CASTLE ROCK —- The picture is downright cute.
A 1985 newspaper clipping from the Cowlitz County Advocate features a photograph of two young cousins, ages 3 and 2 1/2, modeling the tiny custom-made letterman's jackets they received for Christmas.
Oh, how they wanted to grow up so they, too, could play football for the beloved Rockets. Just like the big boys.
Well, Josef VonDracek and Matt Amos, those adorable tikes sporting the kid-at-play grins and manicured haircuts, are full-fledged Rockets now. Ask the players who have to line up against them every Friday night if they're cute, if they're cuddly, if they smile when they make yet another teeth-trembling tackle.
Cute?
What’s so cute about meeting Amos, built like an armored car, head-on as he pays a visit to your backfield from his defensive end spot?
There’s nothing cute about these Rockets, two of the primary reasons Castle Rock’s defense has risen up and snuffed out team after team in the second half of this championship season.
The Rockets (7-2) take a six-game winning streak into Friday’s 7 p.m. matchup against Eatonville in the first round of the Class 2A state playoffs. The game will be played at either Schroeder Field in Kelso or Rocket Stadium, with the survivor advancing to the quarterfinals.
VonDracek and Amos are seniors and, up until teammate Matt Murray sustained a serious head injury during CR’s Oct. 3 win at Ridgefield, they were vicious bookend linebackers — starting positions they had owned since their sophomore years. Amos has since moved into Murray’s defensive end spot, and has not missed a beat as the Rockets captured the Trico Division crown for the first time in seven years.
But this gridiron transformation, from cute and cuddly to mean and nasty, didn’t happen overnight.
It seems VonDracek’s older brother, Ben Cooper, is to blame for getting his little brother and cousin hooked on Rocket football at such a young age.
“I would always ask him questions about what it was like to play Rocket football and what about this and what about that,” VonDracek recalled. “He’d get mad at me for asking so many questions.”
Even Amos remembers catching the Rocket football bug when he was barely big enough to tote the ball under his arm.
“We’d go to the high school games and play on the sidelines or off on the side somewhere. We were little kids and we loved watching the big kids,” said Amos, who also starts in the backfield as the Rockets’ bruising fullback (all-league first team in 1999). “We started playing youth football in the fifth grade for Mark May’s State Farm team. That’s where we learned the basics. For me, though, football really started to click when I got in high school.”
Once the Castle Rock cousins reached their goal of becoming Rockets, it didn’t take them long to make an impact.
It was their sophomore year, the first game of the varsity season. Castle Rock’s two starting linebackers, both upperclassmen, were suspended for disciplinary reasons. Ten minutes before the opener, Coach Tom Bate told VonDracek and Amos they were his starting linebackers.
“We threw them into the heat of battle as sophomores and they have been doing a great job for us ever since,” Bate said. “They have exceptional quickness and are strong. They both have a nose for the football.”
VonDracek (6-foot-1, 205 pounds) had an outstanding junior season. He was named the Trico Division’s Defensive Player of the Year and developed an uncanny ability to find the football. Amos, his partner in crime, typically cleans up what VonDracek starts — and vice versa.
“Matt and me, we know each other so well,” said VonDracek, who also is a standout on the offensive line at right guard. “We hunt together, fish, trap, just about anything outdoors. We only talk about football when it comes up in conversation. We don’t talk about it that much. We just go play.”
And playing together, with their senior classmates, has meant a lot to Amos.
“We played against each other in middle school and now we’re all on the same team. We all have the same goal of winning a championship,” he said. “It’s exciting because we’ve all been waiting for this year since we were little kids.”
Amos is quick to credit the other players on Castle Rock's defensive front for helping build a state-title contender: Curt Inman, Scott Buchanan, Justin Ray, Brent Nikolaus, Justin Riedl and Clint Nikolaus.
"Our front seven or eight guys are tough," Amos said. "We feel pretty confident about our run defense going into the playoffs."
Now both 17, VonDracek and Amos can look back on their toddler days and laugh. Those little red letterman's jackets served as incentive for them to grow up and taste Rocket football for themselves.
Right now, it tastes pretty good. Like grilled T-bone and a chocolate milkshake on a summer eve.
"I still have that clipping of us when we were little. I had it laminated the other day. And that little letterman's jacket is hanging in my closet with the rest of my clothes," Amos said. "Playing for this team has been a great experience. It was worth the wait. I just hope we can keep it going for a little while longer."
Noel Cameron Rainier soccer
Cameron scored both of Rainier's goals in a 2-1 Halloween Night victory over Oregon Episcopal in the district playoffs, which advanced the Columbians to the state tournament for the first time in school history. That's where the Columbians' season ended, 2-1 in overtime at Ontario. Cameron scored Rainier's lone goal.
Sara Peterson Mark Morris swimming
Peterson, just a freshman, won a pair of district championships Saturday in Olympia and was a member of MM's triumphant 200-yard freestyle relay. Peterson claimed the 200 individual medley in 2 minutes, 20.17 seconds, then captured the 200 breaststroke in a school-record 1:11.59. She also teamed with Aly Lovie, Brianna O'Connor and Mellissa Maupin to win the 200 free relay.
Rob Stumph Mark Morris water polo
Stumph was named to the all-state team at the Class 3A/4A State Water Polo Championships in Federal Way last weekend. He scored four goals in MM's 15-8 first-round win over Roosevelt, scored two more in a 10-5 win over Curtis, and had three goals in a 14-12 loss to Sammamish. He then erupted for seven goals in an 11-7 win over Wilson and scored three in a 14-12 loss to Bellevue.
Stephanie Storedahl Kalama volleyball
One of the Chinooks' big hitters, Storedahl pounded down 16 kills in Kalama's 5-15, 15-10, 15-13 victory over previously undefeated Toutle Lake on Saturday in the championship match of the 1A district tournament. She also was instrumental in a semifinal win over Onalaska earlier Saturday.
Quote of the Week
"The scary thing is, we didn't even play our best game."
—- Kalama volleyball coach Tina Merz, after her Chinooks stunned Toutle for the district title
Prep Notebook
Kelso football coach keeps an even keel
To be sure, Kelso coach Pat Hymes hasn't given up on this year's football team.
That can't be said for some of his players, however.
Eight starters have either quit or been injured since the midway point of the season, said the fifth-year head coach. Some of the players who quit had been disciplined for various reasons.
And despite the loss in manpower and a few lackluster efforts during the past three weeks (not counting the first half against Heritage and the second half against Battle Ground), the Hilanders, Hymes said, are ready for what lies ahead —- a first-round playoff game against Spanaway Lake tonight.
"This is where we wanted to be. If we win Tuesday, we're back home," Hymes said.
Sure enough, if the Hilanders beat the Sentinels tonight, they will host a game Friday night at Schroeder Field.
Whether a high school football coach should ever come under fire for how his football team fares in wins and losses in any one season is debatable. Still, Hymes has heard his share of critics concerning the Hilanders' 5-4 season —- from the guys who call the games on the radio to the fans. One fan even called the newspaper to talk about what he described as "pushing and shoving" among Kelso defensive players in the Scots' 35-28 loss to 3A Skyview last Thursday.
"I can't tell you. I wasn't out there, so I don't know." said Hymes about the fan's accusation. "You're going to hear it from people when things don't go your way. And people are entitled to their opinions."
Critics aside, Hymes believes he and his coaching staff have done the best job they could, and he has no regrets.
Hymes does believe some frustrations may have boiled over in the Skyview game, however.
"I think everybody was frustrated and now it's a matter of refocusing," he said.
"We feel as coaches that we've put ourselves in the best position to win games," Hymes added. "We break down tape. We study our opponents. I don't think it's a case where we haven't put good game plans together. It's a matter of execution."
—- Matt Glade
CR, Kalama play Friday
The two first-round state playoff football games we know about for sure Friday feature Castle Rock and Kalama.
For Rocket fans, it may be a case of rooting for Kelso tonight if CR expects to truly host its game against Eatonville.
Castle Rock will face Eatonville in its Class 2A state opener at 7 p.m., but the game will be played at Kelso's Schroeder Field instead of Rocket Stadium if Kelso loses tonight. It seems Eatonville is concerned that each and every member of its large rooting contingent won't have a place to sit if the game is played at Rocket Stadium.
The only way the game will be played at Rocket Stadium is if Kelso upsets Spanaway Lake tonight and earns its own home playoff game Friday.
Also Friday, Kalama (9-0) puts its unbeaten streak on the line in a 7:30 p.m. home game against King's of Seattle (7-2) in the 1A playoffs. Winlock (6-3) travels to Lakewood Stadium on Saturday to play Tacoma Baptist (9-0) at 1 p.m.
—- Rick S. Alvord
MM's future looks strong
The season may have ended in forgettable fashion, with a 7-0 run by Camas that led to the Monarchs' ouster from the district playoffs. But Mark Morris volleyball fans should take heart.
The exciting —- albeit unpredictable —- team they watched reach the playoffs this year should be as strong, if not stronger, in 2001.
The Monarchs will miss the leadership and big-play capability of Melissa Rowe, the constant defensive effort and hustle of Amanda Marsh and the strength off the bench of Desirae Rowberry. But returning to the team next season are a group of seniors- and juniors-to-be that seemed to be authentically ticked off after falling to the Papermakers on Saturday.
Maybe it was the way they lost —- blowing a commanding 13-8 lead in the third game to a surprising Camas team that went on to win the district title. Maybe it was all that hard work having gone for naught.
Whatever the case, as the three teary-eyed seniors stood in a circle and hugged one another, next year's team sat on bleachers and chairs, watching Camas celebrate, with looks that said, "That should be us."
No doubt Mark Morris knew what had happened Saturday, and even in pool play Friday. The Monarchs at times played brilliantly, like a cohesive, organized unit. At times, there were flashes of a team that knew the various roles of each player, and each player knew where to be on the court, and when.
At times, however, the Monarchs looked disorganized and out of sync with each other. They looked to be scrambling to figure out who would make the pass and who would receive it. The breakdowns plagued them for two days at the district tournament. It eventually killed them against Camas.
Junior hitter Caitlin Davis and sophomore hitter Laura Wright asserted themselves as the stars of next year's team, while junior setters Dana Mackey and Heidi McDonough established themselves as players no team can live without —- the do-everything, floor-burned types.
"We're really looking forward to next year," Verage said.
—- Matt Glade
McCoy signs with UW
Kelso senior pitcher Chris McCoy, who helped the Hilanders to a second-place finish in the Class 4A state baseball playoffs last spring, will take his strong-arm act to the University of Washington next year.
McCoy selected the Huskies over the University of San Francisco, Washington State, Notre Dame and Oregon State.
McCoy's older brother, Cam, already plays for UW, which made the choice easier for the Scots' right-hander. He also liked what the school offered academically.
"Cam loves it, and really encouraged me to come up there," McCoy said. "I want to win a College World Series, and they are headed in that direction. Plus, their facilities, training and dedication to winning are among the best in NCAA baseball."
Cam McCoy is a sophomore left-hander at UW. He is throwing 88-92 miles per hour with a wicked slider, according to his brother.
Chris McCoy will pitch for the Huskies, but said the coaches didn't promise him anything.
"All they told me is they recruited me as a potential number one starter some day," he said.
Professional baseball scouts already have been calling and coming to McCoy's house for interviews. If he is selected in the June draft, he may then consider not going to Washington and signing a pro deal.
"If I'm a legitimate prospect, then my family and I will give more thought to it," he said about turning pro.
Although winter sports haven't even started yet, McCoy already is dreaming about this spring when Kelso makes another run at the 4A state title.
"We are loaded with talent, although not the power hitting —- with the exception of (Nate) Cundiff. Pitching and defense will win us ball games," he said. "All of us know we can do it. We have to win together."
—- Rick S. Alvord