Prep football: Camas has no trouble with Kennedy Catholic

CAMAS — The Camas Papermakers were ready for a test.

Instead, the fans at Doc Harris Stadium for Friday’s first-round state playoff game were treated to a testament to Camas’ speed and focus.

Camas hustled to a five-touchdown lead in the first half and charged into the Class 3A state quarterfinals with a 48-14 win over Kennedy Catholic of Burien.

“Every week we have the same goals coming into the game: start strong, set the tone early,” Camas senior quarterback Tony Gennaro said. “This game we were really all on the same page and really did what we want to do in the first half.”

Gennaro threw for 301 yards and for the second week in a row had five touchdown passes, and Zack Marshall’s put on another big-play performance in perhaps the most complete effort of this season for the Papermakers,

Camas (10-1) will host a 3A state quarterfinal next week against the winner of Saturday’s game between Meadowdale and Mercer Island. Win next week, and these Papermakers will become the first Camas football team to advance to the state semifinals.

Kennedy Catholic came to Camas with an 8-1 record and a quarterback in Jason Thompson who might play Division I college football. But the home team never gave the Lancers a chance to get going.

Marshall set the tone quickly. He touched the ball on the first four plays from scrimmage, covering 71 yards and Camas was in the end zone just that fast.

“Our offensive line, they were just clicking from the start,” said Marshall. “We executed everything flawlessly.”

In the first quarter, Camas outgained Kennedy 188-27 and had 10 first downs to one for the visitors. By the second play of the second quarter, the Papermakers led 28-0.

Marshall rushed for 90 yards and two touchdowns, but his big plays came on screen passes that covered 22 and 43 yards for touchdowns. Screen passes produced most of Camas big plays in this game.

“They came up the field really hard so we took advantage of that,” Gennaro said. “On screens, you’ve just got to be patient and wait for a window to throw the ball.”

Camas coach Jon Eagle said his team took advantage of the blitzing Lancers, but didn’t make any significant changes to the game plan that has been good for 10 wins so far.

“I attribute that to our offensive line,” Eagle said. “We do a lot of finesse things, and they execute that very well.”

And given the chance to make plays, Gennaro and Marshall are producing.

“He is such a competitor,” Eagle said of his quarterback. “(Gennaro) is a guy who has a real good sense of what we’re trying to do and where to lay the ball in. He has phenomenal decision-making skills, and touch to go along with it.”

He also has some big-play receivers. Jonathan Warner and Zach Eagle also caught scoring passes on Friday.

Camas players and coaches expressed surprised at the margin of victory.

“Don’t measure this (Kennedy) team off the scoreboard,” Gennaro said. “That is a really good football team. We just played a great game tonight.

“We played lights-out perfect tonight almost.”

Coach Eagle didn’t anticipate this blowout, nor last week’s 51-0 rout of Bainbridge.

“The last two games, I never thought we’d see this kind of score,” Eagle said. “I thought we’d have a close game.”

The Papermakers, however, did not surprise themselves.

“That shows you haw hard we go in practice,” Marshall said of the victory margins. “I give a shout out to our scout team. They’re pushing us and pushing us really hard in practice. When practice is as hard as the game, winning takes care of itself.”

CAMAS 48, KENNEDY CATHOLIC 14

Kennedy 0 7 0 7–14

Camas 21 14 13 0–48

First quarter

Cam — Zack Marshall 5 run (Roldan Alcobendas kick)

Cam — Marshall 22 pass from Tony Gennaro (Alcobendas kick)

Cam — Jonathan Warner 21 pass from Gennaro (Alcobendas kick)

Second quarter

Cam — Marshall 3 run (Alcobendas kick)

Cam — Zach Eagle 5 pass from Gennaro (Alcobendas kick)

Ken — Drew Thompson 39 pass from Jason Thompson (Colin Cossette kick)

Third quarter

Cam — Marshall 43 pass from Tony Gennaro (kick failed)

Cam — John Payne 23 pass from Tony Gennaro (Alcobendas kick)

Fourth quarter

Ken — Conner Richardson 2 run (Cossette kick)

Individual statistics

Rushing — Kennedy: Ian Nobmann 20-116, Orion Prescott 5-29, Colin Cossette 1-1, D.J. Hardy 5-(minus 1), Jason Thompson 3-(minus 4), Conner Richardson 3-(minus 6). Camas: Zack Marshall 19-90, Nathan Beasley 1-4, Tony Gennaro 1-(minus 1), Vincente Huber 8-20.

Passing — Kennedy: Jason Thompson 7-12-0-104, Richardson 1-2-0-12. Camas: Tony Gennaro 17-25-0-301, Reilly Hennessey 1-1-0-35.

Receiving — Kennedy: Drew Thompson 1-39, Nobmann 2-33, Conner Richardson 2-7, Orion Prescott 1-7, Cole Madison 2-30. Camas: Jonathan Warner 5-59, Zach Eagle 4-56, Marshall 4-128, John Payne 1-23, Jorden Payne 1-35, John Norcross 3-35.

Video highlights from week 11 Camas v. Kennedy Catholic, courtesy of GSHLfootball.com special to 360Preps. Full highlight videos are available at gshlfootball.com.