Written by: Will Hoenike
Veteran Camas County head coach Rusty Kramer welcomes back a treasure chest full of talented skill position players for the 2023 season. However, coming off a seven-win season and an appearance in the 1A Division 2 state playoffs, the key to the season for the Mushers will likely be how quickly Kramer and his assistant coaches, Dallas Smith and Ben Walter, can rebuild the team’s offensive and defensive lines.
Gone is four-year center Kaiden Baxter. Gone is three-year starter Mason Quinonez. In a game that only features three offensive linemen at a time, replacing two of the three – especially with the experience that Baxter and Quinonez had – is going to take some work.
Senior Keivan Berg and junior Kelby Cox figure to slot in to two of the three positions. How the group rounds out and, ultimately, works together might be a deciding factor on how far this team goes this season.
“This is an extremely close bunch of players and I’m excited to see how their work in the offseason pays off,” said Kramer. “Our biggest strength is our versatility.”
And the coach isn’t strictly talking about the ability to move kids around the field. Rather, it’s the ability to change schemes to exploit matchups to benefit the Mushers. For example, seniors Troy Smith (7.6 yards/carry, 7 touchdowns) and Tyson Tupper (9.2 yards/carry, 10 touchdowns) combined for over 1,000 yards rushing on the ground last fall. Meanwhile, senior quarterback Tristan Smith had a quarterback rating of 115 and threw 19 touchdown passes against just four interceptions. Emmett Palan and Trevor Tews, each coming into their senior seasons, combined for nearly 700 receiving yards last season and nine scores.
Translation – if a defense crowds the line, the Mushers have the pieces to attack down the field through the air. But if a defense sits back to take away deep passes, the running game will pound its way down the field and into the end zone.
“I feel with both of our running backs putting on a lot of muscle over the summer we can be a more balanced offense than in the past. We can spread it out and wing it or we can grind it out,” Kramer said. “Our very versatile quarterback can create enough time in the pocket that any play will stay alive. Just will depend how the game situation is and the matchups we see.”
Camas County’s offense was dominant in its seven wins last season, averaging 59 points per game. However, in its three losses, the team totaled just eight points. To be fair, the three losses were against three of the best teams in the state (Castleford, Dietrich, and Kendrick) but, if the Mushers want to join the elite level this fall, the team will have to find a way to succeed against the best of the best.
Dietrich and Castleford, the two teams that finished ahead of Camas County in the Sawtooth Conference standings last season, are also replacing key players. Those are the last two teams on the Mushers’ schedule this season and both games will be on the road (October 13 in Castleford, October 20 at Dietrich), so Kramer and his team will have some time to iron out the kinks before facing the Wolves and Blue Devils this fall.
However, there are other hurdles to be cleared. Many coaches around southern Idaho point at Hagerman as a team to watch in 2023. The Mushers host the Pirates for homecoming on September 29. And the team plays a difficult non-conference schedule early in the season, facing Rockland, Garden Valley, and Butte County – each of whom qualified for the state playoffs last season – before reaching conference play against another up-and-comer, Hansen, on September 22.
The Mushers have all the weapons needed to return to the 1A Division 2 state playoffs this fall. Can the team stay healthy and can it navigate a potentially tricky schedule to be in position to make a November post-season run?
Time will tell.