By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
SALEM, Ore.– West Salem’s Koen Campos established himself as a solid running game threat for the West Salem offense this past season as a junior.
Rushing for over 1,600 yards and scoring another 20 touchdowns en route to a first-team All South-Central Conference as a running back this past season. The conference itself, which featured some of the toughest challenges south of Portland with Sheldon, Grants Pass, Roseburg and the Medford schools, it helped developed Campos become a better running back now entering his final season in a Titan uniform.
“The district. It’s always a tough district. We know each other, from here all the way down to Medford, everyone knows everyone. We know who their guys are. They know who we are, and it’s all who’s better come Friday night,” said Campos. “Just bringing the energy every single day. It helps us stay in tact, and it helps keep everyone playing at a higher level because if we bring everyone up to our level, we’re golden.”
It’s just part of the culture that Head Coach Shawn Stanley has built through his years at West Salem dating back to his arrival to the school in the mid-2000s.
“There’s a culture here and a standard that’s set from the seniors before us and coaches who emphasize it. We’re just going to continue to grow it, bring it higher and bring that standard higher and compete at the same level,” said Evan Wusstig. “We try to get better a whole lot and take everyone with us. We need all 11 people on both sides of the ball and go out and compete at the same level with all the same compassion and heart.”
Wusstig (Defensive Back), Campos (Running Back), and Kysen Ramirez (Guard) were named to the first team selections, all as juniors. Wusstig was also second team All-League as a receiver. For Wusstig and Campos, they’ve put in some off-season work by going to camps to better themselves going into their senior year. Hoping to raise the standard as seniors as the seniors before them did for them the past three years as West Salem football players.
“Just learning from those guys who are higher up, they’re just going to help us down here at this level,” said Campos.
“We learned a lot of different techniques from different school’s, they do different things. The more information that we can get, the better and bring it back to our own team and teach around,” adds Wusstig. “This year, we’re going to have better chemistry as a team.”
West Salem went 6-5 and reached the 6A State Playoff Quaterfinals before falling to Jesuit 21-20? The first official practice kicks off mid-August with the Titans kicking off the season August 29 with a jamboree at Sherwood High School.
