The Camas High School (CHS) fall sports teams have been fighting to win league, districts, and the state championship.
“In the upcoming weeks [for football], we are hoping to get first in our league and earn a high seed going into the playoffs to then hopefully make a state run,” CHS junior and quarterback Benjamin Druckman said.
“[For soccer] I think we want to prove ourselves to the state and the 4A teams that we are soon to play,” CHS senior and goalkeeper Natalie Grajeda said. “And we want to win the [state] trophy and show everybody that we are the Camas Papermakers.”
Winning will not be an easy feat. It will require the teams to work together to grow and succeed.
“Then, for the whole team, it is about adapting since we play people in our league twice, so we need to see what happened the first time and adjust accordingly the second time,” Grajeda said. “We showed that in Skyview, and we showed that in Union, where we were getting beaten a lot on foot, but I think our defense works a lot better facing one-on-one. So, that was kind of an adjustment that we made, and it worked out in our favor.”
Like the soccer team, the football team has been working hard to come together, especially since many new players have joined the team.
“We come to school every morning for zero period lifting and grow together through hard work throughout the season,” Druckman said. “We all give full effort at every practice and hold each other accountable to get the best out of each other.”
Other sports like tennis, volleyball, golf, and cross country have also had a good showing throughout the season in their respective tournaments.
“Boys golf just won the district championship by 20 strokes,” CHS Associate Principal and Athletic Director Stephen Baranowski said. “[The girls cross country team] is ranked in the top five in the state, and then Cohen Butler set the school record twice now, broke his own record, and won a gigantic regional meet called Hole in the Wall, which is a pretty big deal, and broke the course record at that course.”
Football just had league start up with games against Battleground and Union, with Skyview being the last league game. In other sports, slow-pitch ended up placing third in league, girls swimming are working towards a league title and have post-season coming up soon, tennis just had their senior night on Aug. 17, and, as of last week, volleyball was in the top three in the state.
These achievements come with challenges, since athletes are trying to balance sports and schoolwork.
“You want to push as hard as you can, also take care of school work, but we have, honestly, great kids in our programs that are doing great things and just keep being who you are and have fun.” Baranowski said.
Even with the busyness of school, CHS athletes are proud of their athletic accomplishments and are determined to keep working hard.
“We are the Camas Papermakers, and we fight with heart, we fight with pride, and we play as a team,” Grajeda said. “If we have the mindset to win, there is nothing that can stop us.”
