The topic of discussion came up suddenly a few weeks ago in the Camas High School weight room.
Camas vs. Chiawana.
Dec. 7, 2013.
Class 4A state championship game in the Tacoma Dome.
Initially, Camas football coach Jon Eagle was less than enthusiastic about talking about it again.
After all, this was August, just weeks away from the opening of the 2014 football season. Why talk about 2013?
Well, for one, it just so happens that Camas and Chiawana of Pasco play each other in Week 1 to open the 2014 season.
For another, while nothing will change the outcome of the title game in December, at least some associated with Camas football think this game matters, too. On the dry erase board were the words “Revenge” and then a countdown to how many days remained before the first game.
Well, the countdown has reached zero.
Tonight is the night.
The 2014 high school football season begins in Southwest Washington with games throughout the county. A lot of the state, though, has its eyes on Camas.
Besides being a rematch of the state championship game, it also is a rematch of one of the most incredible finishes to a football game. Heart-wrenching for one squad. Exhilarating for the other.
Camas had the ball, third down, with 1:17 left in the game and held a 13-point lead. Somehow, Chiawana won the game.
“Camas is better for having gone through that,” said Camas mayor Scott Higgins, who was in the weight room that day talking football with the coach.
“Maybe some day I’ll be able to say that,” Eagle said, trying to smile.
It still hurts the players, too.
“A little PTSD there,” senior Alex Walker said, referring metaphorically to post-traumatic stress disorder. “It’s rough. That’s all that’s been on my mind.”
“It’s what everyone is talking about,” senior Cole Zarcone said. “It lights the fire, gets us going.”
Eagle has come to terms with what happened that December night. As a coach, he is constantly looking at ways to improve. So, yes, he did evaluate his decisions and how his staff prepared the team throughout the season.
One could second-guess forever.
But Eagle’s first priority was to make sure that proper credit was given to Chiawana. After all, the Riverhawks made all the plays in the final 70 seconds to win the championship game.
Eagle said he has no interest in going into specifics regarding the plays that turned the game from a Camas dream to a Camas nightmare.
“It’s still a kid’s game,” Eagle said. “This isn’t the pros. We’re not getting paid millions of dollars to go over every play.”
He did acknowledge that he felt his players celebrated too soon.
“I’m too old. I’ve learned it’s not over until it’s double-zero,” Eagle said, referring to the game clock. “No question, the kids thought it was over.”
“And the entire crowd,” added the mayor, who was in the stands at the dome that night.
“All the kids learned that lesson the hard way,” Eagle said.
It was the toughest loss of Eagle’s career. Besides being the head coach, he is also a father. His son, all-state receiver Zach Eagle, was injured early in the game and did not return. (He is healthy now and is at Eastern Washington University.)
“For it to end that way was pretty crushing, no doubt,” Eagle said.
Eagle said he had no words of comfort for his team that day. Nothing that could take away that pain.
Months later, though, he focuses on the season rather than the final minute of the season.
“Winning a state championship is not going to make you a better person. It doesn’t change you as a person. As a coach, yeah, I wanted that feather. A lot of us did,” Eagle said.
But there are more important things as a football coach.
“People overuse the expression that it’s more about the journey. But it really is about that,” Eagle said.
The 2013 season brought standing-room-only crowds to Doc Harris Stadium, a perfect regular season, as well as a berth to the state championship game — a first for the Papermakers. Then there was the music at practices. The bonding with teammates on road trips. And that send-off that the city gave the players on the way to the Tacoma Dome that morning of the championship game.
Those things have to be remembered, as well.
And in the end, it took a sports miracle to keep the Camas Papermakers from a perfect season.
Tonight, Chiawana and Camas will play each other again.
Then it will officially be the 2014 football season.
The 2013 season will be a memory — a lot of great, great things for Camas, and one tough defeat.
