This is a first.
A first for Skyview and Camas, a first for Clark County high school football.
Skyview and Camas will play each other in the first round of the Class 4A state football playoffs at Doc Harris Stadium. Saturday’s 4 p.m. kickoff will be the first Clark County vs. Clark County football game in the state playoffs.
It is a little strange for the players, they say, but also a cool experience.
“Guys on each team know one another,” Skyview quarterback Brody Barnum said. “We’re playing kids who live 20 minutes away. Guys from our team hang out with them. It’s more like a rivalry game in the regular season instead of a playoff game.”
Camas quarterback Liam Fitzgerald said: “We know those guys a little bit. It’s always fun to play those guys.”
Fitzgerald noted he is proud to be part of a league that has three teams in the final 16 at state. Battle Ground made it a clean sweep for the 4A Greater St. Helens League last week.
This week, though, at least one team has to lose.
Skyview and Camas have played each other nine times through the years. The 10th matchup of the series, though, is an elimination game. One team will advance to the quarterfinals. The other will see its season come to an end.
“It’s unfortunate that our league can’t have three teams go on past this week,” Camas coach Jon Eagle said.
Using media polls, computer rankings, overall records, and/or the head-to-head matchup in October, one could argue Camas is poised to be playing beyond this weekend. Then again, that brings up a situation unheard of before in Southwest Washington high school football. In order for Camas to stay undefeated, the Papermakers will have get past a league rival … again.
That is one reason the Storm are optimistic this game will be different than the 41-10 Camas victory in Week 5.
“We’ll have a good plan for these guys,” Skyview coach Steve Kizer said. “It’s tough to beat a team twice.”
At Skyview, the coaches have to get their players to believe. The Week 5 game was close for a quarter and a half, but then all Camas.
Barnum appreciates the second chance.
“It’s a great opportunity because we felt that we were going to be able to come out and make a statement in that game,” he said. “We definitely had the potential.”
That did not happen, though.
“Now that we are deeper into the season, we will come out better because this team has come together,” Barnum said. “We are a better-oiled machine, you could say.”
At Camas, the coaches have to get their players to understand that it will not be easy, that a 31-point victory in October does not carry over to a game on Nov. 14. Eagle said it goes along with the “faceless opponent” philosophy at Camas.
“We are going to try to play our best game regardless of who is standing across the field from us,” Eagle said.
The coaches and players have studied video of each other, as well.
“I’ve seen the gradual improvement of that team,” Eagle said of the Storm. “They’re definitely not the same team we played in Week 5. … Either are we.”
The score, of course, will start at 0-0 Saturday.
“It’s a different week,” Fitzgerald said. “They know our stuff. We know their stuff. Whichever team works the hardest throughout the week and comes out on the field ready to play is going to win.”
Skyview has been battle-tested. The Storm tied for second with Battle Ground and Mountain View in the 4A GSHL, then had to survive a three-team tiebreaker just to make it to Week 10. Skyview stopped Monroe with a goal-line stand to win that state preliminary round game.
“We’ve been in pressure situations,” Kizer said. “That makes us stronger.”
At Camas, the Papermakers are battling demons from Week 11 last year. Fitzgerald acknowledged the team might have been looking ahead when it lost to Bellarmine Prep in 2014. Camas has learned from the experience.
“We have more of a drive to not look past anyone this year,” Fitzgerald said. “Everyone in the playoffs deserves to be there and can knock you off at any time.”
Playoff football. There is a lot on the line.
Only this year, two Clark County teams get to put it all on the line against each other … for the first time.
