WASHOUGAL — Even after the hardest of football games, the biggest wins or the toughest defeats, Brevan Bea and Jakob Davis find tranquility on the banks of local rivers.
Fishing is what you’ll find the longtime friends and teammates likely doing when not playing football.
Football is never far off their minds as it’s often the conversation topic of choice for the Washougal High School juniors.
“I don’t think there’s a weekend we’ve missed hanging out with each other,” Davis said.
That even goes during football season.
Bea and Davis, two-way starters for the Panthers’ football team, had their 2017 seasons end prematurely with the worst football injuries of their careers that required hospitalization: a compound fracture in Bea’s left leg, and a dislocated left elbow for Davis.
Now healthy, the pair is helping the Panthers (3-3 overall, 1-2 2A GSHL) push toward the playoffs starting with Friday’s game hosting Mark Morris (3-3, 1-2) . Washougal reached the postseason a year ago despite the gruesome season-ending injuries.
As difficult it is for Bea and Davis to describe the physical pain that prematurely ended their sophomore seasons, perhaps the emotional pain of not playing football proved greater.
“You forget about your leg, and you want to be out there playing,” Bea said. “Then you realize you can’t.
“Those Friday nights are times you always will remember and it’s so hard to get back out there. You have to have motivation.”
Neither wavered in motivation. Bea keeps the four screws used to repair the breaks, along with the black pants worn that night in Washougal’s eventual 34-14 win over Ridgefield, in his bedroom. Why he kept them is elementary.
“It’s motivation,” he said. “Hopefully, it doesn’t happen again. I have to run faster.”
Bea recalls the play originally designed for all-league running back Kade Coons to receive the handoff. At the last second, the two switched sides for the designed run.
The final play of his sophomore season went for 50 yards that set up an eventual Washougal touchdown, but not before a Ridgefield defender caught up to Bea, pulled him down, and his left leg was caught underneath.
“It was the perfect angle,” Bea said. “It snapped right then and there.”
Bea had compound fractures of his left tibia and fibula that required surgery that night. The injury happened two weeks before Davis’ dislocated left elbow sustained on Washougal’s opening drive at Woodland. Davis caught a screen pass near the team’s sideline and as the safety approached, the left arm gave out going to the ground.
“It was a pain I’ve never felt,” Davis said. “… That just stopped the momentum of the game.”
And momentum of Washougal’s drive in what was a 20-7 loss.
Davis didn’t need pins or plates in his elbow that was set back in place at the hospital that night. He also missed the first four basketball games, but returned to average 6.8 points in the final 13 games. Bea, also a basketball player, missed his sophomore season. Both turned out for track and field in the spring.
Panthers coach Dave Hajek said what makes two of his leaders so impactful is how they’re able to do so much.
Both play inside linebacker in addition to their duties on offense.
Their return to football came in Washougal’s season-opener against Hudson’s Bay. Davis had the first of three 100-plus-yard receiving games this season and Bea’s 22 tackles, a forced fumble, blocked punt and a rushing touchdown paved the way for a 16-13 victory.
“They’re definitely guys that like the sport and play hard,” Hajek said.
Bea, also Washougal’s second-leading rusher, is averaging 15 tackles per game on defense. Davis is the team’s leading receiver and fourth-highest yardage total in Southwest Washington (559 yards) and eight touchdowns.
Washougal isn’t eliminated from playoff contention, but each of the Panthers’ final three games is likely a must-win.
Of the team’s three losses, they’ve been by a combined 11 points. A blocked extra-point try was the difference in a 14-13 loss to Columbia River last week.
The physical and emotional pains from their injuries have subsided, but not before gaining a better understanding for how precious Friday nights are with friends and teammates.
They’re just as precious as time shared with friends and teammates along area rivers.
“High school football only happens once,” Davis said, “and you want to make every game, every moment count.”
