Camas football wins 4A GSHL title on last-second field goal

Winning league titles never get old.

Just ask the Camas Papermakers, who captured their fifth straight unbeaten 4A Greater St. Helens League season with its 16-13 victory Friday night over Skyview.

But just how the Papermakers did it Friday night at a rained-soaked Doc Harris Stadium that makes this one memorable in its own right.

That’s why postgame, when Thor Brody turned to quarterback Ben Druckman, a newbie to Camas’ football program this season, and said this: “We win games like this,” Brody said. “This is how we win games out here in Papermakerville.”

If it means a heart-pounding, gut-checking, down-to-the-wire thrilling ending capped with a Jackson Tyler game-winning field goal as time expired to seal a league title, secure a playoff berth, and avoid an unnecessary league tiebreaker, then the Papermakers achieved that.

Camas (7-2 overall, 3-0 league) is now winners of five straight and likely will host a Week 10 state preliminary round game next weekend.

Skyview (3-6, 1-2) misses the postseason for only the second time since 2004. Battle Ground, a 38-14 winner Thursday over Union, earns the league’s No. 2 playoff berth.

The Papermakers were far from perfect Friday. They committed three first-half red-zone turnovers and a special teams blunder gave way to a 10-0 advantage for Skyview at halftime. The Storm had all the momentum going into the locker room behind 151 first-half yards by Kenroy Brown and a fumble scoop-and-score by David Dudko in the final minute of the first half.

Things got worse for Camas. Late in the first half also is when starting quarterback Tyson Ruggiero left with an elbow injury after taking a tackle out of bounds.

Perseverance, Brody said, is what got the Papermakers through Friday. Camas outscored Skyview 16-3 in the second half.

Enter Druckman. A transfer from Puyallup’s Emerald Ridge High this off-season, Druckman has mostly played a backup role in his junior Papermaker campaign. But he’s got plenty of starting experience; he started nine games for Emerald Ridge as a sophomore.

That veteran experience, though, shined most in the final 2 minutes, 29 seconds when the junior orchestrated the 77-yard game-winning scoring drive.