The Camas Papermakers are appreciative of all of their fans for congratulating them on making it to the Class 3A state football semifinals.
The Papermakers earned that praise, too, becoming the first team in program history to make it to the final four.
But now, it’s not time to think of what this team has done. It’s time to think what it can still do.
“We’re all on the same page,” Camas quarterback Tony Gennaro said this week at practice. “We’re all working together, and we all know where we want to go. We can get there.”
That would be the state championship game. Next week.
To get there, though, the Papermakers must beat O’Dea of Seattle. Kickoff is 7 p.m. Friday in the Tacoma Dome.
“It’s amazing. It’s crazy,” Gennaro said of being a final four team. “It’s a huge accomplishment. This team really put in a whole bunch of work, and we really deserve this chance.”
As far as O’Dea, Camas coach Jon Eagle said he is not surprised by what he has seen on the video.
“They’re big. They’re physical. They have a lot of speed at the skill positions. They don’t beat themselves. They’re very good fundamentally,” Eagle said. “It’s the classic O’Dea team I’ve seen in the past.”
Football fans in Washington have seen a lot of that, too. This is O’Dea’s 11th trip to the semifinals.
O’Dea has a legacy, while Camas is trying to start a tradition.
