All-Region football: Price owes his success to ‘Camas system’

James Price credits the system for his success.

It is not just a football system, he said. It is the Camas system.

“I had to progress as a student and as an athlete if I wanted to eventually fulfill a leadership role with Camas football,” Price said.

Considering he might play college football in the Ivy League, it’s safe to say he knows what he is doing in the classroom.

To watch him play high school football, clearly he is a talent on the field.

Price led the region in receptions and receiving yards by huge margin. He set a school record with 12 touchdown catches for the Papermakers. Plus, he was one of the top defensive backs, with four interceptions.

The Class 4A Greater St. Helens League coaches voted him the co-player of the year on offense. The Columbian is naming Price the All-Region football player of the year for all that he did.

Price said his breakthrough season as a senior started years ago, by learning from older players, by putting trust in his coaches, by opening his mind to his teachers.

“The community of Camas is definitely the place you’d want your child to grow up in. The support you’re going to get athletically and academically is tremendous,” Price said. “The coaches and teachers are trying to put you in a position to succeed. If you trust the system, you’ll be in the right place at the right time.”

A year ago, Price was the lone “full-time” junior starter on one of the best teams in the state. Price said those seniors told him he had the ability to do something great if he put his mind to it.

Price then went out and had seven 100-yard games this season. He caught at least one TD pass in nine of the team’s 11 games. Oh, and Camas went 9-0 in the regular season for the third year in a row.

In the classroom, Price has produced a 3.7 grade point average while taking advanced placement classes every year. Earlier this month, he went on a college visitation to Columbia University in New York. Yale and Harvard are also interested in Price, as a student and an athlete.

Price is the total package, which is one of the reasons the coaches nominated him to be a team captain.

“I don’t think people give the job the credit that it really deserves,” Camas coach Jon Eagle said. “The speed of the leader, that’s the rate of the pack.”

Price helped keep Camas atop the standings in the 4A GSHL. The season might have ended earlier than expected — a Week 11 loss to Bellarmine Prep — but the Papermakers still are proud of all that they did accomplish.

“It was difficult for me,” Price said of the loss. “I was thinking of the community of Camas. At the same time, I knew we had done great things this season. We made them proud. We just fell a little bit short. All I could think about is hoping for the best for the program in the future.”

Camas will be just fine, as long as future Papermakers follow Price’s lead.

The rest of the All-Region team

• Gabe Evenson, qb, sr., Columbia River

• Caleb Browning, rb, sr., Union

• Eli Whitmire, rb, sr., Woodland

• Preston Jones, rb, jr., Mountain View

• Nathan Hawthorne, wr, sr., Columbia River

• Parker Randle, wr, sr., Battle Ground

• Aaron Burns, ol, sr., Hockinson

• Joe Garrison, ol, sr., Skyview

• Dominique Gomez, ol, sr., Columbia River

• Alex Walker, ol, sr., Camas

• Trevor Wochnick, ol, jr., Camas

• Tyler Dionne, p, sr., Union

• Isaac Ennis, dl, sr., Columbia River

• Max Hiller, dl, sr., La Center

• Pete Schulz-Rathbun, dl, jr., Hockinson

• Tate Nelson, dl, sr., Union

• Gabe Lopes, lb, sr., Camas

• Blake Ingram, lb, jr, Skyview

• Troy Flanagan, lb, sr., Woodland

• Kyle Vermuelen, lb, sr., Union

• Jacob Bystry, db, sr., Columbia River

• Cole Zarcone, db, sr., Camas

• Jack Bauer, db, sr., Union

• Austen Johnson, db, sr., Hockinson

EDITOR’S NOTE: Mountain View’s Preston Jones was not listed on the original ballot for the All-Region team because he was a second-team all-league pick. After careful consideration, The Columbain staff decided that the region’s top rusher (in just eight games) deserved a spot on the team, despite how the 4A GSHL coaches voted in all-league selections. So we added a 25th spot to the normally 24-man team for Jones.