FB 2011-11-04 vs Eastside Catholic

Friday night the Oak Harbor Wildcat varsity football team hosted the Eastside Catholic Crusaders in a 3A play-in game, with the winner moving on to the 3A state playoffs.

Eastside Catholic got on the board first with a 5-play drive ending with a 26-yard pass TD with 10:16 left in the first quarter. Oak Harbor responded with a 10-play drive with Ian Kolste finding Mike Washington open in the corner of the end zone for a juggling catch, tying the score with 5:21 left.

EC fumbled on their second play from scrimmage and Brent Ryan ran up the middle from 6 yards out to put the Wildcats on top. The PAT kick was blocked, so the score was 13-7.

The Crusaders came right back, scoring on a 6-yard pass play to take a 14-13 lead with 9:42 left until halftime.

Continuing the offensive show, Oak Harbor marched 73 yards in 15 plays to retake the lead on another Ryan score. A 2-point PAT attempt failed, leaving the score at 19-14 for OH.

Another EC drive ended with a touchdown, this one a 1-yard run with 17 seconds, giving EC a 22-19 halftime lead.

Oak Harbor got the ball first in the second half and scored quickly, needing only 1:01 and 3 plays to put Josiah Miller into the end zone from 41 yards out. After forcing the Crusaders to punt on their first possession of the second half, Oak Harbor scored again to take a 33-22 lead with 5:52 left in the third quarter when Ryan punched it in from a yard out for his 3rd score of the game.

EC closed the score to 4 points, 33-29 with an 18-yard passing score, and then the problems started for Oak Harbor.

The Wildcats were down at the Crusader 10 yard line facing a 4th down with 2 yards to go. As they have done many times this year, the coached opted to go for the first down, but the snap was fumbled and EC took over and went 90 yards to take a 36-33 lead early in the 4th quarter.

On the Wildcats' first play after the kickoff, Kolste's pass was intercepted at the OH 35, setting up a short EC score and taking only 56 seconds off the clock. It was now EC 43, OH 33 with 8 minutes left in the game.

7 plays later the Wildcats were again looking at a 4th down situation, this time with just 1 yard to go on the EC 44. But again, something went wrong with the snap and EC took over on downs.

Eastside Catholic then went into use-the-clock mode. They ran 7 plays and scored on a 5-yard run, but most importantly, ran the clock from 5:19 down to 1:36.

A last-gasp effort by the Wildcats ended with another interception and the Crusaders ended the game by taking a knee, winning 50-33.

The EC win sets them up with a first-round playoff game against Bellevue at Bellevue. The other WESCO 3A team playing for a chance at the state tournament was Meadowdale, who beat Prairie from Vancouver to advance. They will play Mercer Island in the first round of the state playoffs.

The Wildcats end the season with a 7-1 league record and 8-2 overall, winning some tight games along the way. Our boys should be proud of what they achieved.

While the varsity team will lose a number of seasoned players to graduation, a look at the sub-varsity team shows that the Wildcats are in good shape for years to come. The JV squad finished with only a single loss and averaged over 25 points per game while allowing only 8 scored on defense. The freshman team also lost only a single game. They scored over 40 points per game and allowed only 3 scores by their opponents.

Video highlights are posted HERE.

Photos are posted HERE.