Saturday youth sports

Another busy Saturday for the Oak Harbor Sports Report, but thanks to the miracle of modern transportation, we were able to cover events at Ft. Nugent Field, Wildcat Memorial Stadium, and at Mt. Vernon High School.

First up was youth soccer at Ft. Nugent Field. The Boys U-6 Blue Sharks, sponsored by Der Kinderhuis Montessori school faced off against the Green Dragons. It was a close battle, but in the end both teams were declared victors!

45 photos of the Blue Sharks and Green Dragons can be found HERE.

Next was a gilrs U-6 game with the Blue Butterflies, sponsored by Soroptimist of Oak Harbor vs the Orange Cheetahs. Talk about some hard working girls! Both teams gave it their all, and since they had so much fun playing, who cares who won!!

43 images of the Cheetahs and Butterflies are HERE.

The Girls U-8 Blue Lightning, sponsored by Best Friends Veterinary Clinic versus the Blue Sharks were up next. Another fun game to watch, and it yielded 44 images that can be viewed by going HERE.

Moving to Mt. Vernon High School, the Oak Harbor Youth Football League Pumas were in action against the Mt. Vernon Bulldogs. This game wasn't even close. The Pumas jumped to a 28-0 halftime lead and never looked back, scoring twice more in the 2nd half to finish the game with a 40-0 victory. 34 images of Pumas in action are HERE.

Also at Mt. Vernon, the OH Peewee Lynx, also vs Mt. Vernon. This game was hard to read. First off, it was a non-conference game. Mt. Vernon came into the game with a single loss, and is guaranteed a playoff spot. The Lynx coaches noticed that it didn't seem like the Bulldogs were using their normal starters, perhaps wanting to save their best players for the playoffs.

At any rate, the Lynx owned the first half. 3 running TDs by 2 different players in the first quarter made it 19-0 for the Lynx. MV responded with a run TD with 2 minutes remaining in the half, but the Lynx struck back with 1:23 left to push the score to 26-7. The Lynx kept the Bulldogs from scoring before the end of the half by intercepting a pass, keeping the halftime score at 26-7.

In the 2nd half, MV had a nice drive going, and on the last play of the drive the runner broke loose and looked like he was going to score. However, the Lynx pursuit caught him just before the goal line and forced a fumble which Oak Harbor recovered in the end zone. Oak Harbor ball, 1-10 on the 20!

The Lynx took that opportunity and marched downfield, setting up a 1st & Goal on the MV 5. From there, it only took 1 play to run in for the 5th Lynx TD of the day. There was no further scoring by either team, and the game ended with the Lynx in command 32-7. The scoring was spread out in this game, with 3 different players scoring, and no player scoring more than 2 TDs. 77 images from the game are posted HERE.

Moving to Wildcat Memorial Stadium, we found the OH Cougars locked in a 0-0 tie with rival Sedro Woolley, but unfortunately, it didn't last long. A 61-yard punt return by Sedro resulted in a Cub score with 5:37 left in the 3rd. Oak Harbor responded with a 39-yard TD run, knotting the score again, 8-8, at the end of the 3rd.

Going into the 4th, the Cougar offense started to sputter and defense started to leak. Two turnovers early in the 3rd, an interception and a fumble, along with a turnover on downs stifled Cougar drives, while Sedro was able to score twice - at the 5:15 mark and again with only 38 second to go in the game. The final score was 20-8 for the Cubs. That was the first loss on the year for the Cougs, and moved Sedro-Woolley to a 7-0 record. 30 photos are posted HERE.

Finally, in a game that started at 7pm, the 1-5 Senior Wildcats went up against 5-2 Burlington. In this game, Oak Harbor just wasn't able to get anything going, with most possessions resulting in little yardage, while Burlington was able to mount long, time-consuming drives that resulted in scores.

The game started on a positive note, with Burlington fumbling on their first play from scrimmage, but OH was unable to convert a 4th & 9 on the Burlington 14, then the Tigers marched 86 yards using 5 minutes to score with just 2:32 remaining in the 1st. The PAT failed, making the score 6-0. On their next possession, OH ran only 6 offensive plays, getting out to their own 36 when a 4th down pass attempt fell incomplete. Burlington then only had 1 play, as the ball was intercepted at the 25 and returned by the Wildcats to the Tiger 42 at time ran out in the first quarter.

Oak Harbor started to move the ball, getting it down to the Tiger 10, but again the 4th down attempt failed, turning over the ball at the Burlington 10 with 7:26 left in the half. OH was able to hold, forcing a Tiger turnover on 4th down, but then only moved the ball backwards 6 yards before a 4th down pass was intercepted by B-E. Oak Harbor was able to stop the Burlington drive with 1 second left in the half. With only 1 play and 50 yards to go, the 'Cats tossed a short pass to the halfback at the OH 48, he threw a pass to a receiver at the 40, but he was only able to get down to the 34 before being forced OOB by Burlington, leaving the halftime score at 6-0.

The 2nd half started badly. Even before the kickoff, OH was hit for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for taking too long to come out of the locker room, delaying the start of the 2nd half. B-E then kicked off from the OH 45 instead of their own 40. The kick went into the endzone for a touchback, so OH started the series on their own 20. OH was able to get the ball moving, using nice runs to move the ball to midfield, until a 4th down run ended 4 yards short. B-E took the ball with 7:31 left in the 3rd and used 4 plays and less than a minute and a half to score on a 31-yard run. The kick was good, pushing the score to 14-0.

OH was again forced to punt after running 3 plays, and the Tigers used the remaining 6 minutes of the 3rd to move from their own 32 to the OH 9, then into the end zone with 46 seconds left and increasing the lead to 22-0.

The Tiger kickoff went OOB at the 12, and the penalty put the ball on the OH 35. The Wildcats ran 2 plays until the horn sounded on the 3rd quarter.

Starting the final period, the 'Cats again showed some life, moving the ball down to the B-E 10. A fumble and QB sack resulted in a 4th & 10 on the Tiger 15, but the pass into the end zone was incomplete.

Taking over on their own 15 with 6:02 left in the game, the Tiger used a series of running plays to set up a touchdown pass from the OH 18 with 3:22 left in the game. The Wildcats punted again after only 3 plays, then Burlington took a knee to end the game, winning 30-0. 44 images from the game have been posted HERE.