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Camas defensive line doesn’t need spotlight

Talented group just focused on job they have to do

By Paul Valencia, Columbian High School Sports Reporter
Published: August 30, 2016, 3:56pm

They are too big to miss, or so it would seem.

But sometimes they get lost in the mass of bodies at the line of scrimmage.

The linebacker might get his named called over the public address system when he roams free for the big hit. But he might have been unblocked because the offense was too concerned with the big guys.

Or the defensive back gets the interception, but only after those big guys pressured the quarterback into a bad pass.

“It doesn’t really matter about the glory, who gets their name in the paper,” Camas senior Cody Jackson said. “It’s about doing your job and being focused on what you have to do.

“I’ve got to get my gap, hold it, do what the coaches tell me to do. Let the play play out.”

That’s the mentality of the Camas football defensive line.

Jackson, Dylan Ingram, Marshall McIvor — all seniors — are the projected starters for the upcoming season. Dakota Napierkowski, another senior and one of the best offensive linemen in the region, will be in the defensive rotation.

There have been some great individual defensive linemen who have played for the Papermakers this decade, but Camas coaches say this could be the most talented group.

With all the buzz of that quick-strike offense through the years, the Papermakers know that their dominating defense is just as worthy.

Actually, the offense and defense complement each other.

“Going up against that varsity first-string offensive line last year (in practice) definitely helped us out for this year,” McIvor said.

Plus, the Camas system is designed to get a number of guys on the field during a game. Starters take a break. The next wave comes in. So by the time they are seniors, even if they weren’t officially starters as juniors, they saw plenty of action.

In other words, these guys have plenty of experience.

As seniors, they have a little more motivation, too.

“We’ve grown up together playing football,” Jackson said. “We’re really excited with our last year to show what we can do.”

“Playing with your best friends is the best thing about football,” Napierkowski said.

Winning is right up there, too. The Papermakers have done a lot of that, reaching the state playoffs in each of the past six seasons. Camas fell in the quarterfinals last year.

Victories in September and October are important, but Ingram has plans that go beyond Halloween.

“If you really w ant to be good, you have to go hard every day, in every drill,” Ingram said. “We all have that one goal. We know what it is,” he said.

That would be playing the first weekend of December. Championship weekend.

If the Papermakers do that, they will all share in the glory, knowing that they all did their jobs — for one another.

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Columbian High School Sports Reporter