CAMAS — Several minutes into Camas High School’s second lunch period earlier this week, Adam Mathieson walked over to a large whiteboard pinned up inside his first-floor windowless office, grabbed a dry-erase marker, and turned to his quarterback.
“OK, riddle me this one, Batman,” the coach said.
Senior Jake Davidson, who became Camas’ single-season passing leader during last week’s semifinal victory and has 50 touchdown passes through 13 games, didn’t hesitate to answer. The head coach and quarterback are breaking down film of Sumner, Camas’ opponent in Saturday’s Class 4A football state championship game.
Davidson is in Mathieson’s office for nearly 30 minutes, as the coach flicks through a dozen or so clips on a 75-inch flatscreen television. He peppers his quarterback with questions and Davidson answers every one to the coach’s liking.
On the eve of Saturday’s title game where No. 1 Camas (13-0) and No. 2 Sumner (12-1) face off at 7 p.m. at Seattle’s Husky Stadium, Davidson and Mathieson haven’t changed their routine since the school year began in September.
Like clockwork daily during the B lunch period at Camas, the quarterback sits at a table in his head coach’s office, and answers questions in their coach-quarterback film session.
It’s just one of the reasons why Davidson believes he’s a different quarterback — “100 percent,” he said — compared to his junior campaign. He’s more than doubled his passing touchdowns, thrown for nearly 1,000 more yards, and perhaps the biggest gain is the play-making abilities with his legs compared to 2023.
But statistics are only part of the story.
“I’m completely different,” Davidson said, “in every way.”
Preparation process
When Mathieson joined Camas’ coaching staff in 2023 as an assistant coach — an offensive consultant, he’ll tell you — Davidson admitted he knew next to nothing about Mathieson or how his 25-year coaching background included tutoring future NFL first-round draft pick Jake Locker.
At Mountain View, Mathieson’s teams won five league titles, and reached the postseason 10 times from 2008-22.
Trust was imminent from the start, well before Mathieson became Camas’ new head coach in January, Davidson said.
“I trusted him all the way,” he said.
This is Mathieson’s 17th year as a high school head coach and his third school.
Ask opposing coaches about facing a Mathieson-led team with a veteran staff, and they’ll say the preparation process is time-consuming. In-game adjustments are the ultimate chess match.
Kelso coach Steve Amrine’s Hilander teams went 2-6 against Mathieson’s Mountain View squads from 2013 through 2022. Game planning for a Mathieson-led offense always was Amrine’s stiffest regular-season test for a number of reasons. Chief among them was the offense’s complexity and elite quarterback play. After all, few local coaches were so early to adopt the RPO (run-pass option) like Mathieson, Amrine said.
“He made it really tough to be right,” he said.
Since 2016, five quarterbacks under Mathieson have been a league MVP. Davidson, this year’s 4A Greater St. Helens League co-offensive player of the year, is the latest.
That statistic doesn’t surprise Amrine since he faced four of them. For years, he watched quarterbacks succeed because Mathieson and his staff place them in the best positions to do so. That’s largely fueled by innovative creativity ahead of its time, Amrine said.
“We’ve gotten into the age where quarterbacks can do both (pass and run),” he said, “but he was always doing that for a long time.”
Mentoring QBs
Arriving at Western Washington University in 1994, Mathieson hoped to play quarterback after starring at Spokane’s North Central High in a run-and-shoot offense. That plan lasted “20 minutes,” he said, and switched to safety. Now at age 48, Mathieson has spent 43 years playing, coaching or trying to figure out quarterbacks.
“I love the sports science behind it more than any other position,” he said.
Mathieson has mentored quarterbacks of all sizes, strengths and abilities: Baseball-first quarterbacks, 5-foot-6 quarterbacks and a future NFL starter in Locker when Mathieson coached at Ferndale.
Perhaps it’s fitting Mathieson is mentoring another Jake. At Camas, Mathieson’s first season as head coach meant he inherited a 6-foot-3, 190-pounder poised to be better after Camas’ 31-14 upset loss to 14th-seeded Mount Si that ended the Papermakers’ 2023 season.
“I felt like I completely disappointed (my teammates),” Davidson said. “I disappointed myself, too, because I wasn’t prepared in every way possible. I didn’t do what I needed to do.”
That’s why Davidson chooses to spend lunch daily in Mathieson’s office — to learn, invest and grow. It isn’t a one-way street, though. The impact goes both ways.
“I’ve learned more from him than I’ve maybe taught him,” Mathieson said.
Mathieson calls Davidson the most rhythmic kid he’s ever been around. Davidson works with private quarterback coaches, but the growth in his senior season goes beyond basic quarterbacking principles, he said.
“I used to think a quarterback was just all fundamentals,” Davidson said. “You see a guy open and you throw the ball, but that’s furthest from the truth. It is so much more mentally than it is physically in every way.”
He continued.
“Last year, I was able to throw the ball pretty well, but I just couldn’t understand the defense sometimes; it was just cloudy for me.”
Things are pretty clear now. For as good of a junior campaign as Davidson had (2,556 passing yards, 23 touchdowns), he’s at elite levels in 2024. Davidson is completing a shade under 70 percent of his passes and his 3,440 yards through 13 games surpassed Reilly Hennessey’s 3,383-yard, single-season mark from 2013. Davidson’s 50 touchdown passes also is a single-season school record.
But records are far from Davidson’s mind. His favorite moment this season came on the 13-play, game-sealing, clock-eating drive against Arlington when Camas rode its offensive line and ran the ball 12 times. The quarterback’s 12-yard rushing touchdown capped the state quarterfinal victory in a game he began a perfect 8 of 8 passing.
The run game
On an offense averaging 41 points a game, Davidson is second in rushing yards (373) and rushing touchdowns (five). Last spring, he went out for track and field to improve his speed for football. That explosiveness is seen in 102 carries this season, and makes his coach smile.
“I love to watch him run — he’s got a burst,” Mathieson said.
Mathieson has a list of seven attributes he’d look for in a quarterback if he was a college recruiter. One thing he stresses is toughness, both physically and mentally. In fact, Camas coaches last season made a Hudl highlights package of all the times Davidson got pummeled in games.
Why make that video? Because Davidson bounced right up each time he got knocked down.
“Some guys can go in the park and throw a football,” the coach said, “but can you throw a football with 1,000 pounds of dudes chasing you?”
As their film session wraps up, Mathieson looks at his quarterback and asks, “Are we good?”
Davidson says yes.
Throughout the 27-minute film session, Mathieson made sure he and Davidson were on the same page by asking, “Does this make sense?” 17 times.
Watching Mathieson dissect film is magician-like. Outside of Camas’ own longtime defensive coordinator, Dan Kielty, he also calls Sumner coach Keith Ross one of the state’s elite defensive gurus. Two weeks ago, Sumner dispatched 4A Greater St. Helens League rival Skyview, 41-0, behind the stout play of Ross’ disciplined 4-2-5 defense. Camas hasn’t faced tacklers as good as Sumner this season, Mathieson said.
“They never miss,” he said.
On the eve of Saturday’s Class 4A football state championship game, just like they have all season, coach and quarterback never miss, either.
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JAKE DAVIDSON BY THE NUMBERS
2023
Passing: 177 of 286, 61.9% completion, 2,556 yards, 23 TDs
Rushing: 39 attempts for 49 yards, 1 TD
2024
Passing: 202 of 290, 69.7% completion, 3,440 yards, 50 TDs
Rushing: 102 attempts for 373 yards, 5 TDs
