Prior to kickoff in Wednesday’s boys soccer game against Union, and again to start the second half, Camas players Cooper Schneider and Luke Manandic knelt down on the field with a hand on each other’s shoulder and bowed their heads.
It’s become a ritual for the two Papermakers junior teammates to set aside a moment for prayer for every game this season, as Schnieder explains, after some soul-searching last summer.
“Last season … we kind of did a search over the summer (and) offseason,” Schneider said. “I feel like we both kind of got closer to God and I feel it’s something we share heavily. It’s something we really look forward to (doing), sharing our beliefs. Kind of a little ritual we do to come together.”
“All glory to God,” Manandic added.
Both players, who were starters as sophomores on the Papermakers’ squad that reached the Class 4A state championship game and took second place, have taken another step as upperclassmen this season.
Schneider, a speedy forward, scored just eight minutes into Wednesday’s game, an ultimate 2-0 win over the Titans in each team’s 4A Greater St. Helens League opener.
Manandic, a versatile defender and midfielder, helped preserve the shutout on the defensive end and set up multiple Camas scoring opportunities, including a through ball to Schneider late in the second half resulting in a foul and red card against the Titans. Noah McLamb scored on the subsequent free kick to seal the win for the Papermakers.
Camas continues its 4A GSHL slate on Wednesday, April 23, with an away game at Skyview.
Valley of the big shots
It had been nearly eight years since the last time the shot put pit at Columbia River High School simply wasn’t big enough.
At the 2A district championships in 2017, Ridgefield’s Trey Knight launched his shot so far that it rolled into the bramble-filled ravine beyond the throwing pit.
That mark of 60 feet, 9 inches set a state freshman record and spurred a project to extend and fortify Columbia River’s throwing pit.
Yet on Friday during the John Ingram Twilight Meet, volunteers were once again wading through the brambles looking for a 12-pound metal ball.
That was thanks to Will Foster. On his second throw, the Prairie senior’s shot cleared 61 feet, bounced over the railroad ties at the pit’s end and rolled into the ravine.
That wasn’t even Foster’s best mark. He reached 63 feet, 6 inches on two subsequent throws that short-hopped off the pit’s boundary and stayed in.
Foster’s mark of 63-6 was a personal-best by nearly 3½ feet, ranks No. 16 in the nation and is the farthest in the state across all classifications by 13 inches.
Foster, who committed this week to throw at the University of Washington, wasn’t done. He went on to win the discus with a mark of 189-0.
Early lock-in for Seton soccer
The Seton Catholic athletic program woke up Easter morning to find three victories, and at least one of them was a little bit hard to find.
The baseball and softball teams won on Saturday afternoon. But the Seton Catholic boys soccer team faced rival King’s Way Christian at the unusual starting time of 9 a.m.
“The game was originally schedule for Friday night,” Seton Catholic athletic director Phil Kent said. “And there was no way we were going to play on Good Friday. So we looked at the calendar, and Saturday was the only day that worked.”
The schedule this week was already stacked. Seton Catholic had matches on Monday and Friday, and King’s Way was scheduled to play Monday and Wednesday.
So Saturday was the only option. The school’s preference was to not play games on Thursday, Friday or Saturday of Holy Week, but an allowance was made for Saturday as long as all games were over in time for Easter Vigil mass on Saturday night.
But Seton soccer coach Antonio Buckley had a conflict later in the day Saturday, so the match had to kick off at 9 a.m.
It was odd, but the Cougars made it work.
“Our call time was 8 o’clock, but a lot of the guys were here by 7:45,” senior Teagan Petracca said. “It was pretty overcast and gloomy. We thought we might catch some rain. But in the pre-game talk, we all said ‘We got to wake up. We’ve got to rise to the occasion. And we definitely did that.”
Senior Derebe Smith headed in a corner kick in the first half, and Petracca added a second-half goal along with a penalty kick by Easton Ross as the Cougars beat the Knights 3-1.
“Such an early game, you really got to lock in,” Smith said. “It’s like you just wake up and you’ve got to be focused right when you get on the field, right when you’re warming up. And we did that.”
New-look River baseball gains experience
On paper, the Columbia River baseball team appears younger than last year’s group featuring 14 seniors that captured the Class 2A state championship.
Behind the scenes, however, many players gained key experience building up to this spring that is paying dividends for the program. River is the clubhouse leader in the 2A Greater St. Helens League standings through six games, highlighted by series sweeps over Washougal and Ridgefield in the last two weeks.
River organizes its practices into a two-group system where JV practices on the same field alongside varsity, allowing players to get acquainted with the Rapids’ entire coaching staff. Many players also opt to play with the Rapids’ summer ball team under head coach Stephen Donohue. Last summer, they played approximately 30 games together.
“So a lot of them, they’ve already kind of jelled in that regard,” Donohue said April 11 after River swept Washougal in a two-game series.
“It’s been a little bit of an adjustment (this season). There is more coaching, because a lot of the kids last year had been on varsity for three years. Certain things we’re not having to go over as often last year that we’re having to go over this year. It’s been fun. This is what coaching is about — every year is kind of a new deal.”
This year’s roster has eight seniors, including the Rapids’ 1-2 punch on the mound of Noah Coakes, the reigning 2A GSHL pitcher of the year, and Harrison Hoffarth, a Seattle University commit.
Pitching has kept them in multiple low-scoring games, though recent results suggest the Rapids’ bats are heating up.
In Wednesday’s 9-3 win over Ridgefield, sophomore Charley Eisenhauer went 2-for-3 with a double and triple. Senior Nate Little and junior Conrad Pfeifer each collected two RBI. The run output matched River’s season high thus far.
“I think it was a really steep adjustment,” Hoffarth said. “Start of the year we had very little chemistry, guys didn’t know each other, a lot of new guys stepping up this year. But now that we’re a lot closer together, had a lot of games, had a lot of practices, we’re all bonded and we’re working together.”
