Oak Harbor vs Marysville Pilchuck Football

By David Svien, coupevillesports.com

They made the national news without playing a down.

Just hours before Oak Harbor High School was scheduled to host Marysville-Pilchuck Friday, Oct. 24, with a divisional title on the line for the third straight year, their rival's campus was torn apart by a teenage gunman.

In the aftermath of the shooting, which left the shooter, a freshman Tomahawk football player, and at least one of his victims dead, neither school was ready to immediately return to football.

Instead, the Wildcats, who are coached by Jay Turner, a 1990 graduate of MPHS, voted as a team to forfeit the game so Marysville would not have to reschedule.

Oak Harbor offered to accept second place in the Wesco 3A North and then many of its players traveled to Marysville to join a vigil with the same players they would have normally been tackling and blocking Friday night.

The 'Cats (5-1 overall, 4-0 in league play prior to the offered forfeit) will play a home crossover game Oct. 31 with Mountlake Terrace for playoff seeding.