Day After Report: Week 6

Camas is still undefeated.

We also already knew from last year that Columbia River always seems to find a way to win in October. The Chieftains did again Friday night.

And we did find out that Ridgefield has a lot of heart, bouncing back from consecutive losses to get back in the playoff race in the Trico League.

We had two other available reporters and decided to go to two Class 3A GSHL games. Unfortunately, there were three 3A GSHL games Friday, so we had to choose. Well, we went with Columbia River vs. Prairie because the winner would still be in the playoff race. And we went with Mountain View vs. Fort Vancouver. We had a feeling Mountain View would win, but we figured it would be a closer game than the Camas-Hudson’s Bay game. 

Turns out, the only close game of these four games — the 4A GSHL contest and the three 3A GSHL contests — was the River-Prairie game. We were not at Camas’ victory, but we appreciate the fact that their coach called in the stats. 

That makes two weeks in a row we were not at the Camas game — two blowouts, by the way. A lot can change between now and next week, but the plan for now is to be at the Camas game next week. Even though the Papermakers are playing a non-league game, they are the only 6-0 team in the region. We don’t want to go three weeks without being there. Of course, if the Papermakers keep playing this well, we might be covering them deep into November or beyond. 

Turns out, it was a simple math error on my part. (I’m blaming the doubleheader on that.) But I found this math error by re-charting every play. (I told you I was kind of crazy.) And in doing so, I found another small miscue.

Brandon Brody-Heim, I owe you an apology. I had you down for 136 yards on 25 carries. It actually was 137 yards on 26 carries. At least I got the three touchdowns right!

More yardage stuff: So after re-charting, I came up with 475 yards from scrimmage for the Titans, 338 of it on the ground. Brody-Heim and Zak Browning combined for 277 yards and six rushing touchdowns.

No. 21s were everywhere: Zak Browning wears No. 21 for the Titans and can often be easily seen with the ball in his hands in the end zone. He got four more touchdowns Friday night — the third time this season he has accomplished that feat. This time, he got three rushing TDs and an interception return for a TD.

But he was not the only No. 21 making plays. Michael Quintana of Heritage returned a kickoff 82 yards for Heritage’s first touchdown. And earlier in the game, he stopped a Union drive — and that did not happen much — with a sack of the Union quarterback for a 9-yard loss.

Union’s defense on the clock: The Titans defense shut out their opponents in Weeks 4 and 5 and then did not allow a touchdown to Heritage. The Timberwolves scored on an interception return and a kickoff return. That means the Union defense has not give up a touchdown since Week 3.

According to Brian Levesque of gshlfootball.com, the Titans have gone 174 minutes and 27 seconds of football without giving up a touchdown while on defense.

Phillips was solid again in this one, making all nine of his extra points. Battle Ground started on its own 20 after five kickoffs, four of them being touchbacks. And in one of the kicks that Phillips did not get all of, the coverage team pounced on the live ball after the Tigers failed to retrieve the ball.

“It’s a huge goal for me, to get 70 or 80 percent of my kicks to be touchbacks,” Phillips said.

He also got his chance to boot a long field goal. His 40-yarder was right down the middle. It would have been good in Arena Football. It also would have been good from at least 45 yards, maybe longer. 

“It felt great to get one,” Phillips said of the long attempt.

Running clock: Skyview took a 49-0 lead with 8:03 left in the third quarter. Any game with a 45-point spread in the second half starts the running clock format. The game clock only stops for a touchdown or injury. 

From there, though, it was all Camas. The Papermakers improved to 6-0 overall, 4-0 in the 3A GSHL with the romp. Camas scored 55 last week and 66 this week. Eventually, that trend will have to stop, right? Right? Well, you never know, the way this team is playing.

Addison Owen scored from all angles — with a touchdown catch, an interception return, and a punt return.

Logan Grindy was on his game again, this time completing 15 of 18 passes for 271 yards and three touchdowns.

Zack Marshall rushed for 98 yards and scored three touchdowns (two rushing, one receiving).

Managing to have a strong game: Rugged sophomore running back Remick Kawakaki carried the bulk of the Chieftains’ offense, finishing with 26 carries for 150 yards. But a big part of Prairie’s comeback was its ability to contain Kawawaki. After a strong first half, he rushed 12 times for 35 yards in the final two quarters.

Kawawaki said the Chieftains were temporarily derailed by Prairie’s comeback.

“At first, we were kind of out of breath. Once we saw we could move the ball up the field, we got breath back in our lungs. We get really emotional where we can take emotion out on the other team — controlled emotion.”

Could have been even better: Prairie’s Jesse Zalk had five receptions for 46 yards, but that does not represent his impact on the game. Zalk scored on a 49-yard interception return and a 2-yard run. He also had a 65-yard kickoff returns that was called back because of penalty and a 75-yard punt return for a TD that was nullified, as well.

This pass worked: Columbia River’s third touchdown came on a 17-yard pass from Clayton Frank to Jordan Erdman on a third-and-12 play in the second quarter. It was the Chieftain’s only completion for more than four yards in the game. Frank set up the score with an 18-yard scramble to the Falcons’ 15-yard line.

Strange but true: Undoubtedly, the most unusual play of the game came early in the fourth quarter, leading to Prairie’s tying touchdown. On a third-and-18 play from the River 32, Prairie QB Colin Seitz rolled out of the pocket, looking for a receiver. He ended up throwing toward the goal line. where a receiver was one-on-one with a defensive back. 

The defender (sorry, Greg Jayne did not see who it was; hey, there’s no replay in high school games) made a nice play, knocking the ball away. However, Prairie’s Ansel Cecil, not the intended receiver, swooped in to make the catch at the 2-yard line.

Defensive TD: Columbia River’s defensive lineman Tylor Jaskierny opened the scoring with a 27-yard fumble return.

“I saw the scoreboard, and I knew were we adding six points to it,” he said.

Jeff Carmody had a touchdown run and set up two more scores with an interception and a long punt return.

Ryan Hansen threw for two touchdown passes and rushed for another. He ended up with 126 yards passing and a team-high 78 yards rushing. 

In all, a bunch of Mountain View players combined for 359 yards from scrimmage. 

The first was a perfect pass from Anthony Thomas to Atrem Konkin for a 51-yard strike. Konkin was focused on this ball, as the defender was called for pass interference. Not enough interference, though. Konkin caught it, the defender fell down, and Konkin was all alone to waltz into the end zone.

The next TD pass went to Nemo Beavers. 

One again, his name was not on the roster. So, yes indeed, I had to go on a search. Just call in Finding Nemo II.

And we all found him in the end zone, after he leaped over a defender and hauled in the pass from Thomas.

Ryan Kulla and Seth Baxter combined for 270 yards.

Dylan Young was everywhere in the boxscore, with two 100-yard games in the same contest. He had 132 yards rushing, with two touchdowns, and also had 105 yards receiving with a score. (That’s a lot of fantasy points, too!)

There was a third 100-yard game, as well. Fullback Matt Cushwa rushed for 107 yards.