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At River Ridge High School, there will be no such fine-tuning needed – especially for running back/wideout Brad Wallace and new quarterback Colby Schultz. That’s because they’re cousins, and have played football together since age 6.
“It’s just like the old days of TCYFL (Thurston County Youth Football League),” Wallace said. “We’re pretty familiar with one another. I already know what he can do.”
Cousin-to-cousin handoffs and downfield touchdown passes could be frequent this season for the Hawks, who are coming off their second winning season in the school’s 17-year history. The previous time the Hawks posted a winning record was in 1998, when the team, led by quarterback Dale Chase, went 7-4 and advanced to the Class 4A state quarterfinals.
After getting off to a 4-0 start in 2010, the Hawks finished at 5-4 and missed the playoffs.
This year’s Hawks feature 12 returning starters, and Schultz – a 5-foot-6, 132-pound junior – will lead a spread offense that has five returning starters and averaged 23.6 points a game last season.
“He runs a good huddle,” said River Ridge coach Steve Schultz, who is Colby’s father and Brad Wallace’s uncle. “He distributes the ball where it needs to go and does it in a hurry. He’s going to help us win ballgames.”
Wallace, a 6-foot, 185-pound junior, is a threat every time he touches the ball. He might be the most dangerous player in the 2A Evergreen Conference. He’s been an all-league player the past two years – as a second-team receiver in ’09 and a first-team running back last year. He had more than 2,000 all-purpose yards in 2010, scored a team-high 22 touchdowns and also had 35 tackles and four interceptions as a safety. He’s currently on multiple junior watch lists for college programs, including Oregon, Washington and Washington State from the Pacific-12 Conference.
“If we need a play done, I’m going to look right at my cousin,” Colby Schultz said, “and trust he’s going to make it into the end zone for us. But I can say that about every single other player that’s a skill player.”
But don’t always expect Wallace to be lined up in the backfield on offense – he might line up in the slot or even as a tight end.
“We can move him around the field and he’s a threat wherever he’s at,” Steve Schultz said. “The potential of him being a threat can really help everyone else. We have all different kinds of weapons.”
Senior Jeremy Camacho, an all-league receiver who had 24 receptions and four touchdowns last year as well as 37 tackles and three receptions in the secondary, will see some time at quarterback, too, giving the Hawks potentially three guys moving in and out of the backfield.
This will be the third consecutive year River Ridge will start a freshman. In 2009, it was Wallace, then Elijah Camacho last year. This year, it’s Jared Kikel, a 6-4, 220-pound athletic defensive tackle. Elijah Camacho, a 5-5 linebacker, returns after having 58 tackles last year, including five for loss. Nich Justus and Wesley Coats, who combined for 40 tackles in the secondary in 2010, will be two-way starters, also starting at receiver.
Another strength is a sizable offensive line with experience, led seniors Christian Dilworth and Zach Bowling, who returns after suffering a season-ending knee injury last year against Aberdeen. Bowling is the team’s biggest player at 6-5 and 240 pounds.
The top three teams in the seven-team EvCo earn playoff spots, with the No. 1 team earning an automatic state berth. River Ridge last made the playoffs in 2009 with a 2-7 record, earning the fourth and final playoff spot in an epic five-way tiebreaker.
“We don’t expect anything less than success,” Colby Schultz said.
Meg Wochnick: 360-754-5473
mwochnick@theolympian.com
