Washougal Panthers ‘hungry’ for wins

The Washougal High School football team’s coaches and players believe they have enough talent and experience to succeed this season. They don’t just hope to win games — they expect to win games.

A lot of games, in fact.

“We all want to win league, go undefeated in league, make a big playoff run — hopefully a state championship run — and just show everybody that we can compete,” Panthers junior quarterback Holden Bea said. “Last season, we were all kind of young and had a lot of new guys filling in roles. This season, we matured a lot, so we set our bar a lot higher.”

A relatively inexperienced Panthers squad finished with a 3-6 record (3-4 league) and failed to qualify for postseason play in 2021, a late playoff run short-circuited by ill-timed injuries to key players.

But Washougal’s coaches and players say that the growing pains they endured last season will pay dividends this fall.

“I think the kids are a little bit hungry,” Panthers coach Dave Hajek told The Columbian, the Post-Record’s sister publication. “Last year, it seemed like every week we were scrambling just to fill holes with kids who weren’t quite ready to make that jump from C-squad or junior varsity to the varsity level. We had a lot of athletic kids who we plugged into spots where they weren’t used to the speed or physicality of the varsity game. But they learned from that, which will make them better this year.”

“We’ll probably do more passing — we’re more of a spread offense. But we definitely can run the ball, and if we need to, we will,” Bea said. “Our running backs, Liam Atkin and Garrett Mansfield, are very, very good. Given the opportunity, they are going to (make some plays), so we are really well-rounded.”

Juniors Sam Evers, who caught eight touchdown passes in eight games last season, and Jayson Graham lead a deep, experienced receiver corps that will provide Bea with plenty of options.

“They’re looking great,” Bea said. “Sam Evers, a returning all-league player, is going to have a great year again — he’s going to be a beast. And then we have John Costa — he didn’t play last year, but I played with him my freshman year when I was on JV and we had a great connection. He’s back and he’s going to do great. Jayson Graham is super-fast, and he’s going to be a really flashy, great player. Talon Connolly has lots of varsity experience since freshman year, and is going to do great. And Will Cooper, who’s one of our flex guys, is going to be good as well.”

The Panthers’ offensive line will be led by junior Jose Alvarez IV, a first-team all-league selection in 2021, and senior Zachary Phillips.

“I’m really, really excited (about the offensive line),” Bea said. “Last year, I think we had three sophomores and two juniors on the starting line, and now they’re all juniors and seniors, so they have lots of experience, and it allows me and our offense to work a lot better now that they’ve improved throughout the summer. I have so much confidence in them. It’s really been good (to see them develop). They make it a lot easier for me, and I’m grateful for that.”