Camas County volleyball coach Ben Stroud could scarcely hide his excitement Sunday evening.

After defeating conference rival Dietrich - one of the first stops in Stroud's coaching career - in the Class 1A Division II championship round in Lewiston on Saturday, the Mushers had gone from zeroes to heroes in two short seasons.

A police escort awaited their bus along U.S. Highway 20 at the Camas County line, he said, ready to usher the champs home in style.

"This is cool for the kids, something they'll never forget," Stroud said via phone from Interstate 84, somewhere between Boise and Mountain Home.

Something they'll never forget in the wake of season after season worth forgetting.

Camas County won just three matches in 2007, the season before Stroud took charge. It wasn't an aberration.

But it didn't take long for green shoots of life to show in a program that more typified the Camas Prairie in the fall - a mixture of brown and yellow, almost entirely dead or dormant.

"When I got here, (the program was) terrible," Stroud said. "But the girls bought in, worked hard and paid attention. We thought getting to state was an attainable goal in the first year (last season)."

To anyone outside the Mushers locker room, getting to state would have been a surprise. But the once-moribund program made it to state, as it expected. The team went two-and-out, but it set the stage for an even more unexpected run this season.

"Last year we practiced twice a day every day and kind of got the skill level up where we needed it," Stroud said. "It took a lot of hard work, and the kids bought in and they wanted to win. They were willing to pay the price, so you've got to give them the credit."

Given the tournament site, a championship maybe shouldn't have been such a surprise.

Stroud's father Harold coached Dietrich to a Class 1A state boys basketball championship at Lewiston High School in 1966. Stroud himself won a basketball title as a Camas County player in that gym in 1974. The Mushers beat Clark Fork that season, the same school Stroud's current charges beat Saturday to advance to the championship.

"I thought about it before we went up there, maybe it's an omen. Third time's the charm type of thing," Stroud said. "But playing Clark Fork was weird. We played Clark Fork for the title game (in 1974), and here we are to get into the championship. I guess that's déjà vu. It was really strange."

Stranger still was that the Mushers had to overcome Dietrich in the title match. Stroud once coached at Dietrich, and his father before him. Standing on the Blue Devils bench opposite Stroud for the title match was Traci Perron, one of his former players.

"(Coaching against Stroud) probably means more to me than it does to him, but it was cool," said Perron, who has helped Dietrich to a similar rise in stature to that of Camas County. "I think between the two of us, I'd like to hope that the two schools are starting to lift the level of volleyball in our area."

Camas County's part of the turnaround is one that just as easily could never have happened.

Stroud wasn't even sure he wanted to coach anymore after his acrimonious departure from the College of Southern Idaho volleyball program shortly before the 2006 season. But when his hometown and alma mater came calling, he couldn't find it in his heart to say no.

Two seasons in, it's safe to say Stroud doesn't regret the decision. It gave him a chance to earn perhaps his most meaningful title - maybe even more precious than any of his eight national titles at CSI.

After all, this one's for his hometown.

"Every one is different," Stroud said in assessing his now-nine titles. "This is pretty special, because we have a real small school, and we didn't have the best talent in the tournament. But we played as a team, and everybody did their job. It's not an easy thing to do. That's always going to be a special moment for me.

"They haven't had a lot of success the last few years, and the whole town is pumped up. (The townspeople) were hungry for some wins, and it's really a good feeling to get the community together."