BBB 2009-12-15 through 2009-12-21

The Oak Harbor boys basketball finished playing 4 games in 7 days - 3 of them away games, last Monday the 21st with a trip to Coupeville.

The week started with a trip to Snohomish on Tuesday, where the 'Cats played good, solid basketball but lost to the Panthers 53-48. Mike Washington, Jr. led the team with 19, while Aaron Boesch and Denzel Hardin were also in double figures with 13 each.

The boys didn't play as well at Everett on Thursday, falling to the Seagulls 65-58. Jay Stout was the top scorer in that game with 15 points, with Rashaad Smith and Denzel Hardin close behind with 12 each.

The next day, Friday, the Wildcats played their 3rd game in 4 days, but this time at home against Lake Stevens. In the dome, the Freshman team played even with the Vikings in the 1st period, but scored only 2 points in the 2nd and never recovered. The final was 72-36 for LS. Dayne Herron and Kiefer Hermann tied for scoring honors with 8 each. Anthony Stewart scored 6, London Cook and Michael LaBelle 4 each, Chris Hailer 3, Trenton Cargill 2 and Isaiah Trower 1.

The JV team was down early against Lake Stevens 22-8, but recovered in the 2nd period to trail 29-24 at the half. In the 3rd and 4th, Lake Stevens notched up their defense, holding the JV boys to single digit scoring in each period. The final was 57-39 for the Vikings. Matt Burgoyne led the team with 11, Kevawn Brooks hit for 7, David Tillotson, Trace & Connor Paul 6 each, Corey Houck 2 and Cameron Faulkner 1.

Varsity came out slow, spotting Lake Stevens a 22-11 1st period lead. The Vikings kept the offensive pressure up and led 45-24 at the half. The Wildcats didn't play badly, but the Vikings are that good this year and cruised to a 79-58 win. Mike Washington, Jr. led the scoring with 18 and Colby Anter had a great night, grabbing numerous rebounds and dropping in 14 points. Everyone that got into the game wound up scoring. Stevie Bratt hit for 5, Trace Paul, Rashaad Smith and Denzel Hardin 4 each and Aaron Boesch, Jay Stout and Ryan Fakkema 3 each.

108 photos from JV and Varsity action are posted HERE. Included are team and individual photos for Freshman and JV squads.

Finally, the JV and varsity teams traveled to Coupeville, which does not have a freshman team.

The JV team dominated the Wolves from the beginning. The 'Cats held Coupeville scoreless until the 1:58 mark in the first period and led 30-11 at the half. OH increased their lead to 42-13 at the end of the 3rd and won 58-17. Engle was Coupeville's top scorer, hitting 12 points total, 6 off of free throws. For the Wildcats, Corey Houck poured in the points from outside, getting a season-high 14 for his efforts. Trace Paul was also in double figures with 11. Cameron Faulkner scored 9, Kevawn Brooks and Connor Paul 6 each and Matt Burgoyne, Paul Johanssen and Edward Denmon 4 apiece. Every player eligible to play scored points in the game. Missing from the game, and probably for the rest of the season was junior David Tillotson who has an injured ankle.

In varsity action, a slow start and poor shooting from the free throw line doomed the Wildcats. The Wolves jumped to an early 6-0 lead, and OH was not able to get any points on the board until Jay Stout hit a 3-pointer at the 4:42 mark in the first. OH recovered from the slow start and a 3-point buzzer beater by Denzel Hardin gave OH a 16-14 lead. The 2nd period was back and forth, with 6 lead changes and a tie game on 4 different occasions. At the halftime buzzer, it was Coupeville in the lead 34-31. The Wolves held the lead throughout the 3rd period and although the Wildcats were able to cut it to just 1 point early in the period, Coupeville held a 51-43 lead at the end of the 3rd. Mike Washington, Jr. came alive in the final period. He scored 18 of his 37 points in the final period, but unfortunately for Oak Harbor, he was the only Wildcat to get on the board that period. Oak Harbor cut the Wolf lead to just 2 points with 2 minutes left, but that's as close as it would get, with Coupeville finishing with a 66-61 lead.

While the Wildcats scored 21 points from beyond the arc, an 8-for-17 showing at the free throw line was the difference in the game. In addition to Washington's 37 points, Jay Stout hit for 12, Denzel Hardin for 8, and Rashaad Smith and Ryan Fakkema scored 2 each.

The Wolves were led by big Hunter Hammer with 24 points. Bagby scored 16 and Wilcox 10. Also getting on the board were T. King with 6, Brookhouse and Walstad with 4 each and Smith with 2. The team hit a pair of 3-pointers and went 10-for-14 from the line.

There are two compilation video clips from the game posted HERE.

One features Coupeville players, the other Oak Harbor players.

Wrestling 2009-12-17 vs Everett

The Wildcat wrestlers hosted their 2nd home meet of the week with the Everett coming to town. The Seagulls are the pre-season #7 ranked team in 3A with 7 wrestlers ranked in the top 10 and a defending state champ on team.

Overall the JV team didn't see much success, with Stancil, Chad Trimbur, Pralle, Ducken, ALonzo and Engen all getting pinned. Jen Fremd didn't win, but held off the pin and the tech fall, going down 1-10. Brothers David and Javon Payne were the lone OH JV winners. David wrestled at 140 lbs and fought a good battle with Baxter. Late in the match David found himself down 14-15, but he was able to turn Baxter and put him on his back for a pin with less than 30 seconds left in the match. Javon, at 285 lbs, also wrestled a tough opponent, and with time running out on the 2nd period, Javon was down 14-16. With the seconds ticking away, Javon turned Bowen and stuck him with just 6 seconds left in the period.

In varsity, there were some tough matches, and some great wins for OH wrestlers. The main event started with the 130 lb match, with Ryuta Meany moving up from JV and moving up a weight class. He faced Anderson and held him off until the 3rd period but was eventually pinned.

Oak Harbor won the next 2 matches, with freshman Josh Crebbin winning 6-3 on a late escape and takedown over Wright, Colton Elliot, currently ranked #2 in the state at 135 lbs went into the 2nd period before pinning Wice.

At 145 lbs it was sophomore Brandon Stratton against Joel Palabrica, ranked #6 at 140 lbs. Brandon fought a great match, and in the end was rewarded with a pin with 24 seconds left in the 2nd period, lifting OH to a 15-6 team lead.

It was a while before an OH wrestler won again. Steven Souza at 152 lbs, Zach Loescher at 189 and Drew Culver all lost on points. Collin Higinbotham was pinned by #8 Boyce, Zach Loescher by #5 Contreras and Phil Rodgers by defending state champ Bird at 285 lbs.

Dropping down to 103 lbs, Corey Trimbur has trouble getting Justine Palabrica turned and on her back, but picked up a 15-3 win.

Brandon Strickland at 112 lbs lost to #6 Lopez, Kadden Paggao was pinned by Crook and Cody Fakkema was pinned by #8 Forrest to end the evening.

Overall it was Everett49, OH 17.

6 video highlights are posted HERE

21 photos of OH wrestlers in action are posted HERE.

Girls Basketball 12-16-2009 vs Everett

For the second time this week the girls basketball teams were at home, this time facing Everett.

In the dome the freshman team got off to a great start, scoring 22 points while holding the Seagulls to just 8. They continued to pour it on in the 2nd, leading 35-12 at halftime. The defense held Everett to just two made free throws in the third, which was good as the Wildcats scored only 6 points of their own. Everett finally got on track in the final period, scoring 16 points to double their score, but OH played right with them, hitting 20 points and winning 61-30. Leading the 'Cats was Morgan Young with 18 points. Ciera Wiser and Emily Saar were both also in double figures, with 13 and 10 respectively. Marissa Lewis hit for 9 points, Jalani Bobo for 4, Bet Riba and Danielle Teasley for 2 and Paula Gass 1.

The JV team won, but didn't play their best game. Dominique Jackson put the team up 5-4 by hitting a pair of shots from inside, then Naomi Walker and Kate Rossman padded the 1st period lead to 11-4. The OH defense played strong in the 2nd, allowing only 3 points while boosting their lead to 21-7. After a decent first half, the Wildcat JV offense got quiet in the 2nd half. The two teams combined scored a total of 14 points the entire 2nd half, and OH won the game 29-13. Rossman was the top scorer with 9 points, Jackson had 7, Kelsey Rankin and Erika Flores 5 each, Walker 2 and Heavenly Cooper 1.

It was back and forth all night in the varsity game, with Everett leading at the end of the 1st and 3rd periods and Oak Harbor leading at the end of the first, and most importantly, 4th period. During the game there were 12 changes in the lead and 9 times the game was tied, including late in the game with 3:41 remaining. The game was in doubt right to the end, as with just over a minute left to play, the Oak Harbor lead was just 4 points.

Everett took the lead halfway through the 1st period and held until halfway through the 2nd, when Nicki Mowbray hit for two to break an 18-18 tie. Jessica Denmon scored twice to build the OH lead to 26-22 at halftime. Everett took the lead bak with 1:39 left in the 3rd and led 42-39 at the buzzer. Three scores by Mowbray, Denmon and Naomi Walker in just over 30 seconds put OH up 45-42, but Everett played tough. The Wildcats got a big boost when the Seagulls top scoring player fouled out in the 4th period. Even so, Everett grabbed the lead 51-50 with 3:10 left in the game, but it lasted only 14 seconds until Mowbray scored from outside to give Oak Harbor the lead for good. At the final buzzer it was Oak Harbor 59, Everett 55.

The girls have still another game this week, traveling to Lake Stevens on Friday the 18th while the boys team will host the Vikings at OHHS, their 3rd game of the week as well.

6 video clips from the JV and varsity games are posted HERE.

46 photos from the JV and Varsity games are HERE. Included is a single photo from the freshman game.

Wrestling 2009-12-15 vs Snohomish

The OHHS wrestling team had their first home meet of the year Tuesday night, hosting Snohomish, who has a preseason ranking of 12th, and included 4 wrestlers ranked in the top 10 individually.

Snohomish showed their depth by cleaning up the Wildcats in the JV matches. Out of 12 matches wrestled, Snohomish won by pinfall in 8 of them and won 10 of the 12. Of the remaining 4 matches, one was an OH loss by tech fall, one was a close 11-8 loss. Oak Harbor's two wins were by Jeremy Foster, who overcame several blood timeouts and a tough opponent to win 8-6 over Reinhard, and Gabe Tretheway got a 3rd period pin over Ike Ditzenberger, a 'special' athlete. Gabe showed a lot of class in the bout and both wrestlers got a great round of applause after the match.

Varsity action was better, with the Wildcats getting several big wins, but the Panthers had too much for OH and won 47-29.

The night started off with a major bout. Oak Harbor's Colton Elliot faced off against Luke Perry. In the preseason rankings, Colton was #5 at 135 lbs, but is wrestling in the 145lb bracket this year. He's coming off a 2nd place finish at the tough Spud Walley tournament last weekend. Perry was #3 at 145 lbs preseason and is wrestling at 152 lbs. Colton moved up a weight class to take on Perry. The match went all 3 rounds, but in the end it was Perry winning 4-0.

Next up was Justin Everett against #2 Micah Morrill at 160 lbs. Justin went into the 2nd round and while fighting off the pin, gave a clinic in good bridging technique!

At 171 lbs, Collin Higinbotham went against Birkland. Things weren't looking good for Collin as he was on his back and the ref was counting back points, but Collin got a reversal and pinned Birkland at the 3:37 mark.

Zach Loescher wrestled another ranked Morrill, Mark, #9. Zach fought hard but was not pinned, but did lose by tech fall, 16-0.

Drew Culver at 215 lbs got pinned by Nate Proffitt in 3:21.

Big Phil Rodgers was paired with #8 ranked Maybin, and again fought hard and into the 2nd round, when he was eventually pinned.

Dropping down to 103 lbs, Corey Trimbur got Oak Harbor's 2nd win of the night, pinning Swetz in 1:06.

Brandon Strickland went against Sonny Bates-Mundell, the 4th place finisher at last year's district tournament at 103 lbs and was pinned in 3:41.

Kaden Paggao, a junior but a 1st year wrestler was up against Coffman was was pinned in 1:03.

Cody Fakkema, a freshman, won by tech fall over Coffman, 18-2 at 125 lbs

Oak Harbor forfeited the 130 lb match to Snohomish.

At 135 lbs it was another freshman, Josh Crebbin, against Clay. It was a tough match but Crebbin got a pin just over a minute into the 2nd round.

Senior Josh Barton had the closest match of the night. Down 2-0 he was able to get an escape point, but couldn't get Proffit down to the mat to get the win. The final was 2-1.

The last match of the night featured Brandon Stratton against Mitchell. This bout went into the 3rd round before Brandon got the pin.

In the end, of the 13 matches wrestled, Snohomish won 8, but all of Oak Harbor's wins were by pin or tech fall.

The wrestlers hit the home mat again tonight, Dec 17th against Everett. JV starts around 5:45.

99 photos of JV and varsity matches are posted HERE.

Short video clips from 3 matches are posted HERE.

Girls Basketball 12-14-2009 vs Snohomish

The girls basketball finally got their 2nd home game of the season, facing off against the Snohomish Panthers.

In the field house, the freshman teams were tied at 7 after the first period, but the Wildcats took control and opened a 17-11 halftime lead. The two teams again played even in the 3rd, scoring 5 each. The 4th quarter saw almost half the scoring of the entire game. Snohomish managed to drop in 13 points to up their total to 29, but the Wildcats put up 16 of their own to win 38-29. Jalani Bob and Marissa Lewis both had 9 points to lead the team. Bet Riba and Joem Evangelista scored 6 each, Paula Gass and Emily Saar 2 each and Danielle Teasley 1.

The beginning of the JV game looked good, with OH going up 7-0 before allowing a Snohomish score with 1:32 left in the first. However, the girls scored only one more field goal the rest of the game, a Naomi Walker layin with 3:19 left in the 3rd. All of the other OH points came off free throws, and they were just 4 for 19 from the stripe. The final score was Snohomish 32, OH 12. Dominique Jackson scored 4 to lead the team. Addy Royal had 3, Naomi Walker and Kelsey Rankin 2 each, and Lia Pantoleon hit one free throw. Part of the JV problem was that 4 players were out with injuries, two of them starters.

The varsity game was similar to the JV game, with the team gaining an early 6-2 lead and holding it until there were less than 2 minutes to go in the first period. Snohomish hit a pair of 3-pointers to lead 12-9 at the first break. Clarissa Abadesco scored just 20 seconds into the 2nd to bring OH to within 1, and later a pair of free throws by Jessica Denmon put OH back in the lead 15-14. That was the last lead OH would have as Snohomish went on a 10-0 run to end the first half, leading 24-15. OH fought back in the 3rd, with a buzzer-beating shot by Denmon closing the gap to just 4, then a Nicki Mowbray FT making it a 3-point game. That's as close as it would get as Snohomish won 40-33. Denmon led the team with 19, Mowbray with 4 (all free throws), Abadesco 4, Jessica James 3 and Naomi Walker 2.

The girls play at home again on Wednesday against Everett.

3 video clips are posted here, including a great team effort for a score by Jackson in the JV game.

Wrestling 2009-12-12 Spud Walley tournament at Sedro Woolley

The Oak Harbor wrestling team entered their first tournament of the season, the Spud Walley tournament hosted by Sedro Woolley. This is a high-caliber tournament with top teams from around the state coming from as far away as Wenatchee and Kelso. There was some very good wrestling.

Oak Harbor took 11 wrestlers with 3 finishing in the top 6.

Starting with the lightest weights, Corey Trimbur at 103 lbs. finished 5th overall with a 5-1 tournament record. He won his first match 14-2, lost his second match to the eventual 2nd place finisher, then won out, including a pin to capture 5th in just 1:28.

Brandon Strickland went out in the 112 pound bracket. He lost his first match by a close 4-0 score, whomped his opponent in the 2nd match 13-1 then got pinned late in his 3rd match.

Cody Fakkema, at 125 lbs, won his first in a high-scoring match, 15-11. In his 2nd match he faced one of the state's top ranked wrestlers from Orting, who was the tournament champ. Although Cody lost, he scored a respectable 5 points. Fakkema lost his 3rd match 8-1 to end his day.

Freshman Josh Crebbin was in the 135 lb bracket, a tough weight, for his first high school tournament and although he lost both his matches, he gained a lot of experience.

Colton Elliot, at 140 lbs, had ghost to compete against as well as his opponents. It was at the Spud Walley tournament last year that he broke his thumb in an early match and missed most of the season. The ghost was conquered early as were Colton's opponents. He pinned his man in the first round, won a close 4-3 match in the 2nd, then recorded another pin to advance to the championship round. There he fell to a 2-time state champ from Orting 6-2. Colton has a great season ahead of him.

At 145 lbs, sophomore Brandon Stratton won his first two matches, but lost the next two to finish in 4th place. One of his losses was to the eventual champion. Brandon looked good, getting one pin in his 4 matches.

Justin Everett's 160 lb matches were all decided by pinfall, but unfortunately only one was recorded by Justin. He won his first match but lost the next two.

Junior Corey Shannon filled the 171 lb spot. he lost his first match by pin and was forced to forfeit his 2nd match.

Zach Loescher weighed in to the 189 lb bracket and his first match was against the eventual 5th place finisher. Zach wrestled hard, but was giving up a lot of weight to his opponents. He should be more successful once he gets into the 171 lb weight class.

Drew Culver was back on the mat at 215 lbs after taking some time off from wrestling. In his first match things weren't looking good, but just over 3-1/2 minutes into his first match he got a great reverse and wound up pinning his opponent. It would be Drew's only win as he lost the next two matches and was eliminated.

Phil Rodgers at heavyweight wrestled a state placer from last year and was quickly pinned, and he lost his second match to end the day.

The wrestlers have their first home league meet Tuesday the 16th against Snohomish, and again on Thursday the 18th against Everett.


Two video clips from first round action are posted HERE.

34 photos of OH wrestlers in action are posted HERE.

Girls AAU basketball 12-12-2009

The end of season tournament for the fall S.W.I.S.H. league was last Saturday, with the Oak Harbor 5th/6th grade team and 7th/8th grade team both playing games in La Conner.

The 7/8 team started first at 10:05am in the high school gym, where they beat the Orcas Lady Kings to advance to the semifinal round. In that game, played in the La Conner HS gym was against the La Conner team. Neither team played well, but La Conner played well enough to win, sending the Oak Harbor team into a 3rd place tie.

The 5/6 team came into the tournament seeded 2nd so had a first round bye. In semifinal action the girls faced the Orcas Vipers, a team they played and beat in the regular season. Orcas learned from the game, as the held Oak Harbor scoreless until the final seconds of the game when an OH player sank a rebound with about 5 seconds to play. The final score was 14-2 in favor of Orcas. The OH team went on to play for 3rd place, but the results of that game weren't available.

Photos from the 7th/8th grade game vs La Conner are posted HERE.

5th/6th grade team photos are HERE.

BBB 2009-12-11 vs Cascade

The OHHS boys basketball team opened their league schedule with a home game against the Cascade Bruins and the results weren’t pretty overall.

As usual, the freshman team was in the Field House, and Cascade opened up a 14-2 1^st period lead on the ‘Cats, who just couldn’t get any offense generated. At the half it was 24-7 and the Bruins continued to run away with the game, winning 45-20. Out of the 20 OH points, Dayne Herron scored 12, 10 in the 2^nd half. Chris Hailer scored 3, Isaiah Trower 2, Jackson Knoll, Michael LaBelle and Ian Kolste 1 each.

The JV team showed a lot of spunk in the first period of their game. Kevawn Brooks scored in the first 15 seconds of the game and with Ed Denmon scored 8 of his 12 points in the first period as the Wildcats jumped out to a 13-6 lead at the end of the first period. OH spread the ball around a bit more in the 2^nd, with 5 different players scoring as the JV boys increased their lead to 34-20. They got a bit cold in the 3^rd, allowing Cascade to close to within 7, 43-36. Shortly after the start of the final period, the Bruins had closed to within 2 points, 44-42, but successive scored by Brooks, David Tillotson and Matt Burgoyne upped the OH lead to 51-42 and they were able to hold the Bruins off long enough to win 53-50. Tillotson and Denmon both finished with 12 points, Brooks 7, Burgoyne and Corey Houck 6 each, and Connor Paul and Cameron Faulkner 5 each.

Oak Harbor played some pretty good varsity basketball for 23 minutes, but a disastrous first period left Cascade with a 24-3 lead, and although OH played with them the rest of the game, they couldn’t do anything to erase the initial gap. The closest they could get was 39-52 about midway through the 3^rd period. OH wound up with 66 points on the board, but Cascade finished with 90. Mike Washington, Jr. led the team with 27 and Denzel Hardin also came in with double digits, scoring 13 point. Jay Stout scored 9, Colby Anter had a great game with 8 points, Ryan Fakkema 4, Trace Paul 3 and Rashaad Smith 2. On the positive site, Washington, Stout and Smith combined for a perfect 14-for-14 from the free throw line.

Both the boys and girls teams have a busy week coming up, with 3 games each over the next 5 days. The boys are away at Snohomish on Tuesday and Everett on Thursday, and return to play Lake Stevens at home on Friday.

The girls are at home Monday and Wednesday and hit the road Friday.

Wrestling with fill the gym twice this week, with home meets against Snohomish and Everett.

Remember, admission is FREE with your ASB card.

There aren’t any photos from the boys game, but some JV video highlights can be found HERE.

Middle School Boys Basketball 12-9-2009 NWMS @ OHMS

Oak Harbor Middle School was the site of this years' scheduled league contest between the two schools last Wednesday the 9th of December.

The 7th grade teams went first with North Whidbey running away with the game. The Cougars had a 12-4 advantage at the end of the first period and that's as close as it would get. This year's 7th grade champs in OH are the North Whidbey Cougars. Zach Jones led the Cougars with 42 points, and Brad Nehring was also in double figures with 15. Also scoring points for North Whidbey were Jeremy Vester with 6, Gage Eccleston 5, Jairus Davis and Khaleel Smith with 4 each and Hunter Adams with 2. For the Oak Harbor Panthers, it was Joseph DeGuzman with 7, Chris Humphries 6, Brent Mertins and Daniel Wolfe 3 each, and Michael Lauersdorf and Sebastian Ceaser with 2 each.

The 8th grade game was nearly the opposite of the 7th grade game, with OHMS pounding the visiting Cougars 63-20. Leading the Panthers were Bobby Grace and Zack Gibbs, each with 12 points. Alex Krantz was also in double figures with 10. Rounding out the OHMS scoring was Drew Washington 7, Casiano Atinez 5, Devin Jensen and Anthony Smither 4, Andrae Gray 3 and Matthew Zafra, Antonio Unpingco and Isaiah Rennes with 2 each. For the NWMS Cougars it was Blake Budzisz with 12, Tom Horton with 4, Jahleel Vester 3 and Shannon Baer 1.

The two school will meet again several more times this season with dates and places to be determined.

3 video clips from each game are posted HERE.

7th grade pics are here (42 of them)

54 8th grade photos are HERE.

Boys basketball 12-8-2009 at Burlington

The Oak Harbor boys basketball teams traveled to Burlington-Edison High School Tuesday night for a set of the games against the Tigers, but didn't see much success on the scoreboard.

The freshman teams faced off in the Field House and BE defended their turf, beating the Wildcats convincingly, 53-28. The Wildcats spread their scoring around with 7 players getting on the board. Anthony Stewart, Dayne Herron and Kiefer Hermann each scored 6 points, Isaiah Trower 5, Anfernee Angkaw and Chris Hailer 2 each and Jackson Knoll 1. On the positive side, Hermann was 4-for-4 from the free throw line.

In the JV game the results were similar. The Wildcats mustered 33 points, with David Tillotson and Kevawn Brooks sharing scoring honors with 6 each. Cameron Faulkner scored 5, going 3-for-4 from the line, Matt Burgoyne and Ed Denmon had 4 each, Paul Johannsen 3, Connor Paul and Corey Houck 2 each and Trace Paul 1.

The Wildcat varsity team just didn't have an answer for the Burlington attack. The Tigers sprinted to a 26-12 1st quarter lead and never looked back, winning 82-48. The Tigers finished with 9 players getting points, 4 of them in double figures. For the Wildcats, Mike Washington, Jr., was on top with 17, Denzel Hardin scored 9, Colby Anter 6, and Ryan Fakkema, Rashaad Smith, Jay Stout and Aaron Boesch 4 each.

The Wildcats open up league play this Friday, December 11th at home against the Cascade Bruins.

71 photos of the Freshman, JV and Varsity teams can be found HERE.

A few video clips of the varsity game are HERE.

Middle School Boys Basketball 12-7-2009 NWMS

The North Whidbey Middle School Cougars had their home opener Monday afternoon in the NWMS gym, facing off against the Burlington Tigers in 7th and 8th grade games.

The 7th grade boys jumped to a 6-2 lead early, but BE tied things up halfway through the first period, finishing the opening quarter with a 12-10 lead. 6 of the Tigers' 1st period points came off free throws against none for NW. The Cougars tied the game again just over a minute into the 2nd, but Burlington got hot and finished the half by going on an 18-4 run to lead 30-16 when the buzzer sounded. Things didn't get much better in the 3rd period as NWMS scored 8 points but allowed 19. Starting the final period, Burlington's lead was 49-24, and although the Cougars outscored the Tigers 15-4 in the 4th, it wasn't enough as Burlington won the game 53-39.

Burlington played most of the 8th grade game on cruise control, as they sprinted to a 20-4 1st quarter lead, increasing it to 35-13 at the half. North Whidbey could score only two 3rd period points, and when the score was reset at the end of the 3rd period, the score was 58-15.

Next up for the Cougars is a trip across town to Oak Harbor Middle School for their first meeting. More games will be scheduled later in the season, but this is the league scheduled game that will count for league standings.

34 7th grade photos, including team photos, are posted HERE.

32 of the same from the 8th grade game are HERE.

4 video clips from the two games can be found HERE.

Youth basketball - Boys AAU 12-5-2009

The WESCO boys AAU basketball league kicked off their 2009-2010 season on Saturday, December 5th, with a total of 8 games played at OHHS.

Oak Harbor is fielding a 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th grade team. Each team plays two games when at home, one game when away. The 5th and 6th grade teams play in the field house, the 7th and 8th grade teams in the main gym.

Unfortunately, while there was a lot of action and great plays on the court, there wasn't much success on the scoreboard.

The first round of Saturday's games were against Mt. Vernon. The Bulldogs came ready to play and beat the Wildcats in all 4 games.

The 5th grade team has players that for the most part are new to organized basketball, and MV was able to win the game 38-14. The Wildcats were able to score in every period, though.

The 6th grade team also scored in every period, falling by a score of 48-29.

The 7th grade game was the most exciting of the morning. While Mt. Vernon won 54-45, the Wildcats were in the game, and at one point had closed to just a couple of points. Jones scored 24 points for the Wildcats and Sturdevant had 17, accounting for most of the OH points. Eccleston and Sellgren had a pair each to round out the scoring.

In 8th grade action, the Wildcats found themselves down by only 1 point, 15-14, at the end of the first, but could only get 4 points in the 2nd while allowing 10, and they never recovered. MV won 54-32 with D. Washington scoring 16, Gibbs 10 and Rennes 4. The 8th grade team was short-handed, so 3 of the 7th grade players, Jones, Sellgren and Sturdevant, also played in the 8th grade game with Jones getting 2 points.

The 2nd round of game was versus Mountlake Terrace Hawks.

The 5th grade team held a 1-point 4-3 lead at the end of the 1st period but the middle of the game was not kind to the Wildcats as they were able to score only 2 points each in the 2nd and 3rd periods, spotting MLT a 20-8 lead. The Wildcats recovered in the final period, scoring 8 while allowing only 2 but the Hawk's lead was just too much to overcome and time ran out on the Wildcat comeback. The final score was 22-16.

The 6th grade team just didn't have an answer for the height of the MLT team. The Hawks had one player that was already closing in on 6 feet, and there shortest player was not much shorter than our tallest. As the MLT coach said after the game "you can't coach height". MLT dominated the game from beginning to end, winning 62-11. The Wildcat boys never gave up and played hard right to the final buzzer.

The 7th grade team, even with 3 players in their 3rd game of the day, played well against the Hawks. MLT grabbed an early 17-6 lead, but OH closed it to 29-21 at halftime. Unfortunately, the Wildcats were able to score only 2 points in the 3rd period and the as MLT won 51-40. Jones again led the team with 17, Eccleston tallied 10, Sturdevant 8 and Sellgren 5.

Final results from the 2nd 8th grade game were not available.

Lots of photos from all 4 games have been posted along with a couple of video clips from the 7th and 8th grade games.

5th grade photos are posted HERE

6th grade pics are HERE

7th HERE

8th HERE

Video clips are HERE.

Boys basketball 12-4-2009 vs Glacier Peak

The Wildcat men's basketball team hosted their first game of the season on Friday, December 4th against Glacier Peak.

Over in the dome, the freshmen couldn't get things going against a strong Grizzly team, losing 58-37. 6'2" Dayne Herron lead the team with 8 points, London Cool and Anfernee Angkaw both tallied 6, Noel Cheeseboro had 5, Michael LaBelle and Kiefer Hermann 4 each, Anthony Stewart 2, and Isaiah Trower and Jackson Knoll sank one free throw each.

In the main gym the JV was having their own problems. They spotted GP an early 6-0 lead but cut it to just one point, 5-6 after scores by Matt Burgoyne and Connor Paul and a free throw by David Tillotson halfway through the first period. At that point Glacier Peak went on a 10-0 run, coasting to a 22-9 first period lead. At halftime the lead had increased to 32-14, and the Grizzlies also outscored the Wildcats in each of the final two periods on their way to a 71-47 win. Tops on the JV team was Kevawn Brooks with 11 points, Matt Burgoyne scored 9, David Tillotson 8, Ed Denmon 7, Trace Paul 6, Connor Paul 4, and Cameron Faulkner 2.

Varsity was exciting, with OH taking a 15-14 first period lead on a buzzer beater by Jay Stout The Wildcat lead continued until about halfway through the 2nd period when GP hit a 3 pointer to take the lead. Oak Harbor hung in and was down just two at halftime, 31-29. Opening the 2nd half, the Grizzlies caught fire, embarking on a 12-2 run to open a 44-34 lead on the Wildcats. Our boys played even the rest of the game but couldn't close the gap to more than 8 points. Glacier Peak won the game 64-53.

Mike Washington, Jr., Jay Stout and Stevie Bratt paced the Wildcats with 14, 12 and 11 points respectively. Aaron Boesch came in with 6, Rashaad Smith and Denzel Hardin 4 each, and Colby Anter sank a pair of free throws.

Next up for the Wildcat men is a trip to Burlington this Tuesday the 8th then start league play at home on Friday the 11th against Cascade.

67 photos from the 3 games, freshman, JV and varsity, are posted HERE.

A few video clips are posted HERE.

Middle School Boys Basketball 12-3-2009

Oak Harbor Middle School kicked off the 2009-2010 season with wins by both the 7th and 8th grade teams against Mt. Baker Middle school of Mt. Vernon. Full rosters weren't available, so the players name as it was written in the scorebook is the name that is used here.

The 7th grade game was close early, with the Panthers holding a 1-point 7-6 lead at the end of the first period. The Panthers built a little more of a cushion at halftime, leading 17-13. Mt. Baker stayed in it, but OHMS held a 28-22 lead going into the final period. Both teams scored 9 points in the 4th, leaving Oak Harbor with the 37-31 win. Mertins paced the Panthers with 11 points, followed by Deguzman and Humphries with 8 each. Wolfe scored 6, Dieter 2 and Mebane made one free throw.

The 8th grade game was almost the opposite of the 7th grade game. The game was close only in the first minute. The Panther men sprinted to a 20-2 first quarter lead and never let up. The scoreboard was reset at the end of the 3rd period, and the final score was 63-26 for the Panthers. Out of 15 players on the roster, 12 scored points. Gabe led the scoring with 12 points, followed closely by Zack and Isaiah with 10 each. Drew hit for 6, Casiano for 5, Jimmy and Devin for 4 each, Anthony with 3, and Athan, Antonio, Alex and Zafra with 2 each.

The big game next week for OHMS is the annual OHMS/NWMS basketball game. While other matchups are being planned, the official league game is next Wednesday, December 9th at OHMS. 7th grade action starts at 3:45 with the 8th grade game sometime around 5pm. Admission is free.

Six video clips from Thursday's game are posted HERE.

33 7th grade photos are HERE, and

48 8th grade photos are HERE.

Girls Basketball 12-3-09 at Bellingham

The varsity girls move to 2-0 on the season after another big win, 56-30, over Bellingham High School.

Defense was the name of the game in the JV and Freshman games, as the JV doubled up on the Red Raiders 31-14 while the Freshman team blew the competition away 56-18.

Next up for the girls is a trip to Cascade next Friday, the 11th, to open league play.

Middle School Volleyball 12-1

Last week Anacortes was at North Whidbey, this week they visited OHMS. The Seahawks have strong teams at both the 7th and 8th grade levels and won both matches, but the Panther girls fought hard, keeping all the games close.

40 photos from the 7th grade game are posted HERE.

There are 49 photos of the 8th grade team, mostly from warmups, posted HERE.

Finally, a couple of video clips are posted HERE.

BBB 2009-12-01 @ Sedro-Woolley

While the girls team was battling Mountlake Terrace at home, the boys were at Sedro Woolley for their season opener.

No information is available from the JV or Freshman games.

The varsity game started out close, with Oak Harbor holding a small 17-16 lead, but the boys turned up the defensive heat to lead 35-18 at halftime. The pressure continued in the 3rd period as the Wildcats held Sedro to 8 points again while scoring 20 of their own. At the final buzzer it was Oak Harbor 71, Sedro Woolley 47.

Mike Washington, Jr. led the Wildcats with 21 points, and Denzel Hardin (17) and Jay Stout (10) were also in double figures. A total of 8 different players scored points. Colbey Anter and Stevie Bratt had 6 each, Ryan Fakkema 5, Rashaad Smith 4 and Trace Paul 2.

The boys home opener is this Friday against Glacier Peak, who returns every single player from last years' team. Come down, be proud and be loud!!

GBB 12-1-2009 vs Mountlake Terrace

The Oak Harbor girls basketball team opened the 2009-2010 season on December 1^st with a non-league game at home against the Mountlake Terrace Hawks.

Over in the field house, the Freshman team started strong, jumping to a 12-7 lead, but the Hawk offense came alive in the 2^nd period to cut the OH lead to just two points, 25-23, at halftime. Both teams played fairly even in the 3^rd, but MLT was able to score 4 more than the Wildcats at take a 45-43 lead into the final period. Taru Ahonen, a junior foreign exchange student kept the Cats in the game during the 4^th period, scoring 10 of her 25 points, but the Wildcats came up 3 points short, 61-58, at the buzzer. Ahonen was the top scorer, followed by Jalani Bobo with 17, Marissa Lewis with 9 and Morgan Young with 7.

In contrast with the Freshman game, the JV game was low-scoring. At the end of the 1^st period it was 10-4 for OH, with 7 of the points coming from Naomi Walker. Walker continued to be steady in her scoring and led the JV to an 18-11 halftime lead. Coach Burleson got his defense back in gear after halftime as the girls held MLT to just 4 points while scoring 9. In the end, the JV held on for the 10-point lead, 33-23. Walker was the lead scorer with 18, Lia Pantoleon scored 7, Kaitlynn Rossman and Emilie Renninger 3 each and Dominique Jackson scored 2.

In Varsity action, the Wildcats dominated from beginning to end. Using a smothering defense, the girls leaped to an 11-0 lead, preventing the Hawks from scoring until a stolen ball was put in the hoop halfway through the first quarter. It wasn’t until there was 2:30 left in the period that Mountlake Terrace scored their first points from an offensive play. That play sparked the Hawks, and they cut the OH lead to 14-9 at the first break. Oak Harbor went a little flat in the 2^nd period but still outscored MLT 11-9 to take a 25-18 lead into the locker room at the half. The defense was back in full action in the 2^nd half, holding Terrace to just 7 points for the half. When the dust settled it was Oak Harbor 52, Mountlake Terrace 25. Nicki Mowbray led all scorers with 20, followed by Jessica Denmon with 17. Molly DeLeon scored 7, all in the 2^nd half, and Addy Royal, Tatiana Cumming, Clarissa Abadesco and Emilie Renninger had two each.

Next up for the Wildcat women is a trip to Bellingham on Thursday. Their next home game is Monday, December 14^th against Snohomish.

42 photos, from the freshman, JV and varsity games can be found HERE.

5 highlight video clips are posted HERE.