The Hockinson High School football team has a new coach at the helm, with a ground-and-pound offense starting to take shape during this spring season full of practice, camps and scrimmages.
The new-look Hawks under the lead of Ben Nelson, a counselor at Hockinson Middle School, who has prior experience coaching at Woodland High School and being the offensive coordinator for Battle Ground High School last season, is looking to create their story.
Nelson said the new offensive approach is a reflection of the determination and attitude of the 2026 senior class. He added that the senior class was in elementary school when the Hawks won back-to-back state titles and multiple consecutive league championships.
“It’s a different program, they’re different kids, and they’re going to put their mark on it,” Nelson said, “and so I think that’s the biggest thing we have to understand in terms of trying to change culture and change trajectory is them taking ownership that it’s their team and that it’s not somebody else’s. It’s not somebody from 10 years ago. It’s not last year’s team. It’s their team and they’re going to take their own identity and ownership over where they want to take the program.”
Nelson coached at Woodland High School under head coach Mike Woodward and then Sean McDonald. He went to coach under Woodward again last season at Battle Ground. Working in the Hockinson School District, when the job became available, Nelson applied, loving the idea of being the head coach at one elementary school, one middle school and one high school town.
The 13 seniors on the Hawks’ 2025-26 roster have been hungry for a winning season, and it comes down to their fourth and final year to achieve that. Nelson said they have a big desire to change the culture and results.
“Our senior group hasn’t had a winning season in the three years that they’ve been here so far,” Nelson said. “And so every conversation I’ve had with them, every senior meeting that we’ve had, they’ve really focused on what are the steps in which we have to change to change the trajectory and direction of the program in order to fix that.”
Nelson said that spring ball has been a positive first two weeks; with team camp next week, he is hopeful that it’s a good catapult into August for the fall season to kickoff.
He is also focusing on developing Hockinson’s youth as the middle school will field a team this year, and Hockinson will have their own Clark County Youth Football team, as well.
“My biggest piece is creating that youth program to where our Hockinson kids are playing with the kids they’re going to play with in high school,” Nelson said. “I think, obviously, that’s a long-term development. That’s something that will take a few years to get to, but ideally in four or five years, every group that we get will know our base offense and defense and also have been playing with the group of kids they’ll be playing with for consecutive years.”
As the class of 2026 on the Hawks football team is looking to change the trajectory of the program, Nelson pointed out the importance of the team being homegrown and building their own story.
“Anyone can join a team that is already winning and continues to win, but there’s something special about being a part of changing the culture and turning something,” he said. “And so I think our kids have bought into that. They’ve bought into it offensively and defensively. They’ve bought into the weight room, and I’m excited to continue to build that culture over the summer.”
