There was a point, sometime early Saturday afternoon, when we were beginning to wonder whether or not we’d have much of an overlap between fall and winter sports seasons in Clark County.
Winter sports season officially began Friday, when the first regular-season bowling matches were contested. This morning, the rest of the winter sports athletes will begin practices for a season that is set to begin on Nov. 29.
But before we can officially move into winter sports mode, there are three fall sports teams who are not done yet.
Now early Saturday afternoon, it wasn’t that we didn’t think any of the surviving football and soccer team teams could win later Saturday afternoon and evening. It’s just that none of these teams had ever advanced so deep into the fall season before.
And that’s what makes the journeys of the Camas football team, Skyview girls soccer team and the Prairie girls soccer team that much more special.
It will be the first trip to the Class 3A state semifinals for the Prairie girls soccer team when the Falcons take on Bonney Lake at 4 p.m. Friday at Harry Lang Stadium in Lakewood. It is a matchup of two programs that have never advanced this far in the state playoffs.
Prairie continues a strong tradition of girls soccer from Class 3A Greater St. Helens League team.
Last season, Camas and Columbia River both reached the state semifinals, with River taking the state championship. Camas, a regular state-tournament participant, also won a state title in 2005.
And this season, Prairie, the runner-up in the 3A GSHL, is one of the final four teams playing in the state.
For Skyview, the Storm are trying to start a new tradition of success at state. Skyview had not advanced to the state tournament since 2002, and had never won a state tournament match before.
In fact, none of the current members of the Class 4A Greater St. Helens League had advanced past the quarterfinal round before in girls soccer.
Still, even without a track record for success, Skyview never doubted its ability to reach the state’s final four.
“We knew Snohomish was a good team, but we believed in each other and believed we could get this far,” Skyview goalkeeper Hannah Johnson said. “We just want to keep going and get a chance to take on Skyline.”
Skyline is not only the top-ranked Class 4A team is the state. The Spartans are also the top-ranked girls soccer team in the nation, according to a poll released by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America. Before Skyview can take on Skyline, the Storm must beat Kentwood. And Skyline must beat Tahoma in the other 4A semifinal.
Skyview faces Kentwood in an 8 p.m. semifinal on Friday at Harry Lang Stadium.
But whether or not Skyview or Prairie is successful on Friday, both teams know they will be playing on Saturday.
Third-place games will precede state championship games on Saturday. The 3A third-place game is at 10 a.m. and the 4A third-place game is at noon. The championship games follow at 2 p.m. (3A) and 4 p.m. (4A). All matches are at Harry Lang Stadium.
The Camas football team opened this postseason having never won a state playoff game. And the Papermakers also opened the postseason without their all-league quarterback, Logan Grindy.
But behind backup quarterback Tony Gennaro and a stellar defense, the Papermakers routed Rainier Beach of Seattle in the state preliminary round, then fended off Juanita of Kirkland 20-13 for the first state playoff victory in school history.
Camas will try to keep Clark County’s run of sending at least one team to the state semifinals this weekend when the Papermakers host Lakes of Lakewood in a Class 3A state quarterfinal game.
Game day and time has not been set, although early indications were that the game would be played on Friday night. The winner of the Camas-Lakes game would play the following Friday, Nov. 26, at the Tacoma Dome, so a Friday quarterfinal game would be the first choice for the Papermakers and Lancers if there are no other scheduling issues.
And we, at The Columbian, often get accused of having a bias toward teams like the Camas soccer team or Skyview and Union football teams. But that perception gets created by deep playoff runs by those programs. When you’re one of the few teams left playing, it’s easy to draw a great deal of attention from the local media.
So the getting the opportunity to shine a spotlight on other county programs making deep postseason runs is something we welcome.
Tim Martinez is the assistant sports/prep coordinator for The Columbian. He can be reached by phone at (360) 735-4538 or e-mail at tim.martinez@columbian.com
