Every high school football season is special.
Records are broken, rivalries are renewed and lifelong friendships are solidified.
There are also championships to be won. For Hockinson last year and Camas the year before, their state-championship journeys thrilled not just those communities but Clark County as a whole.
But this season promises to be unlike any other.
Not one but two local players are among the most sought-after college recruits in the Northwest.
Darien Chase, a Union senior, has spent the last two years on the recruiting roller coaster. The receiver/defensive back has been offered scholarships by Washington, Oregon, Oregon State, Utah and Boise State. He’ll announce his choice after this season.
There’s pride in being able to play football at the next level. There’s also pressure in making a choice that will determine the course of his life.
“When a down comes,” Chase said, “it’s probably worse than up.”
While Chase is nearing the end of his recruiting journey, Sawyer Racanelli is entering the thick of his.
At 6-foot-3, 200 pounds and an all-state receiver as a sophomore, the Hockinson junior received his first Pac-12 scholarship offer before he even earned his driver’s license.
Chase and Racanelli give Clark County two windows into the whirlwind of college football recruiting. Today, we take a look at how local players have navigated the sometimes tumultuous waters of that journey — from managing attention from college coaches to generating interest at offseason camps to avoiding the pitfalls found in social media.
Those stories and more can be found in our 44-page High School Fall Sports 2018 special section in today’s Columbian.
In it, we also profile every local football team, each with their own unique hopes and challenges.
• Is this the year Union makes a run at the Class 4A state title?
• Can any 3A team challenge Mountain View, which has its deepest team in years?
• Can former NFL quarterback Neil Lomax revive the program at Fort Vancouver, where turnout is already way up?
• Can La Center remain among the state’s best 1A teams despite graduating a huge senior class?
We also profile every other fall sport, including girls soccer, volleyball, cross country, girls swimming, boys golf and boys tennis.
Each academic year brings a new set of high school sports stories. They inspire us and remind us that the best attributes of a community (dedication, teamwork and perseverance) are often found in the athletes representing their schools.
Whether Clark County’s athletes are among the best in the Northwest, worthy of leaguewide honors or simply triumphed by making the team, they all have a unique story.
And for another year, we at The Columbian are happy to tell them.
Get a keepsake copy of the High School Fall Sports 2018 special section in the Sunday paper anywhere The Columbian is sold and look for the stories online in the coming days.
