The Washougal Panthers rolled Thursday night in the region’s first high school football game, beating Mountain View 56-33, but the Mountain View student body also won big, showing up in droves to show their love for their school even though classes have not yet started this year
Paul Valencia
Clark County Today
There were very few people in the stands about a half hour before the game Thursday night at McKenzie Stadium.
Athletic administrators had no idea how many would be in attendance for the home team. Sure, it was the first game of the season, but it was also on a Thursday night — not the magical Friday Night Lights of high school football lore.
And there was another X factor to consider: Mountain View High School has not been in session this academic year. Evergreen Public Schools has opted to delay the start of school because of a strike by the Public Schools Employees union, which represents more than 1,000 support staff for daily operations within the district.
With no school in session, it might have been tough to get a good crowd out for the first game.
By kickoff, though, the student section was rocking.
There might have been no school for the Mountain View Thunder, but there was plenty of school spirit. The band. The cheerleaders. And well more than 100 students.
By the end of the night, the home team did not prevail on the scoreboard. The Washougal Panthers sent a message to the rest of the county that they have plenty of playmakers and will be a team to contend with once the 2A Greater St. Helens League begins its schedule.
As the only game on the Thursday schedule for Week 1 in Clark County, Washougal gets to say it was the first high school football team from Clark County to earn a victory this season, taking down Mountain View 56-33.
There was another victory of sorts in the home student section.
Even in defeat, though, the Mountain View students had a blast, with a blackout and a Star Wars theme for the opener.
A couple of students — Talley Pope and Amanda Diaz — did their best to get the word out, and the word was received.
Talley Pope is the publicity coordinator for the students at the school, and she knows what to do on social media.
“I got all the ASB together. ‘We’ve got to make a turnout, whether or not school is going on.’ So I posted on the Instagram. We’ve got to rally them up. We’ve got to make a good video. We’ve got to get everyone out here,” Pope said.
The message was clear:
“Game tonight. Make sure to show up. School or not, we’ve got to have a good student section, have everyone here, and everyone be hyped.”
Amanda Diaz, a senior, said there are only so many football games on a schedule. Students need to take advantage of these moments. It’s awful, she said, that her last year of high school is being delayed, but she and her classmates can still make memories.
“This is so amazing that everybody was able to show up, show out, be in theme, give their all to the game, and support the school,” Diaz said. “It honestly means so much. We all care about the school. We are all part of the View Crew no matter what.”
As far as the game, it was close for a quarter.
Washougal, though, scored four touchdowns in a row to take control.
Royce Jones ended up with the first touchdown of the 2025 season for the Panthers. Earlier in his career, he broke his arm and it slowed his progress as a player.
“I was pretty doubted,” said Jones, now a senior. “I came back, and it felt rewarding to get this season started.”
He said the team feels that way, as well. There might be some doubters out there. Well, maybe not anymore after posting 56 points in the opener.
“We put so much work into this offseason. We definitely deserved this,” Jones said.
Deondrae Goodell got the first special teams touchdown of the season, with a long kickoff return for a score. He also had a couple other returns that almost went the distance.
“It showed us what we are meant to be, that we can have a really great year. Our special teams is going to be a big part of that this year. We have crazy special teams. We will get it done,” Goodell said.
“Everyone was doubting on us, thinking we were going to be low,” Goodell said.
The Panthers put up 56 points to erase those doubts.
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