The question is posed several times each fall. The answer often leaves the inquirer puzzled, and rightly so.
The question goes something like this: “Is there someplace where I can listen to the (insert favorite Clark County prep football team here) game on the radio?”
The short answer: No.
A few years ago, there was a radio station in Clark County that broadcast high school football. Then that radio station decided it would be more profitable if it directed its programming to the large audience over on the other side of the Columbia River.
That decision left Clark County prep football fans with no prep football on the radio. Eventually, that Clark County radio station moved its operations over to Portland.
So, today, if you want to know what’s going on with high school football on a Friday night, your options are limited.
The first thing you can do is attend a high school football game, which we encourage you to do. Another option is to go to www.360preps.com, The Columbian’s high school sports portal on the Web.
In fact, in this wired society, you can do both of these options at the same time.
And now there is another option, and that is to go to www.sportsbeatradio.com. Ron Soanka, who has broadcast high school football in Clark County for 16 years, has teamed up with this online radio outlet to bring play-by-play coverage of prep football back to Clark County.
Soanka has a passion for high schools sports, and that passion is evident in his broadcasts. And it was his passion to bring prep football back to fans who can’t get out to the games.
Soanka saw a void, then worked to fill it.
And it is hard work.
Because of Soanka’s commitment to broadcast games on Evergreen Public Schools’ cable-access broadcast, he wears two hats when calls games on Friday. With McKenzie Stadium hosting a pair of football games most Friday, it makes for a long night for Soanka and his analyst Trevor Donison — four-plus hours of football.
Because this project just got going this season, Soanka is still working to secure sponsors for his broadcasts.
No sponsors means no commercials. No commercials mean no commercial breaks. No commercial breaks means a lot of airtime to fill.
Now that’s commitment to your passion. Soanka and Donison do a good job of it.
Of course, not everything has gone smoothly for Soanka.
A torrential downpour at Hockinson a couple weeks back kept Soanka from broadcasting for a while. There was another brief glitch during a game at McKenzie last week. As we all know, you can’t do something with computers without the occasional glitch.
And with Soanka’s commitment to Evergreen Public Schools, that means he’s somewhat limited to calling games at McKenzie Stadium. So if the big game of the week ends up in Camas or Kiggins Bowl, it may mean he will be unavailable to call those game.
“It is what it is,” Soanka said. “But we’re trying to make the best with the situation we have.”
As the adage goes, it’s better than nothing. In fact, it’s much better than nothing.
So if you find yourself in front of a computer instead of in the bleachers on Friday night, give a tune into www.sportsbeatradio.com. And be thankful for the passion of folks like Ron Soanka.
The week ahead
• VOLLEYBALL: Skyview (5-0) and Union (5-1) play Tuesday at Union for first place in the 4A Greater St. Helens League. Prairie and Kelso (tied for second in the 3A GSHL at 4-1) play at Kelso. Kelso then gets a crack at first-place Camas (5-0) on Thursday.
• GIRLS SOCCER: Doesn’t this sound familiar? Skyview (4-0-2) plays Union (4-2-0) Tuesday at McKenzie for first place in the 4A GSHL. Columbia River (3-1-1) plays Prairie (3-2-0) Thursday for third place in the 3A GSHL. In the 2A GSHL, Woodland (5-0) plays at Hockinson (3-2).
• FOOTBALL: Skyview plays at Battle Ground in a Thursday night 4A GSHL game. Friday’s schedule includes Union against Heritage. Do not be fooled by the 4-1 and 1-4 records. The Timberwolves are dangerous. If Union had trouble with Mountain View, the Titans could have trouble with Heritage.
Columbia River plays at Prairie in a game that could have playoff ramifications. Both teams are 1-2 in league. The loser will face a very uphill battle to the postseason.
And Stevenson travels to Toledo in a battle of 3-0 Trico League teams.
Tim Martinez is the assistant sports editor/prep coordinator for The Columbian. He can be reached by phone at 360-735-4538 or e-mail at tim.martinez@columbian.com
