JV Football vs Everett - 9-22-08

The Wildcat JV football team faced off against the Everett Seagulls at Wildcat Memorial Stadium Monday evening, and although the 'Cats played hard, they wound up on the bottom of a 28-14 score.

According to head coach Craig Nurvic, there were some tough matchups, especially along the line, which allowed Everett to rack up a lot of rushing yardage.

The game started with Everett in possession at their own 40 after a 20-yard kickoff return. After an 11-play drive that took 5:10 off the clock, the 'Gulls scored from the OH 5 on a 1st & goal play to take an early 7-0 lead.

OH responded by taking the ball from their own 36 and moving it down to the Everett 17 before the drive stalled. During the drive, Marcus Jordan ran for a short gain, but got another 15 yards due to being tackled by his face mask.

Everett took over on the Everett 17, and used 9 plays and just 3 minutes to increase their lead to 14-0 with 11:13 left in the 2nd quarter.

OH continued to move the ball well in the middle of the field, but had difficultly moving past the opponents 20, and the next OH drive stalled after moving from the OH 17 to the Everett 29 before turning the ball over on downs.

The next Everett drive was stopped when a 4th & 5 Everett pass was tipped away, but OH again was unable to capitalize when the ball was fumbled at the OH 45 during a QB sack. All through the game both quarterbacks, Gabe Dye and Luke Felkner, were under pressure by the Everett defensive line. Our boys gave 110%, but the Everett line was just bigger than ours and pushed their way into the backfield.

Fortunately, the OH fumble did not cost any points, as the half ran out with Everett spotting the ball at the OH 24, and the score still stood at 14-0 at the half.

The 'Cats got the ball to open the 2nd half, but two incomplete passes inside the Everett 5 ended the drive. The OH defense did well in the next series, forcing Everett to punt after only 3 plays, but OH punted back after only 5 playes, giving Everett the ball at their own 37. Two plays later, the Seagull runner broke out of what seemed like a sure tackle, and sprinted 63 yards to the goal to push the Everett lead to 21 with 4:26 left in the 3rd.

Following the kickoff, the Wildcats went 3-and-out, downing the punt at the Everett 31. Everett's next two plays were both from the shotgun, and both snaps went over the QB's head. On the 2nd snap, OH was able to recover the ball on the Everett 5 with 1:40 to go in the 3rd quarter. The first play was a handoff was to Higbee who got stacked up trying to get through the Everett defensive line. After the pile got pushed down around the 1 yard line, the ball was stripped, bounced in the end zone and right into the hands of Dustyn Bull, who was standing just outside the pile, but in the end zone. You can see a clip of the play here. That OH score pull them to within 2 TDs with 1:29 to go in the 3rd.

Everett hit back with another touchdown, returning the kickoff to midfield, then punching it in from 10 yards out with 10:21 remaining in the game after an 8-play drive.

During the ensuing kickoff, the ball was kicked high, and dropped on the OH 26, in an area where there were no OH players, and Everett was able to cover the ball and retain possession at the Wildcat 26. Again, the 'Cat defense stiffened and kept Everett from converting on a 4th & 3 play.

OH now had the ball on the OH 23 with 8:05 left in the game. A long completion to Jason Curles moved the ball down to the Everett 14, and 3 plays later Curles found an open seam and danced into the end zone and continued dancing, as you can see here.

Everett was forced to punt on their next possession, and Oak Harbor got the ball for another chance to close the score with a 1st & 10 on the OH 18 and 4:17 left. The JV 'Cats were able to get the ball down to the Everett 5, but two sacks and a fumble ended the Wildcat chances.

Coach Nurvic said overall he was pleased with the team's performance. They were up against a bigger and superior Everett line, but kept the game from becoming a rout. He also mentioned that there was a good spread on offense, with 5 different ball carriers and 5 receivers with at least one catch during the game. There were, however, several missed opportunities, which will be discussed and practiced before traveling to Mt. Vernon next Monday for the next game.

All 6 video clips can be seen here

The next home sports events are not until Thursday, with the Girls swim team going against Lake Stevens at Vanderzicht Pool, Girl's Soccer looking for a win against Marysville, and Volleyball hosting Jackson in the OHHS gym.

Varsity football video clips

Some video clips from Friday's game at Everett have been posted

http://www.youtube.com/user/OakHarborSportsReport

New poll posted

This poll is for the upcoming home volleyball match against Jackson. Vote on how the varsity Wildcats will EARN their first point. Will it be a Jansen or Muzzall power kill? A dump set by Melany Cone? A service ace? Or maybe a back row attack? YOU make the call!

You'll find the poll on top of the right side of the page.

Q & A with... Andy Haag

Roving reporter Michelle Sandstrom sat down with Varsity running back Andy Haag, #21 last week for a short Q&A session.

Q; What’s your date of birth?
A; March 6, 1992.

Q; Have you lived in Oak Harbor your whole life?
A; Most of it, I was born in Illinois but I have been raised here.

Q; What sport do you play and position?
A; I play Varsity and JV football and I’m a Safety and a Running Back.

Q; What made you choose football over other fall sports such as Cross Country or Cheerleading?
A; I’m more of a sprinter and Cross Country guys are tall and skinny and Cheerleading, no way, that’s just not for me.

Q; Do you have any current injuries?
A; I have shin splints but I’m running through those and my wrist has been hurting really bad, I don’t know what’s wrong yet I just wrap it before each practice and game.

Q; When you're out on the field, what’s going through your mind?
A; The play and what my job is.

Q; Is there anyone you prefer to be playing with?
A; Clarence, because he knows what to do in any situation.

Q; Do you play/practice on your spare time?
A; Yeah I get together with friends occasionally or I’ll toss the ball around with my girlfriend but it’s nothing like real practice.

Q; What else do you like to do with your spare time?
A; Play video games.

Q; In most sports, athletes have to be on a diet or cut certain foods out. Do you?A; It doesn’t hurt to eat healthy and the coaches encourage it, but then again we always stop off at McDonalds on the way home after a game. I usually get two quarter pounders with cheese because of the special going on right now, but yeah I eat what I want, I need to gain weight anyways.

Q; Everyone has bad games or practices, how do you handle those?
A; Get angry and use the anger next practice or game.

Q; What year are you in this year?
A; I’m a junior.

Q; So you must be looking forward to your senior year, will you continue football next year?
A; That’s the plan.

Q; I know two years may seem far away, but do you know your plans after high school?
A; WSU College for football hopefully.

Q; Football players are known for there toughness and aggression, do you carry that with you off the field as well or do you have a soft side?
A; I only take my aggression off the field if I had a bad practice or am angry about something, otherwise I have a soft side.

Q; I can see football is a huge part of your life, but lets talk about something else. What is your favorite color?
A; Green.

Q; And your favorite food?
A; Pepperoni pizza.

Q; What about a favorite movie?
A; Super Bad definitely.

Q; Well thank you Andy for letting me interview you and letting others get to know more about you.
A; Anytime.

Video clips posted

Video clips from the OH vs Kamiak volleyball match and the OHYFL Lynx at Arlington football game are now posted at http://www.youtube.com/user/OakHarborSportsReport

Girls Basketball - fall league

The Oak Harbor High School girls basketball team is fielding both a JV and Varsity team in the fall league through the Skagit County Parks & Recreation department, and both teams had games on Sunday, Sep 21st.

The JV team is made up primarily of freshmen, with sophomores and juniors used as needed to fill the roster. The JV squad is coached by Keely Smollack and the varsity by long-time youth basketball coach Gary Brundidge.

The varsity game was first, against Arlington. It looked good for the 'Cats, as the held a 25-13 halftime lead, but after that, Arlington took over on both ends of the court. The 2nd half was very physical, and OH wasn't able to get their offense in gear, scoring only 8 points to Arlington's 26, and the girls wound up on the short end of a 39-33 score.

The JV game was similar, in that the girls held a 17-14 halftime lead over Mt. Vernon, but the our girls had a hard time getting rebounds on both ends of the court while Mt. Vernon was able to get 2 and even 3 shots off during each possession. By the end of the game Mt. Vernon turned their deficit into a 34-25 victory.

Photos from both JV and Varsity can be seen HERE.

Youth football - Lynx @ Arlington

The Oak Harbor Lynx peewee football team went to Arlington for a game against the Eagle Gold team and came away with a win.

The game started out well for the Lynx. OH kicked the ball just over 10 yards, and Arlington could not get to it in time and the Lynx recovered for a 1st & 10 on the Arlington 49. On the very first play from scrimmage, a nice run resulted in the Oak Harbor TD. The run was good, so with just 21 seconds used up in the 1st quarter, it was Lynx 7, Eagle Gold 0. On the next OH kickoff, there was the same result - Arlington erred and OH recovered, again at the Arlington 49. Arlington caught a break as OH fumbled the snap and the Eagles recovered. However on THEIR first snap, Arlington fumbled with OH recovering and a 1st & 10 on the Arlington 44. 3 plays later the score was Lynx 14, Eagles 0.

Arlington was able to down the next OH kickoff, but the drive lasted only 5 plays before failing to convert a 4th & 8. On the next Lynx drive, it took only 2 plays for another score, this one a beautiful pass from the Arlington 45 that was caught at the 34 and run in for the score. The PAT failed, but it was now Lynx 20, Eagles 0 with 3:56 left in the 1st.

The Lynx continued their domination of the Eagles by scoring another TD on a 27 yard run with 7:59 left in the half pushing the score to 26-0. Arlington finally got on the board with 9:44 left in the 3rd with a 45-yard run on the first play after the 2nd half kickoff.

When next on offense, OH shifted to a wishbone offense, but a 5-play drive ended with a fumble, but an Arlington fumble 2 plays later gave the ball back to Oak Harbor, who then needed 5 plays to score on a run from the Arlington 25, increasing the score to 32-7. With the OH defense made up with at least 50% non-starters, in accordance to league policy, the Eagles were able to move the ball down inside the OH 10, and on a 4th-and-goal, was able to run for a score with 9:51 in the 4th.

Oak Harbor fumbled on their next possession, but the defense forced Arlington into a 4th & 23 situation, and was able to stop the run attempt. 5 plays later, it was another Oak Harbor touchdown. The score is now 38-14 for the Lynx.

Arlington covered the OH kickoff (made from the 20 due to the score) at the OH 29, and with a 3rd & 13 from the Lynx 32, ran it all the way to the Lynx 4. The Lynx defense stiffened, and forced a fumble on the 1st & goal play, recovering in the end zone for a touchback. The Lynx were able from there to run the clock out and win by a final score of 38-14 and extend their record to 3-1.

Look for some video highlight clips to be posted by Monday morning.

Youth soccer at Ft. Nugent Park

The Oak Harbor Sports Report went to see two youth soccer game held at a wet Ft. Nugent Park this past Saturday, Sept. 20th. There were 15 games in total Saturday morning, ranging from 6 to 10 years old.

The first game covered was a Boys U-8 game between the Blue Bullets and a team sponsored by Martin Electric. At that age, the game is played on a short field, and only 3 players on each side, plus goalies. From my viewpoint, the Blue Bullets were in control of the game, making shot after shot on the Martin Electric goal. However, due to the extraordinary efforts of the Martin Electric goalie, most of the shots did not get into the goal. After the game, I talked with coach Eric Johnston of the Blue Bullets. He said his boys "hustled hard and had good passing", and that there was great improvement from the beginning of the season.
34 photos of the two teams are posted HERE

The other game was a U-6 girls game featuring the Bluebirds and the Red Roses, sponsored by Best Friends Veterinary Clinic and Jane Koetje of Re/Max Real Estate. At the U-6 level, both teams have only 3 players on the field and there is no goalie, but that is countered by a smaller goal net. This game was also fun to watch as you could easily see that not only were the girls working hard, but having fun. Coaches Edgar and Crystal Nunez of the Red Roses said his team "did an awesome job", and "played as a team". Coach Sean Merrill of the Blubirds said that "everyone played better", and it was "great watching the girls grow". I got the distinct impression that all the coaches were very proud of their girls.

32 photos of the Bluebirds-Red Roses game are posted HERE

Boys Tennis

The tennis team, short the #1 and #3 singles players, Derek Thomas and Jordan Kingma went to then 3-1 Marysville for a WESCO North conference match.

With the loss of two top players, the Wildcats were unable to put much pressure on the Tomahawks, and went down 6-1. The lone OH winner was Sophomore Josh Evans over M-P Senior Barry Jacobsen, 6-4, 7-6(3)

Paul Jewell and Joel Valles moved from their #1 doubles spot to the #3 and #4 singles, and both lost by identical 6-3, 6-2 scores. Moving Jewell and Valles up bumped the team of Rick Baleros and Max O'Dell to #1 doubles and put sophomore Geoff Worley and Freshman Tyler Dodge in at the #3 doubles spot against a junior and senior.

The tennis team travels to Cascade next Wednesday and hosts Stanwood on Friday.

Ugly - that's the only word for it

The Oak Harbor Wildcat football team traveled to Everett Memorial Stadium for a non-conference game against the WESCO 3A Everett Seagulls, and came away with their second loss on the season. The 22-0 loss was the Wildcat's first shutout since losing to Mountain View 49-0 in November of 2002.

The game started out looking good, with Brad Farnum moving the ball up the middle, but the drive stalled and OH could not convert on the 4th down play.

From then on, Everett seemed to be able to move the ball at will, both on the ground and through the air, and broke several long plays for scores.

Oak Harbor was never able to get the offense really going, but twice had the ball inside the Everett 10, but fumbled on both attempts at scoring. The 'Cats faced several 4th down attempts but could not convert any of them.

There were some positives in the game, among them two sacks and a fumble recovery by Chris Neumiller, some nice kickoff returns, all going out past the 20, and a tackle for loss late in the game by Greg Goebel and Michael Repose.

There is some great video of Neumiller's sacks, and shots of Farnum early in the game. Look for video clips on Monday.

Next up for the Wildcats is 2-1 Mt. Vernon at home next Friday.

Other scores of note from Friday:
Mt. Vernon 34, Sehome 31
King's 23, Coupeville 12
Archbishop Murphy 42, Granite Falls 6
South Whidbey 42, Lakewood 21
Arlington 28, Jackson 22 (OT)
Lake Stevens 35, Stanwood 0
Marysville 20, Glacier Peak 17
Monroe 39, Sedro-Woolley 27
Shorecrest 28, Snohomish 14

Player Profile - Geoff Worley - Sophomore - Tennis

A visit with…. Geoff Worley

Geoff Worley would be one of this year’s top JV tennis players, if we had a JV team. He was born in California on October 27th to Kyle and Mary Worley, and moved to Oak Harbor when he was only 1 year old. He has one older brother, Keath. Geoff attended Broadview Elementary, North Whidbey Middle, and is now a sophomore at OHHS.

This is his first year on the OHHS tennis team, although he has been playing recreationally with his father for some time. He really enjoys playing tennis, and it’s his only sport. He doesn’t really know why he likes it or why he chose tennis. It’s sort of like he just fell into it for something to do and found that he liked it. To date his most memorable tennis moment has been in a match where he hit the ball across the net softly, but with a lot of backspin. After crossing the net and hitting the opposite court, the backspin caused it ball to bounce back across the net and into Geoff’s court. It cost him a point, as he was near his baseline and couldn’t get to the ball.

He likes watching football the Everett Silvertips hockey team, and went to a ‘Tips game just a couple of weeks ago. His real love, however, when not playing tennis or doing his homework (he’s an A/B student), is playing video games. His preferred platform is the Xbox 360, and his preferred game is the Legend of Zelda series. After graduating, Geoff is looking at a career in the computer industry, as perhaps a graphic designer, software engineer, or game programmer. Geoff says his most memorable life moment so far was his first trip to Disneyland, when he was in 3rd grade.

At school his favorite subject is 10th Honors English, and his favorite teacher is Mr. Wesley, who he had for geometry as a freshman.

Other activities that Geoff has interest in are listening to ska music and tuning his radio to 107.7. He’s also a budding actor, participating in a number of plays at the Whidbey Playhouse. You may also see Geoff in the company of his girlfriend Laurin Rico, and you may find them watching the 80’s movie “Tron”.

When asked if there was anyplace in the world he would like to live, Geoff responded “Florida, in an area that doesn’t get hurricanes”. Good luck on that one, Geoff!

Thursday was a busy day for Wildcat teams

Let's start with the events I was not at.

Freshman Football
I don't have a final score, but the freshman football team lost a tough road game in Monroe against the Bearcats. Sorry, but I don't have any details. The freshman team next plays at home vs Everett next Wednesday.

Girls Swimming
The opening swim meet of the year was originally scheduled for OH, but was moved to Kamiak. It was a close meet, with the Wildcats falling to the Knights 96-87. The 'Cats did win several events, including the marquee event, the 400 meter freestyle relay, won by the team of Rachel Weinstein, Tori Nickerson, Amanda Streubel, and Karina Concepcion, swimming in a time of 4:00.43. Other events won by Oak Harbor girls were the 200m freestyle, 100 butterfly, 500 freestyle and 100 backstroke. The swimmers hit the water next on Tuesday at the Lynnwood Pool.

Cross Country
The OH runners also opened their season today with a meet at the Wirth Farm off of Boon road against Everett and Stanwood. The event started with the boys JV, with the winner being an Oak Harbor runner whose name escapes me, finishing the 3-mile course in just over 20 minutes. Every Oak Harbor JV runner finished the race, which is not always the case.

In Girls Varsity, it's hard to assess the girls, as they were told not to run too hard by the coach as they are going to Oregon for an elite invitational this weekend. The 5 top runners, senior Kathryn Fisken along with teammates Alison Duvenez, Adrianna Royal, Jessica Denmon and Kimberly Kyle all ran the race together as a team. At the finish, the girls crossed the finish line together, punching a fist across the finish line and shouting "Wildcats" as they crossed. Even with their relaxed pace, they finished in 7th through 11th place. Even at the reduced pace, the girls beat all but one of the Everett runners. As a team, OH scored 45 points to land 2nd place in the meet.

The Boys Varsity race was similar, but different. The top boys were also going to Oregon and were told to hold back a little. Tyler King held back for about half the race, then he kicked it up a little, taking the lead before the 2-mile mark and keeping it to the end, finishing with a 1st place time of 16:47. Other top OH runners were Josh Duhrkopf, Cody Klauer, Michael Wright, and Matt Bolte, all of whom finished in the top 15. XC is in Seaside, Oregon for the weekend, and then is at Kamiak next Thursday.
Cross Country photos (149 of them) are posted here.

Girls Soccer
In Soccer, the JV girls played to a 0-0 tie with Stanwood. While it wasn't a win, the girls played hard. Coach Thompson was most impressed by the team defense, which did a good job in keeping the ball away from the Oak Harbor goal. On the Varsity side, the Wildcats lost 1-0 to 2-1 Stanwood- their 3rd 1-goal loss this year. Coach Barker had good things to say about his girls after the game, among them are "they didn't give up", and "they are a great group of girls...fun to coach". During the game, Coach said he discovered that he had two great bench players who went in and spurred the team. The lone Stanwood goal was a sloppy shot that happened to go in with less than a minute remaining in the 1st half. Next up for the soccer girls is at Everett on Tuesday the 23rd.

Volleyball
The Wildcats hosted Kamiak on Thursday at OHHS. In the Field House, the freshman team fought hard, but dropped all 3 game 5-25, 19-25 and 22-25. Coach Bjork said that despite the score, the first game was when her freshmen played best. The lopsided 1st game score was mostly due to Kamiak being able to get the ball to where our girls weren't. Games 2 and 3 were very close, aided by some good serving by Leah Pantoleon.

JV dropped 2 of their 3 games, 16-25, 25-18 and 23-25. The JV girls were in all 3 games, and according to Sophomore Janesa Ramos "we didn't give up". Sophomore Jordan Faralan added that she felt the team moved well on the court and played very good volleyball.

On Varsity, the Wildcats had their hand full against #5 ranked Kamiak of Mukilteo. Game one was close, with the Wildcats starting off 0-3, but knotting the score at 7 after some good volleyball. From there, though, Kamiak steadily opened a lead until at one point the score was 21-10 Kamiak. The 'Cats dug in, though, and some key kills by Senior Jennifer Jansen pulled Oak Harbor to within 5. From there, the teams traded points; neither gaining ground until the Wildcats simply ran out of points to give, falling 20-25 in the first. In the second, the girls came out fired up and ran to an early 3-1 lead. The game was extremely close, with neither team having more than a 3-point lead. The game continued past the normal 25 limit as in high school volleyball, a team has to win by 2 points. OH usually had the advantage during the extra points, but could not get that last point to end the game until Kamiak had a kill to take a one-point advantage, 27-26. A hitting error by the Knights tied it back up at 27, then a timely ace by Junior Emily Meagher followed by a Jansen kill won game 2 for the Wildcats 29-27. Game 3 was eerily similar, with both teams trading kills and hitting errors, keeping the game to within 2 points. With the score tied at 20, Kamiak went on a run of 5 straight points, including 2 service aces to win 25-20. Game 4 was just plain ugly for Oak Harbor as Kamiak showed why they held a state ranking. By the time the 'Cats got their first point, on a net violation by Kamiak, the Knights had scored 13. Even with kills by Jessica Muzzall, Devin Tanner, Kim Mowbray and Marisa Sutherland (back for her 1st game after an emergency appendectomy), Kamiak was able to place the ball well, earning numerous kills. In this game, it's not that the Wildcats were playing badly, it's that Kamiak stepped up and used ball placement to get through the Wildcat defense. Although the Wildcats lost the match, I think they showed they can play great volleyball against good teams, and should have a successful regular season. Look for some YouTube clips over the weekend. The volleyball girls get a week off from competition before facing 1-2 Jackson at home next Thursday.

Changes in the photo galleries

In order to reduce clutter, the photo galleries have been rearranged. All of the spring and summer photos have been moved into their own galleries, leaving the main galleries for current photos.

Right now, the youth sports galleries contains only soccer and football, the middle school gallery is empty (look for cross country and AAU girls basketball soon), and the high school gallery has only the fall sports, which will include fall league basketball.

Click here to get to the spring sports gallery. The spring sports gallery had all the high school spring sports, middle school track and little league baseball, as well as AAU and high school spring league basketball.

Click here to get to the summer sports gallery. The summer gallery is mostly girls basketball, but there is also boys basketball and volleyball.

In all galleries the photos are listed alphabetically by sport, then by date.

Hopefully this will reduce confusion and let you get to the photos you want a little faster.

Friday's varsity football game & new features

Don't forget, the varsity football game at Everett Stadium this Friday doesn't start until 8pm, as it's the nightcap of a double header. First up is Cascade against Mariner, which should be a pretty good game.

Also, Thursday will be a big sports day, with all 5 fall sports in action.
Football - the freshman team travels to Monroe to complete the football sweep of the Bearcats
Cross Country - the first meet of the year will be at the Wirth Farm on Boon Rd.
Girl's Swim - at the Vanderzicht Pool against 0-0Kamiak
Girls Soccer - at home vs 1-1 Stanwood
Volleyball - at home against 2-0 Kamiak

Pick a sport (or 2) and cheer on the Wildcats!

The Oak Harbor Sports report is adding a couple of new features.

First, there will be some sort of poll posted each weekend. The poll can be found at the top of the right hand column. Take 10 seconds and add your opinion.

Second, we're going to be adding player profiles. Each Friday, look for a profile of a JV player, and each Monday a varsity profile. If there is a player YOU would like to see profiled, either leave a comment or send an email to oakharborsportsreport@comcast.net.

First up for Friday is tennis player Geoff Worley.

Finally, don't forget to leave your comments! Feel free to get a discussion going in the comments or rate the video clips.

Tuesday's sports results

It wasn't a good day for Oak Harbor sports on Tuesday.

The Girl's Soccer team traveled to Arlington to face the 2-1 Eagles. The Eagles opened up their offense and two players scored two goals apiece to down the 'Cats 4-0. I don't have the JV results, so would someone help me out?

The Volleyball 'Cats went to to 2-1 Shorewood and took it all the way. OH started with a convincing 25-16 win in game one, and lost by only 2, 23-25 in game 2. The girls came back to take game 3 25-20, but let things get away in game 4, going down 17-25. In the final, 5th game, Shorewood showed poise and finished the match by winning 15-10. Even though the team lost, individual stats were helped by the 5-game match. Senior Kim Mowbray had 5 blocks and added 7 kills to her total, while setter Melany Cone tallied 5 service aces. In talking with Jen Jansen the next day, she couldn't really pin the loss on any one factor, but said hitting errors was the weak area for that match. She said the serving was great and the passing outstanding, but the team just didn't get the job done.

While I don't have game scores, the JV squad went 1-2 against Shorewood. They won the first, but couldn't keep the momentum up and lost the next two. The Freshman team was overpowered by Shorewood, losing all 3 games.

Next up for volleyball is a home match against Kamiak on Thursday, Sept 18th.

Boys Tennis - Monday and Wednesday

At Stanwood HS on Monday the 15th, the Wildcat tennis men fell in their first loss of the season, 4-3.

In the first 3 matches, OH did well in singles and not so well in doubles. It wasn't quite that way at Stanwood. The Wildcat #1, Derek Thomas fell in straight sets to Kyle Koetje, 6-2, 6-1. Stanwood #3 Nate Houde and #4 Kyle Kline gave their OH counterparts, Jordan Kingma and Josh Evans some stiff competition, but the OH men won in straight sets. Kingma won 6-3, 6-4 and Evans 6-4, 6-4. OH #2 Ryan Evans won easily, 6-1, 6-1.

In Double action, Wildcat #1 Paul Jewell and Joel Valles came THIS close to winning, but lost two sets to Stanwood. The scores were 7-6(3) for both sets. Just one more returned serve in each game could have seen the score the other way. OH doubled #2, Rick Baleros and David Marshal, and #3, Matthew Rice and Max O'Dell both lost by identical 6-0, 6-0 scores.

On Wednesday, undefeated Everett came to Oak Harbor, and they left still undefeated, but it was close.

Derek Thomas lost a close first set, 7-6(3), but in the second, with the score tied at 1-1, Thomas had to retired. He played with some forearm and shoulder pain in the first set, and in the second he started cramping in his leg and was forced to retire, forfeiting the second set. Ryan Evans lost his match 6-4, 7-6(3) while Jordan Kingma won his by the same scores. Josh Evans was the other OH singles winner with a 6-3, 6-2 victory.

In doubles, the Jewell/Valles won Oak Harbor's first doubles match of the season, defeating the Everett #1 6-4, 5-7, 6-2. The Baleros/Marshall team lost 6-2, 6-1 and the Rice/O'Dell team lost 6-2, 6-0.

Photos from Wednesday's match are now posted at http://www.shutterfly.com/pro/OakHarborSports/highschool/BTennis917Everett

Sorry, but I wasn't able to stay for the varsity doubles matches, so didn't get any photos.

Varsity football video clips posted

http://www.youtube.com/user/OakHarborSportsReport

JV Football vs Monroe on Sept 15th.

The Oak Harbor JV Football team faced off against the Monroe Bearcats at Wildcat Memorial Stadium on Monday, September 15th, and came away with the victory, 27-6.

Let me start by saying that I don’t know all the players’ names, and don’t have a roster to work from, so some names may be misspelled, or a player may be identified by number or misidentified. If an email is sent to me with the correct/first names and/or spelling, I will correct the article ASAP.

Going into the game, head coach Craig Nurvic’s plan was to run the ball effectively, which the team did, at first. Although it was a nice win, coach felt that penalties, especially on the offense, kept the score lower than it could have been. Coach did like what he saw from the defense, especially with tackling – wrapping up the ball carrier, but there were a couple of times the OH defense should have come up with interceptions rather than incompletions.

To start the game, the Wildcats kicked off deep, but Monroe was able to get a long return and started the game with the ball on the Oak Harbor 34. After two plays the Bearcats were down to the OH 22 with a first down, but a run attempt up the middle was stopped by #80. The next Monroe play was a sweep, but Aaron Boesch was able to slip in the backfield and tackle the runner for a 5 yard loss. Then, on a 4th & 18 play, a combined team of Boesch and Castillo sacked the Monroe QB while he was on a roll out for another 4 yard loss.

The Wildcats took over on their own 34, but went 3-and-out after quarterback Byrne was sacked for a 10 yard loss on a 3rd down play. On the bright side, the Wildcat punt from the OH 27 rolled all the way to the Monroe 20.

On Monroe’s next possession, the first 3 plays went nowhere, then on a 4th & 9, #80 tackled the runner short, and OH now had the ball on the Monroe 28. Nine plays later, 6 of them runs by Higbee, he ran in for the Wildcat touchdown, and with just 26 seconds left in the first, it was Oak Harbor 7, Monroe 0.

On the kickoff, #43 got downfield quickly and tacked the Monroe receiver at his own 25. A nice run by Monroe on the last play of the 1st quarter was stopped short of the first down by Sinchak with a solo tackle.

Starting the 2nd, Monroe had the ball on their own 33 with a 2nd & 2. After a false start flag and two incompletions, the Bearcats punted from their own 43. The kick was partially blocked but rolled to the OH 26. The ‘Cats were not able to move the ball, and after a holding call, were punting from their own 19, but it was solidly blocked giving Monroe the ball 1st & goal on the OH 5. In 4 plays the OH defense pushed the Monroe offense back 6 yards to the 11, and on a 4th down attempt, the Monroe QB was sacked by Ducken at the OH 17. On the first OH play after getting the ball on downs, Carbonne ran the ball out to midfield, but Monroe was able to strip the ball and recover it at the 50. The Wildcat defense again stopped Monroe in 3. On what otherwise was a great punt by Monroe, the downfield man, who was right on the ball, let it roll into the end zone instead of downing it, so OH got the ball on their own 20 rather than their own 1. The ‘Cats again could do nothing with the ball and punted from their own 11. This was just a bad punt, and the net was only 1 yard, so now Monroe had the ball on the OH 11. Monroe’s first play was a sweep to the left, but an OH player was flagged for helmet-to-helmet contact during the tackle, then OH got hit with an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, which moved the ball to just outside the 2 yard line. It took 3 tries, but Monroe was able to punch it in on 3rd down for the score, but failed to make the 2-pt conversion. With 1:22 left in the half, it was OH 7, Monroe 6. The Wildcats were forced to punt on their next possession, and after the high, short punt was caught, the receiver was immediately tackled by Peterson. Monroe had just over 1 minute to get another score, starting from their own 47, but time ran out during a 4th down attempt from the Wildcat 24, and at halftime it was OH 7, Monroe 6.

OH got the kickoff to open the 2nd half, and Andy Haag caught a well-thrown pass for the TD in a drive that lasted 2 plays and 55 seconds. This TD increased the OH lead to 14-6.

After the OH kickoff, Monroe fumbled the snap on the first play and the Wildcats recovered at the Monroe 36. This drive featured 3 incomplete passes, including a 4th down attempt from the Monroe 35 that dropped at the Monroe 15. Monroe got the ball on their own 35 with 10:16 left in the 3rd, and after a 17 play drive that used up 6 minutes of clock, the Bearcats came away empty. The drive featured two really nice tackles by Peterson and a controversial reception by Monroe. The Monroe receiver caught the ball at the sideline and went out of bounds towards the Wildcat stands. Everyone in the stands except the referee could see that the ball was juggled, so a catch and 1st down was awarded. It didn’t matter, as Monroe, again, could do nothing with a 1st & goal except move backwards from the OH 9 to the OH 14. OH was able to move the ball across midfield before the 3rd quarter ended with the Wildcats leading 14-6.

Starting the final quarter, the JV ‘Cats got the ball down to the Monroe 23 before the drive stalled and turned the ball over on downs. Monroe’s offense was still sputtering, and after a sack by Duncan and a tackle for loss by #51, Monroe punted from their own 22. A high snap and pressure by the Wildcat defense caused the Monroe punter to shank the kick which went out of bounds at the Monroe 26.

Oak Harbor then put together another 2-play touchdown drive, this one lasting only 18 seconds. This drive featured a catch and run by Boesch to the 4, then some 2nd & 3rd effort running by Higbee for the score. OH 21, Monroe 6.

Monroe returned the ensuing kickoff from their own 23 to near midfield, but turned the ball over on 4 straight incompletions. OH punted from their own 45, and the defense kept up the pressure on the Monroe QB, forcing two incompletions and two sacks.

OH now had the ball on the Monroe 22. A really nice run on a broken play by Burgoyne went around the right side down to the 10. It was called back, as just as Burgoyne started running, the ref coughed into his whistle, and the play was ruled dead after a gain of only 1 yard. Runs by Higbee, Carbonne, & #84 moved the ball down to the Monroe 7, but a 4th down run failed to make it to the end zone, giving Monroe a chance to score with 1:52 left in the game.

Monroe ran the ball 5 yards up the middle and called a time out with 1:10 left. The pass by Monroe was snagged by Curles at the 19 and ran it to the end zone. The kick failed, setting the score at 27-6 in favor of OH.

After two runs from the Monroe 33 to the Oak Harbor 32, Monroe had their final pass attempt intercepted at the 15 by #84. OH took a single knee to end the game with the final score of Oak Harbor 27, Monroe 6.

38 photos have been posted HERE

13 Video clips are HERE

Girls Swimming - practice photos

42 photos from a practice on Sept 15th have been posted.

http://www.shutterfly.com/pro/OakHarborSports/highschool/GSwim915practice

Volleyball video clips

9 clips posted to YouTube

http://www.youtube.com/user/OakHarborSportsReport

Saturday at Ft. Nugent Park - football and soccer

It was a very busy day at Ft. Nugent Park in Oak Harbor this past Saturday, with 3 youth football games and a bunch of soccer games. Names of players will only be given for the Junior football game, as it is the policy of the Oak Harbor Sports Report to not use names of athletes who are below middle school age.

I'll start with the two soccer games that I know about. Coach Troy Cowan and his U-10 Blue Knights, sponsored by P&L Contractors played a team from Coupeville. The Knights sprinted to a 4-0 first half lead, helped by the outstanding play of the two goalies who stopped every shot on goal. In the second half, Coupeville got in the game with a pair of goals, but the Blue Knights answered with 3 goal of their own to take the game 7-2. Coach Cowan was particularly impressed with the play of the goalies, and with his forward that scored 3 of the team's 7 goals.

In U-12 action, the Oak Harbor Breakers, sponsored by the Oak Harbor Pizza Factory and the Northwest Training Academy, beat a tough Stanwood team 3-1 in a Skagit Valley Youth Soccer game. The two teams played to a 1-1 halftime tie, and shortly after starting 2nd half play, the Breakers avoided giving Stanwood the lead when a penalty kick went over the net. The Breakers went to to score 2 more goals for the victory. The Coach was proud of his girls, and noted that the win was a total team victory, and that good communication between the girls on the field was a key. 59 photos from this game have been posted HERE

Moving to the Oak Harbor Youth Football League, 3 games were played at Ft. Nugent Field. First up was the midget Cougars vs Everett. The game was all Oak Harbor from the beginning, and the team extended their undefeated record to 3-0 with a 47-6 win. The coach attributed much of the scoring gap to his defense, which shut down the Everett offense, keeping them off the field and giving the OH offense more opportunities to score. The win was a total team effort. The Cougars have a bye next week. A few photos have been posted HERE

The Junior Jaguar team played at 11 against the Bulldogs from Mt. Vernon, and again, Oak Harbor dominated both side of the ball. During the first half, the Jags scored 4 touchdowns on the way to a 27-0 lead. The first two were by Sheyenne Sams on run plays, then Zach Jones caught a pass from Sturdevant, and a run by Brent Mertens finished the first half scoring.

Opening the 2nd half Mt. Vernon got on the board first, but the kickoff was fielded by Jones and returned to the end zone and a 34-7 Oak Harbor lead. Mt. Vernon followed with another TD but didn't convert, leaving the score at 34-13. The Mt. Vernon defense stiffened, and on an Oak Harbor punt attempt, the snap went high and over the punter's head. MV capitalized on this error and scored again, closing the score to 34-20.

34 points was not enough for Sams, who scored again on the ground, moving the scoreboard to 40-20. The Bulldogs took the OH kickoff all the way down to the OH 32, and after a acouple of plays tried to pass it into the end zone, but it was picked off by Jones right at the goal line. He ran it back up the sideline to about the 30 where a Mt. Vernon player knocked the ball out of his hands. Raymond Quinday, a very large lineman, was right with Jones when the ball came out, picked it up off the ground and finished what Jones started. Time ran out during the play, leaving the final score at 46-20. Coack Skerjanec said it was a "wonderful, all-around performance by 1-35 on the team". In addition to the offensive output, cousins Troy and Jacob Sturdevant were a force on defense, along with Rhys Mattila and Blaine Coleman. We're looking forward to seeing these players on the high school team in the next few years. 44 game photos and 25 cheerleader photos are HERE.

Finally, the Pee-Wee Lynx team faced an inexperienced and very small, both in size and numbers, team from Darrington. The Lynx received the opening kickoff and #80 returned it straight to the end zone. When Darrington first got the ball, the went 3-and-out with a loss of 10 yards. Due to the penetration of the Lynx defensive line, Darrington wasn't even able to get the ball handed off. Other first-half scores were made by #22 on a 4th & 1 play, #29 on a nice run from the 40, and #37 who ran a sweep around the right from midfield.

In the 2nd half, Darrington got on the board twice, both scored on runs by the QB. The Lynx scored one more touchdown when a pitch by the quarterback was fumbled, but he picked it up and ran around the right side to pay dirt. After the game, Coach Bell said "everyone gave everything all game", and the key to the game was the dominance of the Lynx defensive line. 38 game photos and 16 cheer photos have been posted HERE. The photos include team photos with the famous Lynxmobile.

OH Football, 9-12-08

The Oak Harbor Wildcats traveled to Monroe for their first league game of the season and came away with a 28-10 win.

This is the second year in a row the Wildcats have hit the road to Monroe. Last year the Wildcats pounded Monroe 47-21 in a pouring rain during Monroe's 0-10 season. This year the Bearcats started out with a new coach, and a win, beating Shorewood 20-6.

Monroe got the opening kick at their own 35, but after an 11 yard gain on the first play, wound up punting 4 plays later after two tackles for loss and a sack. OH mufffed the punt, but it looked to me like it was interference. In the end, OH got the ball on their own 35, but could do nothing with it, punting with a 4th and 9 on their own 36. Monroe brought the punt out to the 34, but backed up to the 25 due to an illegal block. 4 plays later they punted back to Oak Harbor, who returned the favor after 5 plays. With just over 3 minutes left in the first and Monroe on their own 34 with 2nd & 8, Clarence LaMont intercepted the Monroe pass at the 50, returning it to the Monroe 37. Runs by Brad Farnum, Donovan Hunt and Stephen Lewis, along with a Lewis reception had the ball down to the Monroe 10 and a 3rd & 1 when time ran out in the first with the score 0-0.

Starting the 2nd, Farnum ran the ball down to the 7 and Hunt took it into the end zone with 11:25 left in the half.

On the ensuing kickoff, the Monroe returner fielded the ball at his own 1, and was able to run the ball all the way to the Oak Harbor 37 before being tackled by kicker Kevin Flavin. It was a really nice solo tackle. Flavin wrapped him up and brought him down in a textbook manner.

Monroe then moved the ball down to the 22, and were facing a 4th & 4. Going for it, the Monroe QB through a pass that looked like it could be intercepted, but instead OH was called for Pass Interference and Monroe had a new set of downs at the OH 11 with 7:50 left in the half. Two plays later the Monroe running back went around the left and and dove across the corner of the end zone for the TD with 6:06 remaining.

OH took the short Monroe kick at the 32, running it out to the 41. After an incomplete pass, Lewis took the ball 59 yards for the score, making it 14-7 OH with 5:48 left.

Monroe retaliated with a a nice drive of 4 runs and 3 passes, including a 22-yard catch for a score, knotting the score at 14. OH was able to move the ball to the Monroe 45 before time ran out in the half.

OH received the opening kick of the 2nd half, but went 3-and-out. A rather poor punt gave Monroe great field position at the OH 48. Monroe, assisted by another Oak Harbor Pass Interference call, moved the ball to the Wildcat 15, but the defense stiffened, and a Monroe field goal attempt with about 6 minutes left in the 3rd was about a yard short.

OH took over on their own 20, and 8 plays and 3 flags later, Hunt ran in from the 19 to put OH in the lead for good. During the drive there was a nice run by QB James Jordan, and after what appeared to be two penalties, gave OH the ball at the 19 with a 1st down.

Monroe started their next possession with an illegal procedure penalty, then threw 3 straight incompletions before punting. The Wildcats started their drive with 2 minutes left in the 3rd and the ball on their own 43. After a run by Hunt and Lewis, two runs and a nice 15-yard reception by Farnum, the ball was on the 5. Jordan gave the ball to Lewis who slipped in the end zone to build a 28-14 OH lead.

Monroe muffed the kickoff and started from their own 18, ran one play, and started the 4th quarter with a 1st & 10 from theri own 31. After coming out of the quarter break, and before running a play, the Monroe coach called a timeout. Monroe then proceeded to move the ball across midfield. On one play the Wildcats were able to flush the Monroe quarterback, and he was tackled for a 2-yard loss by Javon Payne. The Wildcats held after that play and Monroe turned the ball over on downs after an incomplete pass with a 4th & 5 on the Wildcat 39. The 'Cats then only moved the ball 6 yards before punting themselves. Monroe moved the ball from their own 22 to the Oak Harbor end zone with 8 plays and in just under 2 minutes. OH was able to get a hand on the Monroe PAT kick, leaving the Wildcats with a 28-20 lead and 3:56 left in the game.

Monroe attempted the onside kick, but OH was able to recover at the 'Cat 43. After a couple of runs by Farnum and a Jordan run, OH faced a 3-1 (I thought) on the Monroe 47. The refs looked at the ball, which I thought was just under a yard short, and without measuring, awarded OH a first down. OH was able then to run the ball 3 times, gaining one more first down, allowing Jordan to take a knee with 0:47 left.

Video highlights will be coming either Monday or Tuesday.

Some impressions from the game (I was on the Monroe side taping the game). It was REALLY noisy in the home stands. Even after an 0-10 season, the fans, especially the students, were out in force and were loud and proud. Second, Jordan showed a lot more poise and patience behind the line. Finally, Monroe football is back. They played hard and looked good. Their QB had a nice arm and completed (as far as our defense is concerned) way too many passes.

Next up for football is the JV squad vs Monroe at Wildcat Memorial Stadium on Monday, then Freshmen at Monroe on Thursday, finally Varsity vs Everett at Everett Stadium next Friday.

See you there!

Boys Tennis now 3-0 on season

In what was a near repeat of Wednesday's match against Lake Stevens, the Wildcats hosted Arlington and won 4-3. All 4 singles players won thier matches while the doubles teams lost.

One significant difference is that the match between #2 Ryan Evans and Ari Fernando went to 3 sets. Evans won the first 6-4, lost the 2nd 3-6, but pulled out a 6-4 win in the third.

#1 Derek Thomas won 6-4, 6-2, Jordan Kingma 6-1, 6-1, and Josh Evans 6-1, 6-0.

In doubles action, #1 Paul Jewell/Max O'Dell lost 6-1, 6-2, Baleros and Marshall 6-3, 6-2, and Rice/Holbrook 6-0, 6-1.

Sorry, no photos as I was in Monroe for the football game.

Volleyball from Sep. 11th

The Wildcats hosted Burlington-Edison in a non-league match this past Thursday with mixed results.

In the field house, the freshman team won all three games, and from what I saw, serving was again a large part of their success.

The JV team also won their match, posting 25-10, 25-14, and 25-14 game scores. The JV girls opened game one by building a 3-0 lead before a service error and hitting error made it 3-2 for the 'Cats. The girls dug in, and behind 2 aces each by Kelly Pantoleon and Lauren Lewis, built the lead to 17-4. The girls got a little flat after that, letting B-E creep up a little, mostly again through hitting and service errors. With the score 20-10 OH, two kills by Lewis and two more aces by Pantoleon finished off game 1.

Game 2 started with a Heather Felps kill, but the early parts of this game were back and forth, and B-E stayed close, with the score 10-8 OH at one point. From there, the Wildcats tallied 5 straight points, including 3 aces. OH then let B-E back in the game with a service error and some mishandled B-E serves until the score was 15-12. The next 3 points all belonged to Jordan Faralan, the setter, who got a nice tap for a kill then two straight aces, then Felps had a nice block at the net to make the score 19-12 OH. The match ended with 4 straight OH points, 2 kills by Lewis, one by Janesa Ramos, and a tap across the net by Felps.

In game 3, B-E played hard in the beginning, holding a 6-4 lead at one point, and still holding close at mid-game, down 10-8. From there, B-E served OOB for a Wildcat point, Felps earned a point, and Kristine Bouchard added a nice kill to build a 13-8 Wildcat lead. With the score 17-12, OH went on another multi-point run, building the lead to 21-12 before another service error gave a point and sideout to the Tigers, but it wasn't enough as a final Lewis kill ended the match in favor of Oak Harbor.

Varsity was a hard-fought battle and exposed some weaknesses in the Wildcats. Starting game one, B-E, showing poise and teamwork, built a 6-0 lead before letting OH on the board with a hitting error. A flurry of kills, hitting errors let B-E maintain their lead, but following a service error by the Tigers, Jen Jansen had 2 nice back-to-back kills to close the score to 12-10 Burlington. Then a Jessica Muzzall kill and hitting errors by Burlington allowed the Wildcats to tie the game at 14. Kim Mowbray brought the 'Cats their first lead with a solo block in the center of the net, but B-E tied things back up with a dump set. The game continued in this back and forth manner until the score was tied at 25. Remember in high school volleyball, the first team to 25 wins, provided they are ahead by 2 points. The last two points were a Jansen kill and a really nice Devin Tanner ace, leaving OH with the 27-25 win.

Game 2 started out well, with a hard serve by setter Melany Cone falling untouched, but it was going to be Oak Harbor's only lead of the game. In what seemed like a continual stream of hitting and service errors by Oak Harbor let B-E build a lead of 7 at 19-12. The Wildcats were never really able to recover and went on to drop the game 25-20.

Unfortunately, it was downhill from there. In game 3, although Oak Harbor had a 1 or 2 point lead for most of the first half of the game, B-E tied it at 18, and allowed only 1 more OH point during the game, winning 25-19. At the end of game 3, the Burlington team looked strong, but hard as it is to say, our girls looked like a team that had already lost. They switched side of the net in a dispirited manner hanging their heads down.

Coach Molitor worked some of her magic, and in game 4, the girls built an early 3-0 lead, but again service and hitting errors, along with strong B-E play proved costly. B-E found a hole in the middle of the OH court, and on several occasions, instead of hitting the ball hard, 'dinked' it just over the defender's heads where it fell in an open spot for points.

Even with the loss, there were several high points. Jen Jansen scored 13 kills and 3 aces, Emily Meagher added two aces of her own, and Muzzall was a force at the net both offensively and defensively.

The volleyball team is in Yakima this weekend for a tournament at the Sun Dome.

Photos of Thursday's match can be found at http://www.shutterfly.com/pro/OakHarborSports/highschool/VB911BE

Video clips will be posted in the next day or two HERE

Girls Soccer

The OHHS Girls Soccer team was at Lake Stevens on Thursday, and played a close one with the Vikings. The two teams played to a 0-0 tie on the field, but a penalty kick by Lake Stevens gave them the only goal they needed to win.

I don't have any information on the JV game, so if anyone knows what happened, send an email to the Sports Report so it can get posted.

Freshman football video clips

Are now posted.

You can view them by going to http://www.youtube.com/user/OakHarborSportsRepor

Yes, there is no "T" at the end thanks to YouTube's restrictions on name lengths.

Freshman football edges Cascade 26-20

In what few would describe as a defensive battle, the Wildcats held on for the victory at Wildcat Memorial Stadium.


The game was back and forth, with steady defense, but not drive-stopping defense. In fact, there were only two punts in the entire game, one by each team.


The game started off with Cascade getting the kickoff and running almost 6 minutes off the clock before scoring a TD but missing the PAT kick.


On the ensuing kickoff, the Wildcats mishandled the ball, but luckily it rolled out of bounds, giving OH a 1st and 10 on their own 26. Peter Franssen ran the ball for 3 yards, but a holding penalty backed the 'Cats up to their own 18. The next play was stopped for a 2-yard loss for a 2nd adn 21, but Josiah Miller took the ball, started to the left, found his was blocked by Cascade defenders, then reversed direction and ran around the right end, getting tackled out at the 44. Miller got the ball again for another gain, then it was Justin Everett's turn, running the next two plays across midfield to the Cascade 45. Later in the drive, Edward Denmon took the ball from the 42, ran around the right side and all the way to the 26. The next two plays moved the ball down to the 24, and the 1st quarter ended with Cascade in the lead, 6-0.


Starting the 2nd, the OH drive stalled, and the 'Cats turned the ball over on downs on the 26. Cascade wasted no time giving the ball right back to the Wildcats, fumbling on their own 24. QB Matt Burgoyne gave the ball to Franssen on the first play after the fumble recovery and he ran it to the right for the Wildcat touchdown with 8:59 left in the half. OH attempted a 2-pt conversion, but Burgoyne was tackled at the 6.


Cascade took the kickoff and marched downfield, scoring their own TD with 5:30 left, but the run conversion failed. Cascade 12, OH 6.


Oak Harbor started after the kickoff with the ball on their own 25, and after a Cascade offside penalty, Burgoyne found a so far unidentified player for a 16-yard gain to the46. Shortly after, Nick Farrell ran through the right side of the line for a gain all the way to the Cascade 25. 3 plays later Gabe Dye scored with 3:25 left. As there was an Unsportsmanlike Conduct penalty on OH after the TD, the PAT attempt was from the 18 yard line, and the pass failed, leaving the score 12-12.

The Wildcats fumbled the kickoff, giving Cascade the ball on their own 28 with 3:21 left in the half, but the 'Cats held, forcing the Bruins to an incomplete pass on a 4th & 6 play. OH now had the ball on their own 34 with 32 seconds remaining. A nice pass took the ball out to the 47, and another pass, this one to Miller, resulted in a 1st down on the Cascade 20 with 8 second left. Franssen ran it down to the 5 with 2 seconds left, but the next play was an incomplete pass from Burgoyne to Everett, ending the half with the score tied at 12.

To open the 2nd half, Miller took the kickoff to the 37, then with some good running up the middle, went 63 yards for a touchdown. The 2-point conversion was good, and with 9:34 left in the 3rd, the score was OH 20, Cascade 12.

On the kickoff, Everett kicked the ball right over the head of the Cascade receiver, and the ball was downed on the Bruin 10. Cascade moved the ball all the way to the OH 10 before fumbling on a pitch which Everett recovered.

After 6 plays, the Wildcats were forced to punt from their own 22, but the punt only went to the Wildcat 44. At the end of 3 quarters, it was a Cascade ball on the Wildcat 17, but a 20-12 OH lead.

Cascade's drive also stalled, and their punt went out of bounds at the 'Cat 30. Runs by Miller, Everett and Denmon moved the ball down to the Cascade 12 yard line. On what appeared to be a TD pass, the 'Cats were called for a false start, but moved the ball down to the 1, where an apparent TD by Everett was called back due to an OH holding penalty. Facing a 2nd & goal from the 13, Miller took the ball on a sweep around the left side, and showing some really patient running, waited for an opening and scooted down to the 3, from where Franssen ran in for the TD with 3:23 left in the game. The 2-pt run failed, and it was now OH 28, Cascade 12.

Cascade quickly moved downfield, scoring with 1:41 left in the game and converting the 2-point attempt. Cascade tried an onside kick, but Miller was able to cover the ball, and after some running around in the backfield by Burgoyne before taking a knee, the game ended with a 26-20 Wildcat win.

Speaking with Coach Esvelt after the game, he was pleased with the offensive line, which did not allow any sacks, and although there were some incomplete passes, he thought Burgoyne did a good job passing the ball. He also mentioned Peter Franssen, who was playing in his first-ever football game.

Finally, most people don't know that there is a girl on this year's freshman team. #95, Jennifer Fremd, who wrestled at North Whidbey Middle School saw some quality playing time on defense. She's been impressing a lot of people at practice with her work ethic, and she is making the team stronger with her presence.

Next for the Freshmen is a trip to Monroe next Thursday.

In the next day or two, some video highlight clips will be posted, so keep and eye out for them.

Boys Tennis 2-0 on season

In their home opener against Lake Stevens, the Oak Harbor tennis team won all 4 singles matches to pull out a 4-3 team victory.

All the singles matches were won in straight sets, and with one exception, all the single scores were very lopsided in Oak Harbor favor. Ryan Evans' second set went to 7-5, and all the other singles players wins were either 6-1 or 6-2.


Doubles action, however, was different. Lake Stevens pushed hard on the OH doubles teams, winning all 3 matches in straight sets.


Even though there's not enough players for a separate JV team, many of the youg OH players got matches, including sophomores Geoff Worley and Kevin Gagen, and Freshmen Tyler Dodge, Zack Akker and Benjamin Harrison.

Next up is Arlington at home on Friday.

51 photos have been posted to http://www.shutterfly.com/pro/OakHarborSports/highschool/BTennis910LS

Volleyball sweeps season opener at Cascade

But first, in Freshman action, the Wildcat volleyball team played 3 close games, winning one and losing 2. Coach Bjork noticed that all the girls were getting more comfortable on the court, and impressed her with their teamwork. She made note of the exceptional serving by Abi Cone and Leah Pantoleon. On defense, Kristen Winston had 3 or 4 solid blocks, earning Wildcat points.
Coach Bjork also wanted to compliment her 3 players that played their first volleyball game that night - they didn't play any middle school volleyball, but got in there and made their presence known on the court.

In JV action, the Wildcat girls lost the first game after having the lead, but pulled together and won the next 2 for a 2-1 victory. Coach Reed was impressed by how the girls handled the first game loss and came back to win. Overall it was a great team effort and she is looking forward to more.

The varsity team swept Cascade 3-0 in the best-of 5 series. Although the match was against a league opponent, this match was non-conference. There was some nice play by front line players Jen Jansen and Jessica Muzzall, but coach Molitor was most impressed by the back-row play. The passing skills the girls showed during the match exceeded expectations, but on the other hand, the team needs to work on reducing their unforced errors.

Everyone on the varsity time got playing time, including the two sophomores, 6'1" Middle Blocker Amanda Blau and 5'5" Defensive Specialist Kelsey Cooley.

Next up for Wildcat volleyball is a non-league home match against Burlington-Edison on Thursday, Sep 10th.

Girls Soccer gives great effort against Monroe on Tuesday

First off, I'll be the first to admit that I know next to nothing about soccer. Having said that, here are some impressions from the season opener on Tuesday.



On JV, the ball seemed to spend a lot of time near the center of the field. Monroe did get the ball near our goal on several occasions, but the goalkeeper did an excellent job keeping the ball out of the net. Monroe did score once, but on the score, our goalkeeper had fallen down and was unable to completely guard the net. Coach Thompson continues to say what a great group of girls he has and is looking forward to steady improvement through the season.



In a preseason coaches poll, Oak Harbor was picked to finish last in the WESCO north and Monroe 4th. You couldn't tell that from watching the girls on the field. They played hard and never gave up. Monroe got a lot of shots off on our goal, but the goaltender seemed to have the knack to pick where the ball was going to go. Monroe did score 2 goals, the first on a scramble right at the next and they were able to knock it in during the confusion, the other was a 1-on-1 between our goaltender and the Monroe player.



On offense, Carson McKole was able to break free and score her own unassisted goal late in the game.



62 photos have been posted at http://www.shutterfly.com/pro/OakHarborSports/highschool/GSoccer99monroe

Boys Tennis wins big in Monroe

Behind strong singles and doubles play, the OH Wildcat tennis team blanked the Monroe Bearcats 7-0 in their opening league meet.

Coach Mells said everyone played well, but at the same time there is room for improvment, but overall he was very pleased with the team's performance on Monday.

Leading off was Junior Derek Thomas with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Trevor Armsberry. Other singles scores were Ryan Evans over Hastings 5-7, 6-3, 6-1, Jordan Kingma over Mehus 6-1, 6-2, and Josh Evans over Hooper 6-1, 6-0.

Doubles play was just as dominant, with #1 doubles team Paul Jewell and Max O'Dell winning 6-1, 6-3. Rick Baleros and David Marshall won their match 6-2, 6-2, and finally, in a close match, Chris Holbrook and Matthew Rice scored a 6-4, 5-7, 7-5 victory over Swanson and McGoff of the Bearcats.

Next up for the 'Cats is Lake Stevens at home on Wednesday and Arlington at home on Friday.

JV Football wins opener 12-6

In what was the first-ever JV game and first-ever game for Cascade on the new turf at Everett Memorial Stadium, the Wildcat JV came across with a nice win.

According to Coach Nurvic, it was an outstanding game, especially on the ground, as long as the ball was between the 20 yard lines. Our boys had some trouble getting the ball from the 20 into the end zone, but did it enough to win.

Pat Higbee scored the first TD for the 'Cats, going in from the 4 yard line on a dive behind some really good blocking. In the 2nd half, Oak Harbor only threw 2 passes, but one was a fake screen to Andy Haag for a 65-yard touchdown.

Ryan Burne was the starting QB and played for the first 3 quarters, then Gabe Dye came in to get some valuable game experience.

On defense, Coach Nurvic was impressed, especially with the linemen. Dillon Peterson was instrumental in shutting down the Cascade sweep while Alec Castillo got in some licks from his linebacker position.

The Wildcats got two turnovers from the Bruins - 1 INT and 1 fumble, but gave up 2 fumbles and an interception.

Overall, Coach was pleased with the performance of his players and is looking forward to even more success from the JV squad.

Football video clips posted to YouTube

12 clips of Friday's game against Cascade have been posted to http://www.youtube.com/user/OakHarborSportsRepor

YouTube doesn't allow enough characters, so the "T" is missing from the end of Report. It's not a mistake.

The videos posted are of Stephen Lewis' runs and TD catch, a Derrick Clarit run, Encinas, Rouser, & Goebel tackles for loss, a clip of Josh Higbee losing his helmet, Rashaad Smith with a fumble recovery and Sam Wolfe with an INT.

Enjoy.

Boys Tennis

The Oak Harbor Boys Tennis team starts off their 10th season under head coach Horace Mells, Jr on Sep 10th at home against Lake Stevens.

The team is very short in numbers this year, so short, in fact, that there may not be any JV matches all season. The JV and varsity teams require 10 players each, but there are only 18 players available right now.

At the top of that list is junor Derek Thomas, the Wildcats #1 singles. While an outstanding player, there are some concerns with a recurring injury. Right behind Thomas is senior Ron Evans, moving up from #3 last year.

Coach Mells attended high school in Arkansas and graduated college from Hawaii Pacific University during his career in the US Army. He's been playing tennis for 32 years and coaching for 12. He is assisted by Garry Brown of the Safe Harbor Insurance Agency, who is also in his 10th year at Oak Harbor.

Last years' team finished in 5th place, which is the best finish OH has had in many years. Due to the low numbers, Coach Mells expects a similar finish this year in team standings, so will be concentrating his efforts in two main areas. First, we wants to introduce the game to the underclassmen. Of all the freshmen who turned out for the team, none have any competitive playing experience. Coach Mells also wants to make sure each individual on the team improves every facet of their game, while at the same time instilling strong sportsmanship and citizenship attitudes in the players.

39 photos from Friday's practice have been posted at http://www.shutterfly.com/pro/OakHarborSports/highschool/BTennis95practice

Volleyball schedule changes

There have been some changes to the non-leage portion of the OHHS volleyball schedule.

9/9 @ Cascade
9/11 v Burlington
9/16 @ Shorewood
9/18 v Kamiak
9/25 v Jackson
10/2 @ Meadowdale

Stephen Lewis shines in 2nd half of game that goes to the final play

Unofficially, Lewis rushed for 76 yards and caught another 62 yards in passes, most in the 2nd half, in Oak Harbor's first loss in Wildcat Memorial Stadium. It's only the Wildcat's 3rd loss in 3 years and 1st loss at home in that same period.

The game started out slowly, with OH forcing Cascade to punt on their first possession. Quarterback James Jordan overthrew his first two attempts before finding Derrick Clarit on a short pass.

Cascade was first to find the scoreboard on an absolutely incredible catch with 1:24 left in the first quarter, then went for 2, making the score 8-0 for the Bruins.

On the ensuing kickoff, a short, high kick bounced around and the Wildcats were unable to grab it before a Cascade player fell on it, giving the Bruins a first down at the Wildcat 30. A few plays later Cascade fumbled the ball at the Oak Harbor 9, and with 2.4 seconds left in the 1st, Donovan Hunt ran the ball out to the OH 46 yard line, then got another 15 tacked on for a facemask penalty. At the end of the first quarter, it was Cascade 8, Oak Harbor 0.

To start the 2nd quarter, OH moved the ball down inside the 20, but the drive stalled, and Kevin Flavin's field goal attempt was partially blocked. Cascade got the ball on their own 20, and the first two plays were stuffed at the line of scrimmage by combinations of Greg Goebel and Bennett Richter. Cascade ran the ball out to their own 37 before fumbling the ball. Rashaad Smith came up with the ball, but again, an Oak Harbor drive stalled, with a 4th down pass incomplete at the Cascade 5. Cascade got the ball on their own 18, and again, two plays in a row were tackles for losses. The first, by Lewis, resulted in a 4-yard loss, and the second was a team effort. Cascade's punt from their own 15 went out of bounds at midfield, but the first Oak Harbor snap was mishandled and resulted in a Cascade ball on the Wildcat 40 with 1:53 left in the half. The first Cascade play was stuffed by Lewis at the line. The second Bruin play was a sweep that was stopped by the Wildcats on the 32, short of the first down. Cascade, facing a 3rd and 2 and 28 seconds left, called a time out. It didn't help, as on the very next play, Nick Rouser got through the Bruin line for a QB sack back at the 39. Cascade called another timeout with 10 seconds remaining, but the pass was intercepted by Samual Wolfe and returned to midfield where time ran out. At the half, it was still Oak Harbor 0, Cascade 8.

The 'Cats got the kickoff to open the 3rd quarter. The opening drive seemed like it was all Stephen Lewis. He had 9 carries and racked up most of his rushing yardage on that drive. Several plays seemed to be stopped, but Lewis forced his way between defenders, and his 2nd and even 3rd efforts allowed him to reach the first down mark rather than settling for a short gain. Lewis got the ball down to the Cascade 5-yard line for a first and goal, but again the drive stalled, but this time Flavin's 22-yard kick was good with 2:13 in the 3rd. OH-3, Cascade-8.

Cascade opened their next drive on their own 36, then Josh Higbee made a touchdown-saving tackle at the Oak Harbor 24 after the Bruin quarterback got around the right side of his line. That play ended the 3rd quarter with the score still 8-3 for Cascade.

Starting the 4th, Cascade converted a 4th and 1 with a QB sneak down to the Oak Harbor 13. On the next play the Cascade QB ran around his right side again and this time found the end zone. After a made PAT, the score with 10:41 left in the game was Cascade 15, oak Harbor 3.

Wolfe grabbed the short Cascade kick and returned it to the Cascade 47. Clarit got the ball down to the 33 and Lewis down to the 30. After getting nothing on the next 3 plays, Cascade took over on their own 33 with 8:17 left. The Cascade QB broke free again, running all the way to the OH 35, but a holding call brought the ball back to the Bruin 45, but with a 1st down. Rouser made a nice head tackle for a 2-yard loss, but the Cascade QB again broke free, reaching the end zone from his own 47. Another flag on the Bruins brought it back to the 40 for a 3rd & 5 with 4:38 left. The Wildcats were able to stop the Bruins from getting the first down, and got the ball on their own 31. Higbee caught a nice screen pass out to the 48, but the next two plays were incomplete passes. Facing a 4th & 10 from his own 48, Jordan found Lewis down at the Bruin 39 for another Oak Harbor first down. After 2 more overthrown balls and a short scramble by Jordan, the Wildcats again faced a 4th down play on the 37. On the 4th down play, Jordan again connected with Lewis, who broke through a tackle at the 20 and ran in for the Oak Harbor score. Flavin's kick was good, and with 2:18 left it was now Oak Harbor 10, Cascade 15.

The 'Cats attempted an onside kick, but the ball touched one of our players on the shoulder before it traveled 10 yards, so it was Cascade ball on the OH 47. It looked like it was over, as Cascade's QB continued to move the ball, until it reached the 37. At that point, the ball was fumbled. I didn't see who recovered, but it didn't matter, as it was Oak Harbor football on the 40 with 45 seconds left.

The first play was an incomplete pass, and Cascade called a timeout with 40 seconds left. 2nd & 10, Lewis catches the ball at the Cascade 48. Oak Harbor first down with 35 seconds left. The next play was a screen pass to Lewis, but the referee ruled that it was trapped and incomplete. 3rd & 10 - Jordan scrambles a bit in the backfield, gets a pass away to the end zone, but it's knocked away at the last second by Cascade. 16 second are now on the clock and it's 4th & 10. Jordan throws a nice pass, but the Cascade defender stepped in front of the OH receiver at the 5 yard line and ran the interception back to the 48, running the clock out. Final score Cascade 15, Oak Harbor 10.

Looking at unofficial stats, both teams were dead even in total yards, but one stat stuck out and that was Oak Harbor's completion rate of just 25%. The Wildcats actually passed for more total yards than Cascade, but was 6 for 24 while Cascade was 5 of 7.

Next up for the Wildcats is a trip to Monroe, where the Bearcats beat Shorewood on the road for their first win in over a year.

In other WESCO action:
Jackson 32, Stanwood 8
Mountlake Terrace 29, Lynnwood 6
Monroe 20, Shorewood 6
M-P 46, Shorecrest 14
Arlington 37, Glacier Peak 7
Lake Stevens 36, mariner 34
Snohomish 24, Kamiak 7
Meadowdale 28, #3 Edmonds-Woodway 27
Blanchet @ Everett - No report

Other games of interest.
Archbishop Murphy 26, Lynden 15
Port Townsend 37, Coupeville 14

OHHS Girls Swimming

The OHHS Girls swim team is small in numbers but big in heart, and is expecting to have a great season.

The girls are coached by Erika Miller, who has been coaching in Oak Harbor for 7 years. Originally a soccer player, she started swimming after an injury and stuck with it. She currently swims with a Masters program in Anacortes, where she specializes in the backstroke, butterfly, and Individual Medley. She attended high school in Oregon and college in England, and works for OHSD at Home Connection.

When asked about last year's highlights, the first words of of Coach Miller's mouth were "we had fun!". She wants to see more of the same this year as well.

She's counting on great performances by returning seniors Keri-Anne Wright and Carolyn Vasquez, and wants to see them lead the team to the state meet.

To make sure that happens, the team needs to see some great swimming from incoming freshmen Ciara Hu (her brother, John Hu, was state champ in the 200 IM) and Karina Concepcion and from sophomores Tori Nickerson and Amanda Streubel .

Coach Miller thinks the girls have a good chance to send swimmers to the state meet, but her main goal is to make sure all the swimmers achieve their personal goals and continue to improve, while having fun.

I took some photos during the dry portion of the practice on Wednesday, and are posted at http://www.shutterfly.com/pro/OakHarborSports/highschool/GSwim93practice

More Youth Soccer

Oak Harbor also has an under-10 girls soccer team. As of now, the team is unnamed, as they're waiting for new uniforms to arrive and are going to make a name based off the color scheme of the uniforms.

I watched practice for a bit on the afternoon of September 2nd. Coach Ric Dutton was showing the girls some ladder and hurdle work, putting emphasis on being quick and nimble.

This group of girls is coached by Troy Cowan, who has been coaching soccer for 13 years, 7 of them in Oak Harbor. He retired from the Navy and works as a contractor on base. This is Coach Cowan's first year with this group of girls.

Last year the girls had a good season, and coach expects the same again this years. With this age group, his priorities are to make sure the girls have fun and grow as a team, so they will continue to play soccer up to and through the high school level. Personally, Coach Cowan wants to increase his knowledge level of soccer in order to share it with his team, while having fun at the same time. Coach Cowan played 2 years of soccer in High School and played on various Navy teams throughout his career.

47 photos from the U-10 ladder and hurdle work can be found at http://www.shutterfly.com/pro/OakHarborSports/YouthSports/GSoccer92U10

Girls Youth Soccer

Islander Blast is Oak Harbor's under-14 girls soccer team. They travel anywhere from Blaine to Seattle in search of quality tournaments and are just starting their league season. The Blast is coached by Ric Dutton, assisted by Danielle Moore. Rick has been coaching soccer for 11 years, 5 of them in Oak Harbor while Danielle has been coaching for 5 years, and played at the collegiate level at Norwich University. The team is sponsored by Jet City Equipment in Oak Harbor.

Islander Blast lost 5 starters off last years' team that finished in 4th place with a .500 record so is in a bit of a rebuilding mode. However, Coach Dutton has several quality returners on the team, among them Amanda d'Almeida, MacKenzie Schneider, Megan Peterson and Chelsea Atkinson. The coach also expects big things out of Alex Laiblin - a 12-year-old who showed enough potential to move from the U-12 team to the U-14 team.

Even with the loss of the starters, Coach Dutton expects the girls to have a successful season, finishing in at least the top 4. His primary goals are to push the girls' confidence level through team building and working on individual skills.

The first game is this Saturday, September 5th in Snohomish. The team has a complete website, http://www.hometeammanager.com/teams/NWSCIslanderBlast/frontPage.aspx

There are 53 photos of the practice posted at http://www.shutterfly.com/pro/OakHarborSports/YouthSports/GSoccer92U14

OHHS Football

I was up at practice Friday morning to shoot a few photos, and posted the decent ones at http://www.shutterfly.com/pro/OakHarborSports/highschool/FB829practice

Don't forget the first game is at home against former league rival and always tought Cascade Bruins.

Come on out and lee how many times we are able to shout out "And it's another....Oak Harbor First Down!"

More Cross Country

A bunch of photos from the Cross Country time trials at Wildcat Memorial Stadium are now posted.

http://www.shutterfly.com/pro/OakHarborSports/highschool/XC829timetrials

Cross Country

The cross country team is the only coed team in the fall season. The teams are co-coached by Andy Wesley and Eric Peterson.

Coach Peterson is the business and marketing teacher at OHHS. He attended Mt. Vernon high school Skagit Valley College, and got his Bachelor's Degree from Central. He's been teaching at OHHS for 6 years and has been Cross Country Coach for 5 years.

Coach Wesley is an OHHS graduate, where he ran XC for 3 years. He has a degree from Florida Atlantic University, and has been teaching math and coaching at OHHS since 2000.

Last year's team was strong, sending 3 boys and 1 girl to state, but there were a lot of losses, especially on the boys side.

Key returners for the girls are team Captain Michelle Sandstrom, Alison Duvenez, Jessican Denmon, Kathryn Fisken and Adrianna Royal. Sophomore Abby Leete is a key part of the team, but may not see much competition due to a recurring injury. For the boys, the coaches expect a lot from Tyler King, Michael Reith, and Cody Klauer. A welcome addition to the boys team is freshman Matt Reith.

Although expectations are high, overuse injuries are common and can affect the makeup of the team as the season progresses. Both coaches say they are pleased with the chemistry the team has this year, and credits much of it to a team retreat to the mountains back in late July. When asked for a quote, Coach Peterson said his safest comment would be "No Comment".

Videos of OHXC runners can be found at flotrack
http://www.flotrack.org/teams/5177-oak-harbor-xc
and race results are posted at http://www.athletic.net/CrossCountry/School.aspx?SchoolID=485

OHHS Volleyball

I was at volleyball practice today to get some photos and talk to the coaches.

The Wildcats are coached by Kerri Molitor, in her 8th year of coaching volleyball at OHHS. Previously she served as assistant and head coach at Skagit Valley College for 10 years. Coach Molitor graduated from OHHS where she played middle, and attended both UPS and Western, where she played a variety of positions, including some defensive work in the back row as well as front row.

Among the key returners are senior 6'2" middle blocker Jennifer Jansen and 6" middle blocker Jessica Muzzall. Setting for them will be Junior Melany Cone, in her second year as starting setter. Seniors Alexis Marquis and Kim Mowbray are also expected to be a force on the court.

The JV coach this year is Amanda Reed, formerly Amanda Flowers. She's originally from Moses Lake where she played volleyball for 4 years. After high school she attended Skagit Valley College (playing for coach Molitor), and completed her Bachelor's at Eastern. She has 4 years coaching experience at both the high school and club level in Burlington. Last year at OHHS she was a volunteer assistant. This is her first year as the JV coach.

Since the team is still in tryout phase, the team is not set, but Coach Reed is pleased with what she's seen so far. She's especially happy with the large number of girls that are returning from last year's Freshman team. Her main goals for the JV squad are to continue both player and team development, and to increase the team's comfort level on the court.

Returning at the Freshman coach is Kerri Bjork. She played high school volleyball in California as a defensive specialist and setter, and attended college at Baylor University in Texas. She has a total of 5 years coaching experience. Again, the freshman team is not set, but she is already seeing some team building between the girls and she is impressed by the quality of the serving she's seen so far from her freshmen.

35 photos are posted at the below link. Photos that have names on them only have them because I knew the girls name.

http://www.shutterfly.com/pro/OakHarborSports/highschool/Volleyball827

Girls Soccer

I spent some time with the OHHS girls soccer team and coaches today, and have this to report:

The soccer team is coached by Steve Barker, an English teacher at OHHS for 27 years. Originally from the Tacoma area, Coach Barker graduated from Bellarmine Prep and later the University of Washington. At that time, there was no interscholastic soccer competition, so Coach played when and where he could, totalling over 30 years of soccer experience.

As well as teaching at OHHS for all those years, he's also been involved with the OHHS soccer program. At various times he's been either the boys or girls head coach, head coach for both (as he is now), or an assistant. Coach Barker is truly in love with the game, and speaks of it with a passion. He likes to point out that soccer is a very fluid game, and is a sport not for really large or really fast people, but a game for athletic people.

Coach Barker is assisted by JV coach Brian Thompson, an OHHS PE teacher. Originally from Minnesota, where he attended both high school and college, Coach Thompson has been teaching for 20 years and has 17 years coaching experience, all in Oak Harbor.

Last year was a tough one for the team, with little showing on the scoreboard for their efforts. However, Coach Barker said there was more to playing soccer than just a win-loss record, and while winning is important to him, one of his highest goals as a coach is to have the players learn and enjoy the game while at the same time learning more about themselves.

Although losing 6 key seniors, Coach Barker is looking forward to outstanding play from key returners Carson McKole, Hope Thompson, Roni Tomlin, Kirsten Roof, Kathy Silveira and Claire Trepanier.

Barker expects this years team to be competitive, and is planning for the team to participate in post-season play. Win or lose, Barker was to make sure that the other teams work hard when they play us, and hopes that our opponents go home unhappy they tangled with the Wildcats.

The JV team is not yet formed. It's only the 3rd day of tryouts and Coach Thompson hasn't really been able to see all the girls together. While he says that all the younger players he's been working with so far are a great bunch of girls, he is concerned about being able to field a complete team. A full soccer team has 11 players, but of 3 days practice, Coach Thompson has yet had 11 players at any one practice.

I took a few photos, but some of the upperclassmen and freshman were not at practice due to Freshman orientation and Link Crew participation. Some of the photos have names, some only numbers. The only reason some have names is those are the girls I know. I'll be posting photos again as the season progresses.

http://www.shutterfly.com/pro/OakHarborSports/highschool/GSoccer827tryouts

Lynx win opener

The OHYFL Lynx team faced off against Sedro-Woolley at Cascade Middle School at 1pm last Saturday the 23rd.

The Lynx started things off by kicking off to Sedro, but a fumble by the receiver allowed the Lynx to recover and start off the game on offense. The Lynx were able to move the ball at times, but throughout the game were plagued by center to quarterback fumbles. The Lynx were able to retain most of the fumbles, but seemed to lose possesion just when things seemed to be looking up. As a result, they were not able to score during regulation.

Although the offense was misfiring a bit, the defense stepped up and kept the Sedro team from moving the ball much at all. There were many key tackles for a loss and good penetration by the line to break up plays.

At the end of regulation, it was all tied up, 0-0, so into overtime it went. Youth football overtimes are somewhat like high school, in that each team gets a chance to score, but unlike high school, the ball is placed on the 10, and each team gets just one series of downs. If the first team doesn't score, the second team gets to try.

The Lynx won the toss and elected to get the ball second. Sedro worked hard, but a key illegal procedure penalty moved them back 5 yards, leaving a 4th and 8 or so. The next play went for 6 yards, leaving Woolley just short of the goal.

The Lynx now had the ball at the 10, and on the first play the ball was run around the right end and into the end zone, runner untouched, giving the Lynx a 6-0 win.

Photos are posted of both the players and the cheerleaders.
http://www.shutterfly.com/pro/OakHarborSports/YouthSports/OHYFLLynx823

I don't have results of any other OHYFL games, so if someone out there has them, please send them to oakharborsportsreport@comcast.net

A LOT of youth football

The Oak Harbor Youth Football League (OHYFL) went to a Jamboree at Burlington-Edison high school this past Saturday, August 16th.

The jamboree consisted of 20-minute 'games', with each team spending 10 minutes on offense then switching to defense for another 10 minutes. No score was kept

The Junior and Senior teams played in the morning, finishing up at 12:30. I was not there early, so only got photos of the last scrimmage of the senior team.

The afternoon session was for the Peewee and Midget teams. They followed the same format, at each team got at least 3 scrimmages. From the scrimmages I saw, our teams did well, and only once or twice were dominated by their opponents. Usually the OH teams were dominant or at least equal of their opponent.

Also on a football subject, I saw Jack O'Neil, and had a nice chat with him. For those of you who don't know, Jack broke his foot rather badly, and is in a flourescent pink cast. While he will get his cast off in time for wrestling season, he is going to wait until spring to get back into sports, and get himself healthy for soccer.

I was able to get photos of all 4 teams, Lynx, Bobcats, Panthers, and Cougars, and have them posted.

Lynx photos

Bobcat photos

Panther photos

Cougar photos

Senior photos

National Night Out

This wasn't really sports, but there were some Oak Harbor athletes involved. As part of the Night Out, the Oak Harbor Fire Dept staged a mock auto accident to show the techniques they use to extract victims.

Standing in as victims were OHHS athletes Haylee Little, Devin Tanner, Greg Ennis and Justin Everett. Everett was not only a victim, he was the instigator, and was led away by OHPD in handcuffs to the applause of those watching.

Several dozen photos have been posted of the actors and OHFD & NAS firefighters and Whidbey General paramedics.

http://www.shutterfly.com/pro/OakHarborSports/highschool/NationalNightOut

Boys Tennis schedule

All home matches start at 4pm. Varsity plays at listed site, while JV travels to the other school, same date and time

9/8 at Monroe - 3:45pm
9/10 Lake Stevens
9/12 Arlington
9/15 at Stanwood - 3:45pm
9/17 Everett
9/19 Marysville - 4pm
9/24 at Cascade - 3:45pm
9/26 Snohomish
9/29 Monroe
10/1 at Lake Stevens
10/3 at Arlington - 3:45pm
10/6 Stanwood
10/8 at Everett - 3:45pm
10/10 Marysville
10/15 Cascade
10/17 at Snohomish - time TBD
10/22-25 Division tournament @ Stanwood
10/29-11/1 District tournament @ Stanwood HS
5/29-30 State Tournament at Kamiakin HS

Yes, the state tournament for Boys Tennis is in May.

2008 Cross Country schedule

All weekday meets start at 3:45. Meets are not necessarily at the hosting high school. Check with a coach or athlete for specific meet location.

9/18 Everett & Stanwood @ OHHS (Wirth Farm)
9/18-20 Oregon Invite - Seaside Oregon
9/25 Edmonds-Woodway, Jackson @ Kamiak
10/2 Monroe, Lynnwood @ Marysville
10/4 Mt. Baker Invite - Silver Lake Park - 10am
10/9 Cascade, Arlington @ Meadowdale
10/25 WESCO North championships @ Lakewood HS
11/1 District meet @ S. Whidbey HS
11/8 State meet @ Pasco

2008 Girls Swim Schedule

All home meet (Vanderzicht Pool) start times are 3:00pm.

9/9 Jamboree @ Marysville - 3:30pm
9/11 at Burlington-Edison - time TBA
9/18 Kamiak
9/23 vs Meadowdale @ Lynnwood Pool - 2:45pm
9/25 Lake Stevens
9/30 Stanwood
10/2 at Marysville - 3:30pm
10/7 Snohomish & Glacier Peak
10/9 vs Jackson @ Mill Creek or Forest Park Pool 2:30pm
10/17 vs Everett @ Forest Park Pool 2:30pm
10/18 District 1 Dive meet @ Anacortes - time TBA
10/21 Bellingham
10/23 vs Cascade @ Forest Park Pool 2:30pm
10/25 District 1 Dive meet @ Marysville - 10am
10/30 WESCO North JV Championships @ Marysville - 3:30pm
11/6-8 District meet @ Kamiak
11/14-15 State meet @ King County Aquatics Center in Federal Way

2008 Girls Soccer schedule

All home games start at 5:30 for JV and 7:30 for varsity, except for a single Saturday match that starts at 11am/1pm.

9/9 Monroe
9/11 at Lake Stevens
9/16 at Arlington - 5pm/7pm
9/18 Stanwood
9/23 vs Everett @ Lincoln Field
9/30 Cascade
10/2 at Snohomish
10/7 at Monroe
10/9 Lake Stevens
10/11 Arlington - 11am/1pm
10/14 at Stanwood - 4:30pm/6:30pm
10/16 Everett
10/21 at Marysville - 5pm/7pm
10/28 vs Cascade - JV @ Cascade HS, Varsity @ Everett Stad. - 4pm/5:30pm
10/30 Snohomish
11/1 Tiebreaker game if needed
11/3-6 District tournament games
11/8 District tournament games @ OHHS - 11am and 1pm
11/11-12 State tournament round 1
11/14-15 State Quarterfinals
11/21-22 State semifinals and finals at Lakewood Stadium

2008 Volleyball schedules

All weekday matches start at the following times:
Freshman - 5:15pm
JV - 5:15pm
Varsity 7pm

JV and Freshman play 3 games, no matter the results of the first two games. Varsity plays a best-of-5 series.

As of now, there is an OHHS volleyball jamboree listed for OHHS, but date and time have not been set.

9/9 at Cascade
9/11 Snohomish
9/13 SunDome Volleyball Festival in Yakima, WA
9/16 at Shorewood
9/18 Kamiak
9/23 Jackson
9/25 at Meadowdale
10/2 Monroe
10/7 at Lake Stevens
10/9 at Arlington
10/11 Mt. Vernon Tournament - 9am
10/13 Stanwood
10/15 at Everett
10/21 Marysville
10/25 WESCO North JV Tournament at Mountlake Terrace - 9am
10/27 Caascade
10/29 at Snohomish
10/30 tiebreaker match if needed
11/-8 District tournament at Marysville

2008 Football schedules

I've listed below the schedules for the 3 football teams - Varsity, JV and Freshman.

Varsity - All games at 7pm on Fridays

9/5 Home vs Cascade (non-league)
9/12 At Monroe
9/19 vs Everett at Everett Memorial Stadium
9/26 Home vs Mt. Vernon
10/3 - Home vs Snohomish
10/17 - Home vs Arlington (Homecoming)
10/24 - At Lake Stevens
10/31 - Home vs Marysville-Pilchuck
11/1 - Division tiebreaker, if needed
11/2 - North/South crossover for teams not in playoffs
11/8 - District playoffs
11/15 - State playoff 1st round
11-21/22 - State quarterfinals
11-28/29 - State semifinals
12-5/6 - State championships

JV Football - All home games at 5:30pm

9/8 vs Cascade at Everett Stadium - 5pm
9/15 home vs Monroe
9/22 home vs Everett
9/29 at Mt Vernon - 5pm
10/6 at Snohomish - 4pm
10/13 home vs Stanwood
10/20 at Arlington - 4pm
10/27 home vs Lake Stevens
11/3 at Marysville - 4pm

Freshman football - all home games at 5:30pm

9/10 home vs Cascade
9/18 at Monroe - 5pm
9/24 vs Everett at Everett Stadium - 5pm
10/1 home vs Archbishop Murphy
10/8 home vs Snohomish
10/15 at Stanwood - 4pm
10/22 home vs Arlington
10/29 vs Lake Stevens at Cavalero Mid-High - 3:30pm
11/5 home vs Marysville