Skyler Martin was living in a small town but wanted to play football for a Class 4A program.
When his dad learned that Steve Kizer was the coach at Skyview, well, that was an easy decision. The family moved to Vancouver.
Kizer happened to be one of Eddie Martin’s favorite coaches back in the 1980s when Eddie Martin played at Walla Walla College.
Back then, Kizer was a young coach, just starting his career. Now, of course, Kizer is in charge of the Skyview Storm, one of the most successful football programs in Southwest Washington.
“My dad loves Kize,” said Skyler Martin, a junior defensive end and tight end who started both ways as a sophomore for the Storm. “He said Kizer was always really high-spirited, loud.”
And now?
“Same old Kize,” Skyler said.
Successful coaches stick in the game for a long time. Long enough, in fact, to coach sons of former players.
Camas coach Jon Eagle is one of those longtime successful coaches, as well. The Papermakers are the premier program in the region these days. Skyview and Camas play Friday night with first place in the Class 4A Greater St. Helens League on the line.
This season, Camas senior Trevor Wochnick is one of the best centers in the region and a solid linebacker. Trevor’s dad, Justen, played for Eagle in the 1990s at Evergreen High School. And now Justen is an assistant coach at Camas.
“He just said he was a really, really good guy and a great coach,” Trevor said, referring to his dad’s description of Eagle. “He said I should be coached by him, as well.”
The head coaches remember the dads, too.
“Just a super go-to lineman,” Eagle said of Justen Wochnick of the Evergreen days. “Through sheer hard work, he became an all-league, scholarship football player.”
Kizer got to know Eddie Martin soon after Martin helped Kelso to a state championship and then headed to Walla Walla for college ball.
“He was awesome. He was tough,” Kizer said. “And he was a great high school player.”
The sons might be better than their dads, though.
“He’s much more athletic than his dad was, that’s for sure,” Eagle said of Trevor Wochnick. “Really smart. We can’t do what we do without an athletic, smart center.”
Kizer said Skyler Martin is “the heart and soul of the front four” of the Skyview defense. “A solid kid.”
Skyler Martin also learned at an early age the value of an education. Eddie Martin acknowledged he did not take school seriously. Eddie would eventually become a U.S. Marine, then graduated from Washington State University. A late bloomer, education wise.
Skyler, though, holds a 3.93 grade-point average at Skyview. Representatives from Stanford have inquired about his college future.
“My goal is to go to college and be successful. I’m driven by that,” Skyler Martin said. “Grades have always been important to me.”
Martin, listed at 6-feet, 5-inches and 218 pounds, wants to major in business and play football.
“At the high school level, I think I’m better at defensive end,” Martin said. “I don’t know if I’m big enough to play defensive end at the next level.”
As a junior, he has plenty of time to figure out his plans.
Wochnick, at 6-1, 220 pounds, said he will go anywhere to play college football. And it does not matter to him if he plays offense or defense.
“I like both positions equally,” Wochnick said. “I like being in the trenches and putting bigger guys down. And I like to be in the open space and tackling the ball carrier.”
Both Martin and Wochnick should see plenty of each other in Friday’s key game in the 4A GSHL. They have the similar goals.
“We want to be league champs again, and we want to go farther than the first round of the playoffs this time,” Wochnick said.
The Papermakers lost in Week 11 last year.
“None of us thought we were going to be done that early. A lot of people were depressed and angry,” he said. “The returners, we all stepped up to be the team we are now.”
Skyview has not won a league title since 2012, yet the Storm still chant N.B.L.C. — Nothing But League Champs.
“We’ve fallen short the last couple of years, but that’s our goal,” Martin said. “We’ve got to take care of it.”
Only one team can win Friday. But two dads will be watching, proud of their sons, grateful their sons are being coached by their old coach.
“No one walks away with a bad experience under Coach Eagle,” Justen Wochnick said. “I wanted the same for my son. When I played for him, I could have run through a wall for him.”
Eddie Martin feels the same way about Kizer.
“When I look out on the field and see Skyler being coached by Kize, I think that’s pretty cool,” he said.
Of course, there is another dynamic to this story.
“How did I get so old so fast?” Kizer asks. “How did me and Eagle get so old? We were the young, up-and-coming coaches. What the heck happened?”
