guy. There’s a lot of people involved,” Eagle said.

For example, he talked about all the key blocks on the touchdown return by Bentley.

“We just emphasize that’s how it happened,” Eagle said. “That’s how it came to be.”

Rushall turned a pass from Allen into a 17-yard touchdown to give the Papermakers a 52-7 advantage in the third quarter. This gave the Camas coaches an opportunity to send in more players and see what they could do.

“Everybody got in. We never stopped cheering for them,” Semisi Schultz said. “We were really happy to see them play, get some time and just enjoy the vibe of Doc.”

Camas clashes with Couer d’Alene, Idaho, Friday. Kickoff is at 7 p.m., at Doc Harris Stadium.

The Papermakers will have to stop Couer d’Alene quarterback Colton Yankoff. The University of Washington commit threw for 344 yards and scored five touchdowns to lead the Vikings to a 62-43 victory against Mead, Idaho.

“We know he’s going to make plays. We just want to limit how many of those big plays because he was tough to stop last year,” Eagle said.

Allen said the coaches construct a game plan that gives the Papermakers tools they need to succeed. They just have to go out on the field and execute. It all starts with the players giving their full attention to detail every day in practice.

“We just have to make sure that we stay focused, especially coming out on a Monday after a win,” Allen said. “We can always get better. Never be satisfied.”

Eagle couldn’t agree more.

“Players that are hard to coach are players who think they’re better than they are. You know who’s fun to coach are kids who are better than they think they are,” he said. “We always say winning masks problems. The challenge is to teach kids that even though you’re 3-0 and ranked No. 1, there are issues going on here that we need to fix.”

Sounds like the Papermakers are up to the challenge.

“What we’ve got to achieve is just to keep getting better,” Semisi Schultz said. “All the pursuit drills that we’re doing, and the mental aspect of playing together and rallying to the ball, that’s what’s going to help us this week with all the speed that they have and the quick passes. That’s what we have to rally to.”