JV tennis and Freshman football - October 1st

The Oak Harbor High School boys JV tennis team was in action for the first time this year, finally fielding a complete team of 10 players. Until now, a combination of injuries and eligibility issues kept the team off the court. No results were given to the Sports Report, but 50 images have been uploaded.

Over at Wildcat Memorial Stadium, the Freshman football team faced off against the freshman team from Archbishop Murphy, who are also the Wildcats, where former OHHS head coach Dave Ward looks like he may be headed to another state title.

Oak Harbor got the ball first at their own 34, but after 7 plays, including a 22-yard run by Justin Everett, the Wildcats turned the ball over on the ABM 29. ABM then took 8 plays to move the ball into the OH endzone. OH was able to block the kick, leaving the score at 6-0 with 3:29 left in the 1st quarter.

OH took the kickoff and started a new series on the OH 25, and ran 8 plays, moving the ball to the ABM 33 when time expired in the first. With a 1st & 10 on the ABM 21, Peter Franssen ran in for an apparent OH touchdown, but a holding penalty on Oak Harbor negated the score and pushed the ball out to the 29. During the next 3 plays, OH was forced back another 10 yards and punted from the ABM 39.

On their next possession, Archbishop Murphy was able to score again, putting another 6 on the board in 12 plays with 1:42 in the half. The PAT pass attempt failed making the score 12-0.

Oak Harbor returned the kickoff to the 35 and moved it to the ABM 38, but a sack on a 4th down play ended the drive, and the half ended before ABM could move the ball far, so the halftime score was 12-0.

Starting the 2nd half, ABM took the opening kickoff and used 13 plays and almost 6 minutes of clock time to score again, and again failing to convert, pushing their lead to 18-0.

On their next possession, Oak Harbor went 4-and-out, failing to convert a 4th & 1 attempt, but the defense stiffened and let ABM run only 4 plays, with a 4th down pass attempt falling incomplete at the OH 22 yard line.

Oak Harbor got a drive going, moving the ball to the ABM 35, including a 4th & 5 pass from Gabe Dye to Peter Franssen for a 1st down. With a 3rd & 13 from the 27, a reverse attempt was fumbled and recovered by OH, but back at the 35, and the 4th down pass was incomplete.

With 6:16 left in the game, ABM gained possession and on the first play ran the ball from their own 35 down to the OH 12. They moved the ball down to the 5 yard line, but a fumbled snap on 4th down prevented antoher score. Oak Harbor wasn't able to move the ball and was forced to punt from their own 15 yard line with 39 seconds remaining. ABM ran a few more plays and let the clock run out and drive away with a 18-0 win.

The ABM offense and defense exposed some flaws in the freshman team, which Coach Esvelt took note of and plans to work on in the coming week. Tackling was not good Wednesday, and the offensive line had some problems giving quarterback Gabe Dye enough time to set up and look downfield for a receiver.

Next up for the Freshman will be Snohomish at Wildcat Memorial Stadium next Wednesday, Oct 8th.

64 images from before and during the game are posted HERE, and look for some video clips on YouTube in the next day or so.