Camas drives home 4A state football quarterfinal victory over Arlington, 35-21Updated 2 hours ago

CAMAS — One call could have changed everything for the Camas Papermakers.

Instead, they just went back to work and closed out the Arlington Eagles.

After Arlington got to within 28-21 early in the fourth quarter on a reversal of an incomplete pass call in the end zone that resulted in an Eagles’ touchdown, Camas turned around and marched 70 yards in 13 plays for a game-sealing touchdown in a 35-21 Class 4A state quarterfinal victory Saturday afternoon at Doc Harris Stadium.

The top-seeded Papermakers (12-0) move on to their first semifinal since winning it all in 2019. Camas will host No. 5 seed Gonzaga Prep (12-0) at 1 p.m. next Saturday.

In what started out like a track meet with six touchdowns in the first half coming in rapid succession, it took a poised, precise, and time-eating final possession to get Camas the victory.

The Papermakers ate 6:54 off the clock in the fourth quarter with their final drive, running the ball 12 of their 13 plays. Quarterback Jake Davidson capped it off with a 12-yard touchdown run.

“The mindset was we were going to be stronger,” Davidson said. “We were just going to run it down their throat and that’s what the 2019 team did and that’s what we did at the very end.”

What could have been a turning point for Arlington (10-2) was the touchdown preceding Camas’ final drive.

Eagles quarterback Leyton Martin threw a long ball to the end zone for Jake Willis, who made a diving grab that was initially ruled incomplete. After the game officials talked it over, the 42-yard play was ruled a touchdown and suddenly Arlington was within a touchdown with 9:39 still to play.

Camas just never gave Arlington a real chance from that point on.

“To have a catch like that throw us off a little bit but all of us get together and be like ‘either way, catch or not, we can go score again.’ ” Camas wide receiver/defensive back Anthony Forner said. “I love that.”

When the Eagles did get the ball back, they had just 2:45 to work with, down two scores. By the time Arlington had moved to a first-and-goal situation, there was less than a minute left.

Camas’ Alexander Hroza made a stop of Arlington running back Caleb Reed for no gain, Martin threw two incomplete passes, and on fourth down, Forner knocked away a pass in the end zone that was nearly hauled in by Arlington’s Hudson Younger.

It was the perfect ending for Forner, who had an interception to end Arlington’s first drive of the game and later added a 70-yard catch-and-run for a TD to put Camas ahead 28-7.

“Me and Jake have this connection,” Forner said of his quarterback. “The route might not be exactly what is called, but if there’s open grass I’ll go get it and he’ll throw it to me. It’s just impressive.”

Davidson completed 12 of 15 passes for 217 yards and three TDs and he also rushed for two scores.

The Papermakers knew coming in that the game could be high scoring with Arlington averaging 42.2 points a game.

“We knew right away it would be a shootout,” Forner said. “We knew if we had an offense like this, held them and just went score-no score-score-score we would have the game under control.”

Camas’ first possession ended with a 25-yard TD pass from Davidson to Ryder Jacobson. Arlington answered in four plays to make it 7-7, and then Camas came right back to score three play later. The big play there was a 66-yard run by Titan Brody on first down, then Davidson scored on a 7-yard run.

Jack Macdonald capped a 14-play, 84-yard Camas drive with a 10-yard touchdown reception to put the Papermakers ahead 21-7.

The Camas defense stood tall against the Eagles on their next possession. Horza and Luke Webb both had key tackles on Martin and Nikko Speer intercepted Martin two plays later, which led to Forner’s 70-yard TD.

“Every receiver did his job,” Davidson said. “When everyone knows their job, it makes it way easier for me.”

The running game was pretty good too as Camas rolled up 226 yards on 41 carries. Brody led the way with 136 yards on 16 attempts.

Arlington was held to 67 yards rushing. Martin was 12 of 20 passing for 226 yards with two interceptions and two touchdowns.

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CAMAS 35, ARLINGTON 21

Arlington 7 7 0 7 — 21

Camas 14 14 0 7 — 35

First quarter

C — Ryder Jacobson 25 pass from Jake Davidson (Jackson Tyler kick)

A — Chase Deberry 18 pass from Leyton Martin (Reidar Gudgeon kick)

C — Davidson 6 run (Tyler kick)

Second quarter

C — Jack Macdonald 10 pass from Davidson (Tyler kick)

C — Anthony Forner 70 pass from Davidson (Tyler kick)

A — Caleb Reed 1 run (Gudgeon kick)

Fourth quarter

A — Jake Willis 42 pass from Martin (Gudgeon kick)

C — Davidson 12 run (Tyler kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Arlington: Reed 14-41, Martin 13-26; Camas: Titan Brody 16-136, Davidson 17-68, Thor Brody 6-13, Macdonald 1-10, Team 1-(minus 1).

PASSING — Arlington: Martin 2-20-2-226; Camas: Davidson 12-15-0-217.

RECEIVING — Arlington: Jake Willis 3-74, Kaid Hunter 3-69, Deberry 3-59, Eli Rae 2-25, Reed 1-(minus 1); Camas: Chase McGee 5-28, Forner 2-72, Jacobson 2-47, Nikko Speer 1-48, Brody 1-12, Macdonald 1-10.