Former Camas mayor a Papermaker for life

For long-time fans of Camas High School (CHS) athletics, rejoicing in the school’s second state football championship in the past four years is a joy beyond words.

For decades, one of the program’s most fervent fans is former Camas mayor Scott Higgins. The life-long Papermaker has been running the chains at home games for the past 15 years, a task that earned Higgins a sideline pass to watch the 4A championship game from the sidelines at Mount Tahoma High School in Tacoma on Dec. 7.

“It’s a unique perspective,” Higgins said. “You are right here. It’s the best seat in the house and you get to stand and look up at your community and see how impressive it looks and sounds,” Higgins said during the game, which the Papermakers won 35-14 over Bothell High School.

Higgins, who graduated from CHS in 1990, played football and wrestled his way to a district title his senior season. In those days the town was dramatically smaller, and neighboring Washougal was the school’s biggest rival.

“In my three years on varsity we lost to the Panthers two of those years,” Higgins said. “They were hard fought games.”

“I’ll have that flashback for the rest of my life,” he said. “You don’t think I think about that Chiawana game? I still wake up at night in a cold sweat at 4 a.m.”

Higgins bought a CHS helmet to have autographed by the 2013 team, but decided to wait for a championship to get his signatures. Three years later, the Papermakers returned to the title game, and Eagle invited the mayor to address the team in the locker room before the contest.

“I said, ‘You don’t understand how special this is to Papermakers who have been here their whole life and were faithful to this community and this team when everyone made fun of it,'” Higgins said. “I told them about our community’s great pride in what they were doing.”

The team, led by quarterback Jack Colletto, marched onto the field and won the championship. The 2019 championship team’s seniors took it all in as freshmen.

Higgins said this year’s championship team reminds him of the 2016 Papermakers squad in the way they overcame the adversity after going through last year’s disappointing 5-5 season.