Wednesday results

Wednesday was not a great day for Oak Harbor fall sports.

In tennis, the boys dropped another 4-3 decision, this one to Cascade.

All the singles matches were very close, one going to the 3rd set. #1 single Derek Thomas fought off his opponent 7-6(4), 6-4. That's about as close as it gets. #2 Ryan Evans was also close, but fell 6-4, 6-3. Senior Jordan Kingma went 3 sets, losing the first 5-7, but pulling out two 6-4 wins in set 2 and 3. Josh Evans also won with a 7-5, 6-3 final.

The 3 doubles teams lost to their Cascade opponents, with the #1 pair of Paul Jewell and Joel Valles the closest with scores of 5-7 and 3-6. The other two doubles matches were 6-3, 6-1 and 6-0, 6-4 losses. I don't have JV results.

Also in action was the volleyball team at Everett High School. This match started badly and just got worse. Everett swept the match with 25-17, 25-20 and 25-13 game scores. The Wildcats normally have both Jen Jansen and Jessica Muzzall in double digits for kills, but in this match, Jansen lead the team with kills, and had only 8 for the match. JV and Freshman results are not available.

Next up for volleyball is a home match against Marysville on Tuesday the 21st.

Finally - Freshman video clips posted

Sorry for the delay.

5 clips from the Oct 8th game vs Snohomish are now posted.

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

Volleyball and Girls Basketball video clips

Clips from Sunday's Fall League basketball game and Monday's Volleyball game have been posted to YouTube.

The Oak Harbor Wildcat volleyball team hosted Stanwood on a rare Monday night match last night.

In Freshman action, the girls won the first game 25-19, lost the 2nd 24-26, and the third 21-25. Even though they lost, the girls were head up, as they played well. Setter Abi Cone said "we should have won the 2nd game". Coach Bjork continues to be impressed with the weekly improvement of the players.

The JV squad won their match, losing the first game, winning the 2nd strongly, then pulling out a win in a close 3rd match.

Game one did not start well, with the 'Cats dropping behind, at one point down 9-4, but started to chip away at the Spartan lead, using a double block set up by Amanda Blau and Sydney Carlson along with a Heather Felps service ace to tie the game at 12. The next 3 points were for Stanwood were all errors by Wildcats, including a lift call and twice having a player in the net. OH then got an ace by setter Jordan Faralan to close it to 14-15, but Stanwood went on a tear, scoring 7 straight, including 2 service aces and 2 kills. The JV team was only able to score twioce more, one on a really nice kill by Janessa Ramos, but the first game was lost 16-25.

The second game started strong for Oak Harbor, as the girls sprinted out to an early 5-1 lead, but let Stanwood back in on a series of hitting errors. Blau and Felps had a really nice block for a point, but Stanwood was able to tie the game at 6 each. Stanwood then had some unforced errors to put Oak Harbor in the lead for good. The remainder of the game was mostly points on errors by the two teams, but Oak Harbor did earn points on a nice block by Lauren Lewis and Janessa Ramos, a service ace by Sydney Carlson, and a Stanwood overpass that was smacked down by Lewis. The game ended on a pair of Ramos kills.

Game 3 started much like game 2, with an early 6-0 Wildcat win, but the Spartans battled back to tie the game at 8, then took a 8-11 lead until a kill by Blau and a pair of service aces by Kelly Pantoleon to tie it at 11. Oak Harbor was able to crawl ahead, at one point hilding a 19-15 lead, but let it slip away, and a double hit on the 'Cats tied the game again at 24. A kill by Stanwood gave them a 25-24 lead, but Blau tied it again at 25, then a nice kill by Lewis and a back row kill by Pantoleon ended the game with a 27-25 win, and a 2-1 match win for the Wildcats.

The varsity match started out with a very close game 1. The biggest lead by either team was only 4 points, and the game had numerous hitting and service errors by both teams. It wasn't a pretty game, but there were a couple of nice points, one on a Melany Cone kill and another on a double block by Jessica Muzzall and Devin Tanner. In the end, the 'Cats pulled it off, winning 25-23 on a Muzzall kill.

Game 2 started slow, and the Spartans held the lead for the entire game. Jen Jansen had several kills and a service ace, and Marisa Sutherland added two more kills, but it wasn't enough at Stanwood tied the match at 1 each with a 25-19 win in game 2.

Game 3 was close for about half the game before Stanwood went on a 10-4 run late to pull away. Kills by Muzzall, Kim Mowbray and Jansen gave the Wildcats hope, but the girls fell short 15-25.

Game 4 didn't look good for Oak Harbor, as Stanwood built a 11-5 lead on some uncharacteristic hitting and service errors by OH. The girls fought back, and back-to-back kills by Devin Tanner and Jansen closed the gap to 19-22, but Stanwood shut out our girls for the rest of the game, winning 25-19 and picking up the match win 3-1.

89 photos of the JV and Varsity matches, including some Freshman warmup and post-game pictures are posted HERE.

Keeping up with - Kim Mowbray - Varsity Volleyball

Reporter Michelle Sandstrom caught up with Kim Mowbray of the Wildcat Volleyball team last week and has the following report:

Playing volleyball for six years, Kim Mowbray is very well known around the courts. She is 5 foot 10 inches and chooses to play volleyball because it keeps her in shape.
Kim has been playing this game since the seventh grade and has spent three years playing on varsity for the Oak Harbor Wildcats as a middle blocker. Her number is 6 and has been since her freshman year. Kim is a senior this year and even though these ladies have had a shaky start, they are hoping for the best, and the best in her mind is becoming one of the top four teams and making it to the playoffs which they did last year, and personally she wants to play all around rotation wise.
A normal practice she says, consists of ball handling, warm ups, and the preparing of defense and offense. At practices she works at not standing around so much but being active.
Kim prefers home games over away and describes the team “as close as sisters”; every home game they have a team dinner. She also believes that being on a team such as volleyball helps keeps her grades up because without good grades she can’t play, “it’s a great motivator”. She also loves her coaches and describes them as “chill, we can joke”. She also explains that the coaches expect their eating habits to change during the season, “carbs carbs carbs”, and if they don’t change, they get in trouble.
Outside of volleyball she doesn’t have a job and plays softball in the spring.
When asked about going to college for volleyball she said “if I could play at a college level I would really like to”. She doesn’t have a role model but thinks Misty May-Treanor and Carrie Walsh are “freaking amazing”.
The season is just beginning, and hopefully these ladies can get back on track and Kim completes the season at her best during her last year.

Breaking news - Marshall Lobbestael out for season

Marshall was injured in last Saturday's game against Oregon State, and tests have confirmed a damaged ACL *and* MCL, and he is out for the rest of the season.

Girls Basketball - Fall league

The JV and Varsity teams were both in games at Sedro-Woolley HS on Sunday, October 12th.

The JV was first, playing against Tulalip. The first half was close, but Tulalip pulled ahead slightly, leading at the half 17-12. In the 2nd half, Tulalip extended their lead to 21-14, but the Wildcats pulled back, with a 3-pointer by Erica Flores knotting the score at 21. Tulalip scored to lead by 2, then Tatianna Cummings scored to tie it again. Tulalip hit a trey, then Sheena Corey answered back, and with just over a minute left, Janelle "Yoshi" Yoshimoto got the bucket to give the 'Cats a 2 point lead. Tulalip tied the score again at 28 when they got the basket after a foul, but missed the 'and-1'. Oak Harbor called a timeout with less than a minute left, but failed to score before time expired, sending the game to overtime. In this league, the first overtime is 4 minutes, or the first team to get ahead by 3 (or 5, depending on who the ref is) wins the game, and a second OT is sudden death.

Tulalip got the ball first after the tip, but the Wildcat defense prevented a score. Bringing the ball upcourt, Yoshi found herself open at the top of the key, launched the ball, and watched it swish through the net for the 3-pointer and the win, 31-28.

The varsity game, against Burlington, was very close as well for most of the first half, and the Wildcats found themselves down 15-14 until Cheyenne Tubo hit a 3, and from then until the end of the half, the 'Cats increased their lead to 24-17 when Ariel Brothers got the putback 2 with less than a minute.

In the 2nd half, Oak Harbor increased their lead to 39-27 on a Jessica Denmon 3-pointer, but Burlington didn't give up, closing the gap to 39-36 late in the game. Denmon then hit her third trey of the game to make it 41-37. At that point time was getting short, and the Tiger resorted to fouling to stop the clock, sending Denmon, Tubo and Nicky Mowbray to the line to shoot the 1-and-1. Tubo hit both of hers with 15 seconds left in the game to seal the 43-37 Wildcat win.

Photos from both the JV and Varsity games can be found by clicking HERE.

Girls soccer and volleyball from Saturday afternoon

Both the OHHS volleyball and soccer teams were in action Saturday.

The JV and Varsity volleyball squads were in a tournament at Mt. Vernon HS. The varsity didn't do as well as they hoped, finishing in 16th place. The JV, however, had a very respectable 4th place finish.

In soccer, the girls faced off on a sunny Saturday afternoon against Arlington. The JV team played the Eagles to a 0-0 halftime tie, but a goal by Arlington early in the 2nd half was all they needed. It was a very physical game, with Maura McKole having to come out for a while with a very bloody nose, Aimee Kelly got a ball kicked right in her face, and Haylee Little got hit so hard that her lip busted open, and she had to head to the hospital for stitches.

93 images of the JV game are posted HERE.

In the varsity game, Carson McKole scored both Oak Harbor goals, and the Wildcats held a lead until the final minutes of the game. The Eagles scored on a penalty kick and a corner kick in the last 6 minutes of the game to tie it at 2 each. In overtime, neither team could score, so the match ended in a 2-2 tie.

Saturday youth sports

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

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

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

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

43 images of the Cheetahs and Butterflies are HERE.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Late results from Friday's JV Tennis match

The OHHS boys JV tennis team traveled to Marysville for a match on Friday 10-10-08. Why the tennis schedulers continue to insist on scheduling tennis on Friday, which is normally football night, we don't know.

Anyways, it wasn't pretty for the JV boys. Marysville was short of players and forfeited 2nd and 3rd Doubles, but those were the only wins the boys got all afternoon.

#1 singles Geoff Worley lost 3-6, 3-6. He played well, but the other player was better. #3 singles David DeGuzman lost 2-6, 2-6 , but this was a tough match. Both players had long points, hitting with a lot of topspin it was the last match to finish.

#1 doubles Ben Pralle & Zac Akker lost 1-6, 4-6. Ben was playing without his regular partner of Ben Harrrison.

Next up for tennis is at match Monday at home vs Stanwood for the varsity and away vs Stanwood for JV.

Varsity football at Stanwood 10-10-08

Stanwood started out of the gate with a bang, and continued to hammer at the Wildcat run defense, and the Spartans finished on top, 22-10 on homecoming night for Stanwood.

Stanwood received the opening kick, and after a flag on their first play, got started with a 1st& 15 from the Stanwood 27. A long run coupled with a personal foul facemask against the 'Cats moved the ball to the OH 47. 7 plays later, facing a 4th and 6 on the OH 11, Stanwood lined up in a field goal formation, but went for the fake, but the pass fell to the ground, giving the ball to OH with 7:10 to go in the first on the OH 11.

Instead of the normal Wing-T formation Wildcat fans are used to seeing, Oak Harbor came out in a spread formation, with James Jordan taking almost every snap from the shotgun, and no more than 1 running back. The first play was a pass to #24 Josh Higbee for 11 yards. That first series ended with a punt from the Stanwood 48, but instead of run, run, run, the drive, lasting 8 plays before the punt, had 3 passes (2 completed - 1 to Higbee, the other to Rashaad Smith), and 5 runs, 3 by Jordan.

Stanwood took the punt at the 20 and brought it out to the 27, and using the remaining 4:02 of the first quarter, marched 73 yards to the Oak Harbor end zone, scoring on a 37-yard pass reception as time ran out. The kick failed, so the 1st quarter score was 6-0 for Stanwood.

Starting the 2nd quarter, the Wildcats went 3-and-out, punting on a 4th & 10 from the OH 33, Stephen Lewis got off a good kick and got a good bounce, and the Wildcats downed it at the Stanwood 15. Stanwood could only get it out to the 39 before the Wildcat defense forced a punt, but so did the Stanwood "D" after only 6 yards were gained by OH. Derrick Clarit got downfield quickly and tackled the Spartan returner after only 2 yards were gained. Stanwood punted back to Oak Harbor.

Taking over on the OH 37 with 4:16 left in the half, Jordan ran the ball twice, but only got the ball to the OH 39. With a 3rd & 8, Jordan threw the ball to Rashaad Smith who caught it around the Stanwood 42 and ran it down to the 27. A reception by Hunt brought the ball to the Stanwood 12. Jordan was sacked for a 10-yard loss on the next play, and OH could only move back to the Stanwood 17. Facing a 4th & 15 on the 17, Kevin Flavin kicked a 34-yard field goal, putting OH on the board with 45 seconds left in the half. After the kickoff, Stanwood only ran 2 plays before halftime, leaving the score at 6-3 in favor of the Spartans.

Receiving the kick to start the 2nd half, Oak Harbor moved the ball downfield quickly, using exactly one minute to score. The drive only lasted 4 plays. The first was a 12-yard pass reception by Stephen Lewis, followed by a Jordan run after a poor snap. This play was marred by a holding call downfield against the 'Cats, but the play still resulted in a first down in Stanwood territory. Jordan then threw an incompletion to Smith, but then connected with Josh Higbee right at the goal line for the score. Flavin's kick was good, putting OH in the lead 10-6.

Stanwood's next possession ended in a wild play. The Spartan runner, from the Oak Harbor 47, ran down to around the 10. He was slowed by, it looked like, Derrick Clarit, then a so-far unidentified player came up from behind and knocked the ball loose. It popped about 10 feet up in the air, was caught by a Wildcat who retreated near the goal line, and got out to the 5 before HE was hit hard, and the ball popped high in the air again, but was finally recovered by Oak Harbor at their own 5 yard line.

Stanwood's defense turned up the pressure on Jordan, and on a 3rd down play with less than a yard to go, the Spartan defense forced Jordan back, and were able to sack him in the end zone for a safety. Now, with 6:36 in the 3rd, Stanwood had closed the gap to 2, 10-8.

Oak Harbor kicked the ball from the 20 after the safety, and in a time-consuming drive, used 11 consecutive run plays to score from the OH 1 yard line. The kick was good, putting Stanwood in the lead for good, 15-10 with less than a minute left in the 3rd.

Oak Harbor ended the quarter with a nice Higbee reception for a first down, but a series of 3 flags on three plays in a row found Oak Harbor with a 4th down on their own 45, and punted back to Stanwood.

The first Spartan play went backwards 4 yards. Greg Goebel got in a hit on the runner, enough to slow him down and let Chris Neumiller come in to complete the tackle for loss. It was the only high point for OH during the drive, as 6 plays later Stanwood ran the ball in from the OH 40, converted the kick, and led 22-10 with 7:10 left.

Oak Harbor punted after a 3-and-out effort, and Stanwood used 7 running plays to knock 5 minutes off the clock before turning the ball over to OH on downs at the OH 7 with 1:53 remaining. OH got the ball out to the 27, but a long Jordan pass was intercepted at the 45 with 9 seconds left, then Stanwood took a knee as the clock ran out.

Images from the pre-game warmup have been posted HERE.

Tennis at OHHS Friday afternoon

This is beginning to sound like a broken record - the OH tennis team loses another one by a 4-3 score.

Winning for the 'Cats were Ryan Evans (6-2, 6-3), Jordan Kingma (6-4, 6-3), and Josh Evans (6-3, 6-2). #1 Derek Thomas went 3 sets, losing the 1st 4-6, winning the second 6-2, and losing the 3rd 3-6.

That, coupled with 3 Oak Harbor losses in doubles handed the Wildcat tennis men their 10th loss of the year against only 4 wins.

Thursday results - so far

The only home matchup was girls soccer vs Lake Stevens.

The Lake Stevens JV won 6-1, but the Oak Harbor girls scored another goal, their 3rd of the season. Morgan Dutton scored on a free kick, for the second game in a row, in the 2nd half. After the game Haylee Little said the team was in a good mood. "We scored", she said.

The varsity team dug themselves into an early hole, letting Lake Stevens score two early goals, then allowed a third just seconds before the end of the half. Coming out of halftime, the Wildcat girls got aggressive, and with less than 2 minutes gone, Roni Tomlin, with an assist by Carson McKole, slipped the ball past the Viking goalkeeper for the score. The rest of the 2nd half was played to a standsill except for a single Lake Stevens goal halfway through the 2nd half.

57 images from the varsity soccer game have been posted HERE.

Down in Lynnwood, the boys and girls Cross Country team faced off against Cascade, Arlington and host Meadowdale. Matt Reith won the boys JV race, with Jake Daniel and Connor Zimmerman finishing 3rd and 4th respectively.

The girls team posted their first team victory of the season, finishing with 35 points against Arlington's 41. The first OH runner was Allison Duvenez who was 2nd overall. She was the leader of a 3-girl pack who all finished within a second of each other. The 3rd girl in the pack and 4th overall was Adrianna Royal. Other OH runners who finished high enough to earn points were Kathryn Fisken (7th), Kimberley Kyle (10th), and Heather Dale (12th).

The boys XC team came in 2nd to Cascade, but beat league opponent Arlington by 2 points. Tops for the 'Cats was Tyler King (2nd overall), followed by Josh Durhkopf (9th), Cody Klauer (12th), Michael Reith (14th) and Matt Bolte (16th).
At Arlington HS, the varsity volleyball squad got their first league win, beating the Eagles 3-1. OH lost the first game 17-25, but using senior Jessica Muzzall's 13 kills and Jen Jansen's 14 kills won the next 3 game 26-24, 25-23, and 25-22 for the win. Senior Kim Mowbray added 3kills along with her 4 blocks for the Wildcats. The JV and Freshman teams did not fare well, and we'll just leave it at that.

Timout with....Aimee Kelly - JV Soccer

Aimee Jean Kelly was born October 5th in Oak Harbor to Jerald and Annette Kelly. Dad is active duty Navy and mom is a supervisor at McDonalds. She has a sister, Ashley, who is a junior at OHHS. While born in Oak Harbor, Aimee has not lived here her entire life, but has also lived in Atsugi, Japan and Kaneohe, Hawaii.

The 5’1” freshman is a forward on the OHHS JV soccer team, wearing #4, and also plans to run track in the spring. Her first sport is soccer, mainly due to her love of the game. She’s been playing for some time and feels her strength is her running – she has good endurance and can move around the field quickly. Her goals for this year are to get one or two goals and to improve her passing game.

Aimee doesn’t watch sports much, but will watch a soccer game if she finds one on TV. She does, however make a point of watching “House” and “Cold Case”. She’ll listen to almost any kind of music, but prefers Oldies and Christian rock. In movies, one of her favorites is “The Notebook”, followed closely by “The Parent Trap”.

In school, Aimee would like to be a straight-A student, and is on her way to that goal so far this year. Her favorite class just happens to be taught by her favorite teacher, and both are leading her to her career plans. Her favorite class is CAD and Architectural Design taught by Mr. Bender, and for a career, she really wants to become an Architect.

When asked about her most memorable moments, both sports-related and non-sports related, she was hard-pressed to think of anything. She never did come up with a truly memorable life moment, but for sports, she related an episode from a rec soccer game she was playing. Aimee and a friend were both playing defense in a game, got the ball, and the two of them started moving the ball upfield towards the other goal. Before they realized it, they had turned themselves into forwards, while the forwards had moved to defense. At the time, it was quite amusing, as it was totally unplanned that almost the entire team swapped positions during that play.

Aimee said that if she could live anywhere in the world, she would probably pick either London or Australia. She thought either place would be a great place to live.

In closing, Aimee wanted to say that she enjoys sports as it forces her to stay fit and keep her body clean, something she would like to encourage in others.

Varsity football clips posted

3 clips from last Friday's varsity football game vs Snohomish have been posted HERE.

Boys Tennis results from Wednesday - JV @ Varsity

In what seems to becoming the typical Oak Harbor tennis match results, the Varsity Wildcats dropped a 4-3 match to Everett at Everett on Wednesday.

3 of 4 singles players won their matches, with only junior Derek Thomas losing. Although Jordan Kingma's sets were close, he was able to win both with identical 7-5 scores.

In doubles, the #1 team went 3 sets before losing 1-6, 6-3, 2-6, and the #2 and #3 team both went down in straight sets.

The JV team was at home against Everett, and did not fare as well. #1 doubles Ben Pralle and Ben Harrison played well, as did #1 singles Geoff Worley and #4 David DeGuzman, but it was not enough to overcome a strong Everett team, and lost 7-0.

Freshman football - OH vs Snohomish

The Oak Harbor freshman football team faced off against Snohomish at Wildcat Memorial Stadium Wednesday afternoon, and it was an exciting game.

Snohomish got the ball first after the OH kickoff, but ran only 2 plays before Corey Houck intercepted a Snohomish pass at the OH 20, returning it out to the 38. Oak Harbor moved the ball to the Snohomish 41, but could not convert on a 4th & 9. Snohomish took over with 6:20 left in the first and was able to move the ball down to the OH 1. The Panthers fumbled the ball during the 1st & Goal to go play, but were able to recover the ball, and the Snoho QB ran it across the goal line on the next play, putting Snohomish 7-0 with 1:28 remaining in the first.

Michael Mack returned the Snoho kickoff 11 yards, giving the OH offense a first down on the OH 19. The 'Cats got off 2 plays before time expired in the first quarter.

Starting the 2nd, the Wildcats couldn't move the ball and punted from their own 36. Snohomish tried to return the kick, but the returner was tackled at the Snohomish 38 by Tucker Lundstrom. The OH defense let Snohomish get down to the OH 18, but stiffened. Hunter Vail got a sack on one play, a combo of Brent Ryan and Nick Farrell forced a 10-yard loss, and with Snohomish facing a 4th & 22 from the OH 30, Wildcat tacklers forced a fumble which OH recovered on the 18.

Again, though, the offense sputtered, punting after gaining only 9 yards on 3 plays. Snohomish got the ball down to the OH 30, then ran it for a score with 1:29 left in the half.

On the next possession, Oak Harbor went 3-and-out, giving the Panthers the ball on their own 39 and 1 minute left in the half. Snohomish moved away from the run and completed passes of 5 and 21 yards to get the ball to the OH 22 with 4 seconds to go. Snohomish completed the next pass at around the 10, but with 3 Wildcats riding him, the Snohomish receiver was able to fight his way into the endzone as time expired. The kick was good, giving Snohomish a 21-0 halftime lead.

The Wildcat defensive woes continued in the 2nd half, with Oak Harbor punting after 3 plays, then Snohomish overcoming 2 penalties and a 3rd & 25 to complete a pass for a TD with 6:19 left in the 3rd, increasing the Panther lead to 28-0.

After returning the kickoff 6 yards to the OH 35, the Wildcats used a series of runs by Connor Meyer, Peter Franssen and Justin Everett to get the ball moving until it was 1st & 10 on the Snohomish 17. Facing a 4th & 7 on the Snohomish 14, QB Matt Burgoyne handed the ball to Justin Everett who pounded it in for Oak Harbor's first score of the day, with 1:37 left in the 3rd. The 2-point conversion was good making the score 28-8

Snohomish received the OH kickoff at their own 21 and returned it to the 35, but 2 plays later, after a 5-yard facemask penalty on Oak Harbor made it 1st & 3 for Snohomish, the Panthers fumbled and Oak Harbor recovered at the Snoho 45. Justin Everett took the ball down to the 24 on the first play, and on the 2nd play, Burgoyne completed a pass to Janssen for another OH score. The PAT run failed, leaving the score at 28-14 with 0:25 left in the 3rd.

On their next possession, Snohomish used a 27-yard run and a 14- yard completion to get the ball to the OH 3 where they pushed it in for their 5th score of the day and increasing their lead to 35-14.

With only 7:44 left in the game, the Wildcats again found themselves unable to move the ball. After an illegal block penalty, the 'Cats found themselves with a 4th & 18 from the OH 7 and were forced to punt. Snohomish then ran 4 plays before fumbling a snap which OH recovered on the OH 41. Justin Everett ran the ball on the first play to the Snoho 43, then Franssen ran it down to the 35 where he was hit and fumbled, but Cody Hernkind was there to cover the ball, setting up Everett's 35-yard TD run on 3rd & 2. Franssen ran the 2-point conversion in, closing the score to 35-22 in favor of Snohomish.

Oak Harbor kicked off deep, but Snohomish was able to return the ball to the OH 45, but with a 3rd & 2 on the OH 37, Snohomish fumbled again due to pressure by Hunter Vail.

The 'Cats first play was a Burgoyne completion to Cody Sanders, and then runs by Everett and Franssen moved the ball to the Snoho 25. Burgoyne was then sacked on 2 consecutive plays due to a breakdown of the offensive line, but on the 2nd sack, Snohomish was called for a personal foul, putting the ball on the Snohomish 30, 3rd & 15, with 1:18 left in the game. Everett ran the ball down to the 11, then a pass to Cory Houck appeared to be caught and run in for a TD, but the officials ruled the ball bounced off the turf before Houck caught it. Now with 45 seconds left in the game, Everett ran the ball in for another TD with 41 seconds left. The run PAT failed, leaving the score at 35-28.

OH lined stacked the right side of the field for the onside kick attempt, but kicked it to the left, hoping to catch Snohomish off guard. It worked, but the kicker put just a little too much on it and the ball rolled out of bounds at the Snohomish 40. From there, Snohomish took a couple of knees to end the game with a 35-28 win.

77 images, most from the pre-game warmup, have been posted HERE. Two of the players, #31 and #22 are not listed on the roster, so those players are identified by jersey number rather than by name.

JV results from Tuesday

Sorry for the delay, but here are JV and Freshman results from volleyball, soccer and tennis from last Tuesday.

In soccer, the girls scored their 2nd goal of the year, this one a direct free kick by Morgan Dutton that went straight into the net. However, Monroe was able to score 2 goals to win the game.

The boys JV tennis team played well - better than the 6-1 loss indicated. The #1 doubles team of Ben Harrison and Ben Pralle won their match. In the others, 3 matches went to tiebreakers, with Arlington able to win all three of the tiebreakers.

The Freshman and JV volleyball teams were at Lake Stevens, with the Freshman team playing at the new Cavalero Mid-High and the JV at Lake Stevens HS. The freshman team continues to show improvement, and improved during Tuesday's match, starting on the losing end of a 25-8 score. Game two was 13-25 and game 3 19-25. Coach Bjork said that the Freshman team is vastly improved from the beginning of the year - so much so that at times it seems like a totally different team on the court.

The JV games (except for the 1st game) were close. After falling 12-25 in the first, the girls rebounded and took game 2 into extra points during a back-and-forth fight, but LS was able to pull out the 26-24 win. Game 3 was also close, but LS again got the win, 25-23.

New Poll Posted

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Tuesday Tennis, Volleyball and Soccer

The Boys Tennis team traveled to Arlington for a makeup match against the Eagles.

#1 singles Derek Thomas was back in the win column, posting a 6-2, 6-4 win, matched by #2 Ryan Evans, and #3 Jordan Kingma beat his man 6-1, 6-2. #4 Josh Evans won his first set 6-0, but dropped the next two 4-6, 4-6. That proved the difference in the team scores, as all 3 doubles teams lost in straight sets, dropping OH to 4-8 this season. The JV team was at Oak Harbor, but we don't have any results.

In the WESCO North league opener at Lake Stevens, the Wildcat Volleyball team took game 1 from the Vikings 25-15, but dropped the next three to wind up on the short end of a 3-1 score. While the 'Cats lost 3, 2 of the games were very close. Games 2 and 3 both went to extra points, with LS winning both by identical 27-25 scores. Game 4 was 25-19 for Lake Stevens. On the positive side, junior setter Melany Cone has 33 assists, 16 of which resulted in Jessica Muzzall kills. JV and Freshman results will be posted soon.

In soccer, the girls traveled to Monroe to start the 2nd half of the season, but unlike the first matchup, the Wildcats didn't get the ball into the Bearcat net, and Monroe got a 3-0 win. Again, we don't have JV results yet, but will get them soon.

Coming up for tennis is the Varsity at Everett and JV @ OH Wednesday, Soccer at home against Lake Stevens on Thursday, and Volleyball at Arlington, also on Thursday.

Don't forget - no school for students on Thursday, Friday OR Monday. Parent-Teacher Conferences are Thursday and Friday, while Monday, Columbus Day, is a teacher improvement day.

Girl's Swimming vs Snohomish and Glacier Peak

The Oak Harbor Wildcat girls swim team hosted Snohomish and Glacier Peak in a tri-meet at Vanderzicht Pool Tuesday afternoon, beating GP, but falling to Snohomish.

The first event was the 200 Meter Medley Relay. In this relay, each of 4 girls each swims a different stroke, in the order of: Backstroke, Breaststroke, Butterfly and Freestyle. Snohomish won the overall event, with the OHHS varsity team of Amanda Streubel, Rachel Weinstein, Ciara Hu and Karina Concepcion nabbing 2nd place, just .38 seconds behind. Two other OH teams were in the race, with the "B" team formed of Lily Doyle, Madi Shipley, McKenna Yockey and Erica Gregory (5th overall) and a "C" team of Kristen Ross, Abby Rankin, Lindsey Johnson and Lindsey Hall finishing 6th.

Second was the 200 meter freestyle, 8 lengths of the pool (4 laps), and was also won by Snohomish, but OH placed Abby Leete (3), McKenna Yockey (7) and Lindsey Hall (8) for points. Katherine Jones, Michelle Maxwell and Jessica Cathey also swam in the event for OHHS.

The 200 meter individual medley (IM) is similar to the relay, but one swimmer does all four strokes, and in a different order: Butterfly, Backstroke, Breaststroke, and Freestyle. Ciara Hu was the top Wildcat, just .28 seconds behind the winner. Others earning points for the 'Cats were Amanda Streubel (3rd) and Lily Doyle (5)

The fastest event of the meet was next: the 50 meter freestyle. Carolyn Vasquez was the top OH swimmer, posting a time of 30.33 seconds, and earning 3rd place. Kerianne Wright was just .35 seconds behind Vasquez, and Karina Concepcion finished 6th to round out the OH scoring in that event. Also competing for OH were Kira Homola, Laurie Cummings, Samantha Lewellen and Beverly Gianino.

Oak Harbor put 3 girls into the diving event with 2 earning points for the team. Abby Rankin was tops for Oak Harbor and 3rd overall, with 97.65 points, followed by Erica Gregory scoring 63.45 points in her first dive outing at Vanderzicht Pool. Kira Homola was the 3rd OH diver.

In the 100 meter Butterfly, probably the hardest event, Ciara Hu finished 3rd, Kerianne Wright 5th and Madi Shipley in 7th.

OHHS also placed 3 swimmers for points in the 100 meter freestyle: Concepcion, Tori Nickerson, and Vasquez. It was a large field with tough competition for points, and although only 3 earned points, Lindsey Johnson, Alexa Ennis, Amanda Ridge and Laurie Cummings also swam the event for OH.

In the distance race, the 400 meter freestyle, Rachel Weinstein finished first for the 'Cats and 2nd overall, posting a time of 4:51.23, almost 20 seconds in front of the 3rd place finisher. Also earning points for OH were Abby Leete (6) and Madi Shipley (7)

In the 2nd of three relays on the day, the 200 meter freestyle relay, Snohomish nabbed the top two spots, but the OH "B" team of Tori Nickerson, Abby Rankin, Amanda Streubel and Abby Leete was 3rd, beating the OH "A" relay of Vasquez, Concepcion, Wright and Weinstein by over 15 seconds. OH also had a "C" relay team, made up of Ennis, Maxwell, Cummings and Johnson that finished out of the money.

Oak Harbor picked up their first win in the 100 meter backstroke, with Amanda Streubel posting a time of 1:11.62, almost 4 seconds faster than her nearest opponent. Other OH finishers were Doyle, Rankin, Ennis and Kristen Ross.

The 100 back was followed by the 100 Breast, which may be the most technically difficult stroke to master, as well being a relatively slow stroke. Rachel Weinstein of OH placed 3rd overall, and Nickerson and Yockey also earned points. Finishing the race, but not earning points were Johnson, Jones, and Leanne Empinado.

The final event of the day was the 400 meter freestyle relay. Although the top OH team finished 3rd, all four of the Oak Harbor teams that entered the race finished in the money, earning team points for OHHS. The "A" relay consisted of Hu, Vasquez, Wright and Leete, the "B" relay was Shipley, Nickerson, Doyle and Rankin, the "C" relay was Ross, Gregory, Yockey and Empinado, and finishing up in the "D" spot was Katherine Jones, Jessica Cathey, Lindsey Johnson and Amanda Ridge.

83 photos of the first half of the meet, including some nice sequence photos of the diving competition, are posted HERE.

JV Football @ Snohomish last Monday

The following was received by head JV coach Craig Nurvic about Monday's game.

We lost a tough 6-0 battle with Snohomish.

Justin Counts, Marcus Jordan, Josiah Miller and Lucas Felkner all ran the ball well.

There were lots of turnovers: We had three fumbles and they threw one pick - a tipped ball that Alec Castillo caught.

First drive we march to the Snoho 12 and fumbled.

The game was played between the 20's for both teams for almost the entire game.

In the third we ran a 25 yard brown belly to the Panther 1yd line, only to have a late late penalty for holding, bummer.

The entire game was played in a downpour of biblical proportions I think that it stopped raining for two minutes in the second, right before a 5 min halftime. The wet ball is to blame for the fumbles.

The Wildcats played with an all out effort - there was no quit from any of our guys.

Driving the ball late in the 4th Justin Counts ripped off a 25 yard trap play that put us deep into Snoho territory about their 27, and on next play, with a 4th and 4, no time outs, and only 18 seconds on the clock, we called a brown blast pass. The ball was snapped, Felkner faked the blast, and set up to throw. Wait! There's pressure, he steps up, receivers moving into position. Snohomish gets our QB is in the grasp, but he breaks free, rolls to his right, and has nowhere to go. He reverses his field and picks up a big block, now rolling to his left he sees room to run but defenders force him to cut back to his right, clock winding down he sees a receiver in the end zone he throws! The receiver makes a great move to the ball but can't hang on.

After the game I told the guys that was the most fun I have ever had in a 6-0 loss. I told them "You guys played hard and gave Snoho one heck of a fight."

Boys Tennis results from Monday

Stanwood came to Oak Harbor on a windy afternoon for some tennis, and it was close, but Stanwood pulled out the win.

In singles action, #1 Derek Thomas seems still affected by an injury, and went down in straight sets 6-0, 6-1. The other three singles players, Ryan Evans, Jordan Kingma and Josh Evans all won, although it took Evans 3 sets (6-3, 3-6, 6-4) to win.

On the doubles courts, #1 team Paul Jewell and Joel Valles lost a close first set, 7-6(4), then rebounded to dominate 6-0 in the 2nd set before dropping the 3rd 6-2. The #2 and #3 doubles teams both lost in straight sets.

Sorry, no photos this time.

Next for tennis is a trip to Everett, weather permitting, on Wednesday, then a home match Friday against Marysville.

Also in Oak Harbor this week: Swimming Tuesday at Vanderzicht Pool vs Snohomish, Freshman football vs Snohomish on Wednesday, and Girls Soccer vs Lake Stevens Thursday.

Varsity profile - Josh Duhrkopf

Roving Reporter Michelle Sandstrom sat down this week with one of the Cross Country captains, Josh Duhrkopf, and got to know him a little better. This is her report.

Josh is a senior at Oak Harbor High School and is not only a part of Track and Field in the spring, but is at the top for his Cross Country career. As most people know, runners, especially Cross Country guys, tend to be a little off and have more fun than the average athlete, so I knew this was going to be a good interview.
I asked Josh “What about running do you enjoy so much?” “Well pretty much I’m fast and anything I’m good at I’m going to like, and getting to hangout and spend quality time with Peterson is a plus. But there are the downers too, like tough workouts. Those suck”. As a Cross Country runner myself, I know exactly what he is talking about. It’s all about the friendships and relationships you make that help you get through the day.
When asked what course he liked the most so far in this season, Josh said “Definitely Wirth Farm”. That response is an example of being on the off side, as many Cross Country runners don’t enjoy Wirth Farm because you are being watched through the entire race it has a huge hill. Josh said that is exactly why he likes it.
I asked him about his goals, and Josh said, “go to state as an individual and as a team”. That is a goal common to all the varsity runners, and hopefully they all get to State.
Josh had some crazy stories about the Cross Country boys, one of which included the use of Icy Hot. While traveling this summer, the guys put icy hot in random places and they were all crying in a small white van. Josh said “memories like that can’t be replaced”. I thought with fun like that, what kind of guy would choose football over Cross Country. I asked him about Hootenanny: “Oh yeah! We’re carrying on the tradition…you just wait!”
Now that I got him excited, I wanted to hear more about race days and find out what foods he likes and doesn’t, and what helps him along the way. When I asked about food all he would talk about was Subway. “Italian bread is music in my mouth.”
It didn’t seem to matter what topic we were on, he always found a way to laugh. Even when we began to talk about bad moods, he would joke about certain team members who don’t make him happy and bad workouts. To get out of his bad moods he replied “I just get out of it”.
The interview lasted quite a while and it seemed more like a friend to friend conversation then anything. Even after the interview he kept talking about what an amazing summer he had, which had little to do with running.
No other sport seems to have as much character as Cross Country, and not only Josh, but all the other team mates are amazing athletes and we wish them the best this season.

Looking for Future Wildcats - Boys Basketball

Oak Harbor Select Boys Basketball - Grades 5 through 8.

2008-2009 Season Tryouts in the OHHS gym, October 19th & 26th. See below for grade level times.

Wildcat Select Basketball is the feeder program for Oak Harbor High School. Our coaches work closely with the Oak High School coaches to ensure that correct basketball fundamentals are taught to all of our players. We compete in the WESCO travel league against other feeder programs for high schools in the
WESCO conference. Additionally, we play in 2-3 tournaments. Typically we play about 25 games in a season. Practices begin in November and the season ends
in early-March.

Schedule:
Sunday, October 19th and Sunday, October 26th
5th & 6th grade - 1:30-3:00pm
7th & 8th grade - 3:30-5:00pm

All tryouts held in the Oak Harbor High School Gym, #1 Wildcat Way (just off NW 2nd Ave) in Oak Harbor.

All players must complete a registration form before trying out.
There will be registration forms at the tryouts or you can pick one up at either 7-11 store, Big 5 Sporting Goods, or request one by emailing ohyaabasketball@yahoo.com

You can contact the coordinator via email at ohyaabasketball@yahoo.com.

Saturday youth sports

This past Saturday, instead of both football and soccer at Ft. Nugent Field, the sports were split, with all the OHYFL football games at Wildcat Memorial Stadium. Weather was a factor in the games, as it was quite windy all day, with gusts strong enough to move players around, and it rained during parts of at least 2 games, hard at times. During the last game, the sun came out, low on the horizon, and was causing problems for the team facing west.

We'd like to say thanks to OHHS announcer Jay Long for giving up his Saturday and spending his day in the booth announcing all 5 games in his usual professional manner. OHHS PE teacher Brian Farmer was also at the games all day, operating the scoreboard and putting team names up instead of just 'home' and 'guest'. It was a nice added touch for the players. One more 'good job', and that's for the people running the concession stand. They had to deal with a strong wind, rain, and a power outage, but kept the dogs and burgers coming. Thanks for your efforts as well.

Football first this week.

The first football game of the day was the Pumas vs Burlington. The Pumas did, however, come away with a 19-14 win, their first for the season. While there are no photos of the game (our photographer was at Ft. Nugent field for soccer), two Puma players were ball boys for the Wildcat team, and the photos of those two boys are posted HERE.

The next game was the senior Wildcats vs Orcas. This game did not count, as to field a complete team, Orcas was allowed to use several high school freshmen. Even then, Orcas only brought 11 players to the game, which the Wildcats won, 22-0. Towards the end of the game, an Orcas player was injured, so both teams finished the game with only 10 men on the field. 50 Wildcat photos are HERE.

The midget Cougars were next, and posted a 20-0 win over Arlington. The score was not particularly lopsided, but it could have been even higher if the coaches wanted it that way. This game was all Cougars all the way. 32 images can be found HERE.

Dropping to the pee-wee division, the Lynx hosted the Concrete Lions. The final score was 34-2. Concrete got the ball first and using a 'fumblerooski' type offense (4 players lined up behind the linemen, and the center usually rolls the ball to one of the backfield players, who picks it up and runs), but after gaining only 8 yards, fumbled on the Lynx 41. On their first play, the Lynx runner ran for a 59-yard TD. The PAT run was good, making the score 7--0 with 6:22 in the first. Concrete was forced to punt after only 3 plays on their next possession, but instead of using only one play to get to the end zone, this time it took the Lynx 2 plays. The first was an incomplete pass, the second a 45-yard run to pay dirt. The score now is Lynx 14, Concrete 0, still in the first quarter. Concrete was able to move the ball from their own 45 down to the Lynx 3 (thanks to 3 different offside penalties against the Lynx) where they fumbled on a 3rd down play. Oak Harbor started on the 5 yard line, but was backed down to the 1. There, the Lynx runner didn't run the play the coach sent in, and wound up being tackled in the end zone for a Concrete safety. OH then kicked to Concrete, and the Lynx defense forced another 3-and out. Oak Harbor ran the first play 59 yards to the end zone, but the PAT failed, making the score 27-2 with 2:51 left in the half. With the lopsided score, the Lynx were now kicking off from the 20 instead of the 40. The kick went out to the 38, then effective pursuit by the Lynx defense forced a 10-yard loss before time expired in the half. Starting the second half, Concrete got the ball first but punted after 3 plays. Oak Harbor drove the ball from the OH 28 down to the Concrete 1 yard line, but fumbled on a 4th and Goal play, giving the ball back to Concrete. Concrete was able to move the ball from their own 2 to the OH 42, taking the final 2 minutes of the 3rd quarter and almost 8 minutes of the 4th quarter (again, aided by 2 OH offside penalties, one on a 4th down attempt). The Concrete drive failed on the OH 42, the Lions unable to convert a 4th & 16. With 2:25 left in the game, the Lynx took the first play all the way to the house - 58 yards - to push the score to 34-2 for the Lynx. Concrete was only able to run 4 plays after the kickoff before time ran out in the 4th. There are no photos of the Lynx game, but look for some video clips by Monday afternoon. 8 video clips, including all 5 touchdowns are HERE.

The nightcap football game featured the OH junior Jaguars, coming in at 4-0 against the Bellingham Regulators. The Jags gave this game away, fumbling away their first two possessions deep inside their own territory, spotting B'ham a 12-0 lead. A punt return touchdown, and later a run from midfield to the end zone (with one made PAT), put the Jags ahead 13-12 late in the 3rd quarter. The Regulators pulled ahead again, 18-13, but Oak Harbor returned the kickoff 95 yards to re-take the lead 20-18. Then, the Jags recovered a kickoff that only went 7 yards, but was touched by a Bellingham player, and then the Bellingham coach gave OH another 15 yards due to unsportsmanlike conduct after the kickoff. The OH drive stalled, and Bellingham was able to score again with only 2:44 left in the game. The Jaguars were moving the ball, but an untimely interception by B-ham was returned for a TD with just under 2 minutes remaining, and the Regulators sealed their victory with another interception, this one at the Jaguar 1 with just 43 seconds left. Bellingham ran a couple of plays to move away from the goal line, then took 2 knees to end the game, winning 38-20. 64 photos are HERE.

Next Saturday, some OHYFL games here in Oak Harbor have been moved. The 3pm game with the Bobcats vs Arlington will be at Ft. Nugent Field, but the 5pm Cougars vs Sedro and 7pm Wildcats vs Burlington games have been moved to Wildcat Memorial Stadium. The Cougars game was not moved due to a HS girls soccer game at the stadium that afternoon.

Now for soccer.

The first game we looked at was a U-14 coed game between the Oak Harbor Dominators, sponsored by the Oak Harbor Chamber of Commerce and coached by Nathan Boss and the Oak Harbor Silver Bullets, sponsored by Eurosports and coached by James Whistler and Anthony Arboylea. The game was won by the Dominators, 3-1, but all the kids looked like they were having fun. Both coaches remarked that they enjoyed the co-ed teams, as it made the girls into more aggressive players, and taught the boys that even though boys may be stronger and faster, many of the girls have superior skills and finesse. 32 images from the game are HERE.

On a side note, for those who haven’t seen U-6 and U-8 soccer, it's nothing like regular soccer. The game is played on a short, narrow field with only 3 players per team, with the U-8 teams adding a goalie. This results in a lot of action close to the spectators, and LOTS of scoring. It's quite fun to watch.

The first U-8 game was the girls' Green Pixies, sponsored by Midway Florist, against Best Friends Vet Clinic. The Pixies are coached by Doug Waschak and Mark Rudesill, and you could see by watching the game that the coaches pushed the 'fun factor' of soccer first, but also, according to coach "we want them to try their best and at the same time be nice." 59 images are HERE.

Switching to boys, the Bu-8 Silver Bullets, sponsored by P&L General Contractors and coached by Andrea Knoll and Lisa Anderson, faced off against the "Kung Fu Pandas", sponsored by Martin Auto Electric and coached by Gerry Foppe. Coach Knoll said she had a "great bunch of boys" and that they were having fun and "learning a lot". Coach Foppe said his boys were showing his coaching philosophy of "Play Hard, Play Fair, and Have Fun" on the field in each and every game. 51 photos can be found HERE.

Back to the girls, the GU-6 Orange Cheetahs, coached by Bridget Middleton, a first-year coach faced off against the Bluebirds. It was an exciting game, with lots of goal scored by both teams. Both teams left the field winners, and Coach Middleton said "all by two of the girls are new to soccer, but they're all doing their best." When asked what she liked best about the girls, she said "We're having fun!" 34 images from this game are HERE.

Finally, the BU-11 "Galaxy" academy team vs Stanwood. This game wasn't even close. We don't have an exact final score, but it was on the order of 17-3, or something similar. Coach Mike Thornton is working magic with the boys, and it's showing on the field. 29 images are posted HERE.

Next Saturday at Ft. Nugent is another full slate of soccer, with games beginning every hour, starting 9am until noon. At least 14 games are scheduled, from U-6 through U-14. Come on down and watch a bit. It's free, and the Latte Lade will be there with hot drinks.

Varsity Football - Snohomish @ OH

In what must have been the fastest game played Friday night, the Snohomish Panthers brought their ground game into Wildcat Memorial Stadium.

Oak Harbor got the opening kickoff, but after a net loss of 2 yards in 3 plays, punted on 4th down. Lewis was punting and was one of the high points of the game. His first punt, from the OH 21 was downed on the Snohomish 39 with 10:28 in the first.

Snohomish's first play from scrimmage was a run all the way to the OH 15, with Rashaad Smith providing the TD-saving tackle. Two plays later, however, the Snohomish QB took it in for 6 points. The kick was good with 9:18 left in the first quarter.

Oak Harbor then took the kickoff at the OH 24, but was unable to move the ball into Snohomish territory before punting down to the Snohomish 22.

For the rest of the 1st quarter, the two teams traded punts and there was no further scoring.

Opening the 2nd, Snohomish had the ball, 3rd & 2 at the OH 36 and used 5 plays to get down to the OH 16. There, Snohomish completed one of only two passes, but it was to a wide open receiver in the OH end zone, and the Panthers were now up 14-0 with over 9 minutes to play until halftime.

The 'Cats got the kickoff with decent field position, at their own 34 and was able to chip away at the Snohomish defense with runs by Hunt, Lewis, Farnum, Clarit and Jordan. With a 4th & 4 at the Snohomish 37, the Wildcats were unable to convert and turned the ball over to Snohomish.

Snohomish was only able to run 3 plays before facing a 4th & 1 at their own 47. The Panthers lined up as if they were going for it, but were unable to draw the Wildcats offside, and called timeout. Coming out of the TO, the Panthers punted to the OH 28. Again, the OH offense showed some spark, and had a first down on the Snohomish 39 with only 19 seconds left in the half. 2 passes fell incomplete, and on 3rd & 10 with only 10 seconds, Jordan was forced to scramble, getting to the 31. Snohomish thought it was halftime and started running off to the locker room, but Jordan used some quick thinking and was able to get a timeout signaled to the officials before time expired. That left OH with a 4th & 4 on the Snohomish 31 with 1 second on the clock. On that final play, Jordan had some time to throw, but went OOB out the end of the end zone to send the teams to the locker room with the 14-0 Snohomish lead.

Coming out of the half, the two teams combined for 5 3-and outs, using most of the 3rd quarter. The only series that did not result in a punt was the Wildcats' first possession. The 'Cats had earned a 1st down on a facemask call, but two plays later fumbled the snap and Snohomish recovered.

With 2:42 to go in the 3rd, Oak Harbor got the ball on their own 48 after a very favorable bounce on the Snohomish punt. Runs by Lewis and Hunt got the ball down to the Snohomish 13. On the 1st down play, Jordan was forced to scramble and fumbled the ball, but he was ruled down at the 16 before the ball was knocked away. On the final play of the 3rd quarter, Derrick Clarit ran the ball down to the 7. Starting the 4th, Jordan scrambled a bit down to the 5, and on the next play ran it into the end zone. I would love to put that TD play up on YouTube, but unfortunately, there was a stadium roof post in the way, and Jordan just happened to run straight away from the camera. Kevin Flavin's kick was good, cutting the Snohomish lead to 7 with 11:07 left in the game.

The Panthers got ball on their own 33, and what looked like a repeat of their first quarter offense, moved down to the Oak Harbor 11 with just over 3 minutes left in the game. It looked like it was over for the Wildcats, but a Snohomish fumble was recovered by Rashaad Smith on the OH 15 with 3:21 remaining. Out at the OH 27, facing a 4th & 8 with the Wildcats in a shotgun formation, the snap was sent well over Jordan's head. He was able to cover it on the 9, but with just one minute left, Snohomish took a couple of knees to end the game, going home with a 14-7 victory.

In other Whidbey Island games, Coupeville lost to Archbishop Murphy 34-0 and South Whidbey beat Sultan 17-7.

In other WESCO North games, Marysville, celebrating 100 years of Tomahawk football, beat Arlington 37-15. In what many would consider a surprise win, Stanwood came out of the winless ranks by beating Monroe 35-14.

In non-league games featuring WESCO north teams, previously undefeated Lake Stevens lost to Jackson, 50-49 in OT. Jackson went for 2 after their TD and was able to convert for the win.

Next for the Wildcats is a road trip to Stanwood next Friday.

44 images from Friday night, most from pregame activity, have been posted HERE.

Look for some YouTube highlight clips on Tuesday.

A visit with......Justin Everett

Justin Allen Everett, a freshman, already has set plans for his future.

Entering OHHS from North Whidbey Middle School, he is already a key member of the freshman football team (#30), playing both sides of the ball as a fullback and linebacker. In addition to football, he will be wrestling and will be a sprinter on the track team. When we asked Justin why he plays football instead of running cross country, he said it was because “I can hit people”. It’s the aggressiveness of the sport that attracts him and lets him work his frustrations out in a productive way.

Justin was born in the Los Angeles area to Albert “Tre” and Martha Everett, and after living in Hawaii for a year, moved to Oak Harbor for 3rd grade. Justin has a half sister (Trinity) in California who is in Kindergarten, and a sister (Ashley) in 8th grade here in Oak Harbor.

So far he has decent grades, but one of his personal goals is to complete the year with nothing lower than a “B”. His favorite class so far is his writing class with Mrs. Sinibaldi, as the writing “allows me to vent” His favorite teacher is Edoga for science, because “the teacher makes learning fun”.

When not busy with practice or homework, Justing likes to play soccer and also likes to watch UFC fighting on TV. He’s also into downhill mountain biking, and in those rare moments when he’s not doing anything else, he enjoys watching action movies, and usually will make time to watch “Lost” and “Heroes” on TV.

This summer he was part of the National Night Out at City Beach Park in the car crash scenario. He was positioned in a wrecked car and extracted by firefighters using their specialized tools. In addition, Justin was the impaired driver and cause of the wreck. He was given a field sobriety test (which he conveniently failed), was placed in handcuffs and put in the back of an OHPD car. Other OHHS athletes that were part of the scenario were Greg Ennis, Haylee Little and Devin Tanner. Photos of the event can be found HERE

His most memorable sports moment so far occurred just a few weeks ago. In the freshman football game against Everett HS, he had the ball down near the opponent’s goal line, was determined to get in for a score. He did, dragging 2 defenders along with him.

His most memorable life moment is much more serious, and he wishes it wasn’t a memory at all. He remembers it was the Friday of spring break last year when he got the news his mother had succumbed to the effects of cancer. While he wishes he could go back and change things, he realizes he can’t, and is moving on with his own life.

Part of that moving on includes is plans for the future. As of now, his plans are to obtain an Ace degree in mechanics and run his own auto repair shop. If he had his choice, that shop would be in Australia, where he would like to live due to their large variety of extreme sports.

Justin's family has a culture of fitness, and participate as a family in many outdoor activities. Justin, his sister and father can been seen together working out in local gyms.

When asked if he had any final thoughts, Justin's only response was “Go Wildcats!”

Thursday sports - XC, Swim, Soccer & Volleyball

It wasn't the best of days for women's sports at OHHS.

At Marysville, the girls cross country team ran well, but in team scores finished 3rd out of 4 teams. First for the OH girls was Allison Duvenez, whose name got totally mangled by the Everett Herald (sorry, Alison). She finished 6th overall, and was followed by Adrianna Royal in 8th, Kathryn Fisken in 12th, Kim Kyle in 19th and Heather Dale in 22nd. The totaled 62 team points against winner Monroe's 35 (low score wins in XC).

The boys did better, finishing in 2nd place, just 7 points behind team winner Marysville. Tyler King of Coupeville but running for OH finished 2nd overall. Josh Duhrkopf finished 5th while Klauer, Reith and Bolte were bunched together in 9th, 11, and 12th respectively.

In Swimming, the girls team dropped their first league meet 106-80 against Marysville. The Wildcats did pick up wins in 5 events, the 100 backstroke, which Amanda Streubel won with a state-qualifying time of 1:02.01. Other winners for Oak Harbor were Ciara Hu in the 200IM and 100 butterfly, Rachel Weinstein in the 500 free, and the team of Karina Concepcion, KeriAnne Wright, Tori Nickerson and Carolyn Vasquez in the 200 meter free relay.

On the Snohomish soccer field, one player for the Panthers scored 3 goals as the Wildcats fell by a 4-0 score. The JV also got shut out by the Panthers 5-0.

Finally to the volleyball court at Meadowdale HS in Lynnwood. I don't have results yet for the Freshman and JV teams. The varsity match started out looking good for the Wildcats, as they won the first two games 27-25 and 25-22. The varsity girls stumbled in the 3rd, losing 17-25. Game 4 was close, but Meadowdale pulled off a 25-23 win to force the 5th game. The final game went strongly in the Mustang's favor, as they won 15-7, and finished the match with a 3-2 victory. Both Jessica Muzzall and Jen Jansen were in double-digits for kill, with 16 and 16 respectively, and Muzzall added 2 service aces for the Wildcats.

Next up for swimming is a home meet at Vanderzicht Pool against Snohomish next Tuesday at 3:00. The soccer and volleyball teams are both away on Tuesday, with the Soccer girls at Monroe and Volleyball at Lake Stevens. Cross Country runs next on Thursday, traveling to Meadowdale.

Home sports events this coming week, in addition to swimming on Tuesday are:
Boys Varsity Tennis at 4pm Monday (weather permitting) against Stanwood
Boys JV tennis at 4pm Wednesday against Everett (weather permitting)
Freshman football Wednesday at 5:30
Girls Soccer Thursday vs Lake Stevens, JV at 6, varsity at 7:30
Boys Tennis on Friday vs M-P at 4pm.

Freshman football video clips

4 clips of the game are posted. There just wasn't a lot of highlights to choose from.

On the apparent TD clip, look for a great block by #58 Cody Hernkind as Franssen turns the corner, and see if you can find the penalty that was called against OH. I can't.

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

Oak Harbor Youth Football to play in Wildcat Memorial Stadium this weekend.

This Saturday, October 4th, the OHYFL is moving all 5 football games from Ft. Nugent Park to Wildcat Memorial Stadium at OHHS.

This move is due mainly to the need for lighting in the later games.

So, come on down, brave the rain, and enjoy some great youth football while sitting in a covered stadium!

Varsity Tennis

In their first meeting this year, at Oak Harbor, the Wildcats beat Lake Stevens 4-3. In a match at Lake Stevens yesterday afternoon, the score was reversed.

In single action, Derek Thomas lost by a 6-1, 6-4 score, while Ryan Evans, Jordan Kingma and Josh Evans all won in straight sets.

In Doubles, while the team of Paul Jewell and Joel Valles pushed their match to 3 sets before falling 4-6, 6-2, 4-6, the other two doubles pairs both went down in straight sets.

Next for tennis is a match Friday at Arlington, with the JV at OH against Arlington.

JV tennis and Freshman football - October 1st

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tuesday's results - Swimming, Soccer & Tennis

The OHHS girls swim team moved to 2-0 in league meets with a convincing 132-53 team win over visiting Stanwood.

Unlike the previous two meets, the 'Cats didn't win all 11 swimming events, letting Stanwood take the 200 freestyle and 200 Individual Medley races. From there, however, it was all Oak Harbor as the girls won every other event. New in the win column this week for the Wildcats was diving. We had 4 girls participate, up from 2 in the last meet, and winning the diving competition was Michelle Maxwell, earning just shy of 105 points.

44 images from the swim meet are posted HERE.

Also in action was the boys tennis team, who traveled to Cascade HS to make up a rained out match. #1 singles Derek Thomas is out again, so Paul Jewell moved into the #4 singles spot, and was the only Wildcat to win his match, beating his opponent 6-3, 6-1. Josh Evans in the #3 spot went to 3 sets, 6-2, 3-6, 2-6 as did #1 Ryan Evans, 2-6, 6-4, 1-6. Another tough match was #2 Jordan Kingma, who went down in straight sets, but pushed the first set to a 7-6 (4) score!

In Doubles, #2 partner Rick Baleros was not able to play, which moved Geoff Worley into the #4 doubles spot. Unfortunately, all 3 doubles team went down in straight sets, giving Cascade a 6-1 team victory.

At Wildcat Memorial Stadium, a goal by Ashley Strassburg with 34:00 left in the second was all the team would need as the JV team posted their first victory of the year. Goalkeeper Maggie Gorman played well, stopping numerous shots to secure the 1-0 victory.

Things weren't so rosy on the varsity side, as two goals in the 1st half by Cascade and one more in the 2nd dropped the team to 1-6 on the season.

128 soccer photos, fairly evenly distributed between JV and varsity, are posted HERE.

Football video clips are up!

There are 5 varsity and 3 JV clips from games against Mt. Vernon.

One clip shows Ian Sinchak running 80 yards for a touchdown. That play was called back due to a flag on the Wildcats, but it was a sweet run so I put it up.

The clips are posted HERE

JV Football - Dillon Peterson scores twice vs Mt. Vernon

At Mt. Vernon HS, Dillon Peterson scored twice, with Jason Curles adding another, but it wasn't enough, as the turnover bug bit hard, with the Wildcats giving the ball away 6 times, twice inside the 20 during a 37-20 loss to the Bulldogs.

OH got on the board first, with a nice pass reception by Peterson. The ball was spotted on the Mt. Vernon 47, and the pass over the middle went just over the defender's hand and into Peterson's hands at the MV 32. From there he ran into the end zone untouched, but the PAT kick failed.

Things were looking up as the 'Cats put pressure on the MV quarterback, causing a less-than-perfect throw that Ian Sinchak intercepted at his own 32 and returned it 10 yards.

On the first play after the turnover, the handoff was fumbled, with Mt. Vernon recovering on the Oak Harbor 31. From there the Bulldogs needed only one play to tie the score at 6, the MV kick also failing.

After punting on their next possession, the 'Cats defense held, forcing a MV punt from the MV 37. The punt was partially blocked and rolled dead after only 7 yards.

On the next play, the OH QB was under pressure and on the verge of being sacked when he threw the ball up for grabs. Unfortunately, it was a Bulldog that did the grabbing. 7 plays later it was MV 12, OH 0, after another missed PAT attempt.

Ian Sinchak had a great run around the right side from his own 20, reached the sideline, and sprinted along it for the apparent TD. A flag on OH, however, brought the ball back to the 40, wiping the points off the board. After a couple of plays, including a penalty and a tackle for loss, Oak Harbor fumbled the ball again, giving MV a first down on the OH 45. The Wildcats were able to hold and force a turnover on downs, but just 4 plays later, another fumble put MV back at the OH 45. The team was able to stop this drive just inside the OH 10 yard line, pushing the MV receiver out of bounds a yard shy of the first down marker.

On the 2nd play of the drive, an overthrown pass was intercepted by MV. Looking at the tape, it was probably trapped, but the ball was given to the Bulldogs inside the OH 30. The 'Cats were able to stop MV, forcing 4 straight incompletions.

OH started another drive deep inside their own territory, but were not able to move it much before time expired in the first half. At the half, the score was MV 12, OH 6.

The 2nd half was all Mt. Vernon. Two interceptions in the 3rd were both turned into touchdowns, but the Wildcats were able to get their second score on a 40 yard pass play to Curles. Again the PAT failed.

At the end of 3, the score was not MV 24, OH 12.

Mt. Vernon scored again with 8:59 left in the game to increase their lead to 30-12. OH came back in just over a minute, scoring their own pass touchdown to Peterson. The 2 point conversion was good, closing the gap to 30-20.

Oak Harbor then attempted an onside kick. It started off good, with a nice bounce and the Bulldogs bobbling the ball, but they were able to down the ball and work it downfield for another score with 4:47 left in the game. Oak Harbor was able to return the kickoff out to midfield, but could not do anything with the ball.

Coach Nurvic did have several good things to say about the game. First and foremost was that even though the team lost, the players enjoy playing the game, and as a result, many are showing marked improvement from the beginning of the season. Coach Nurvic takes the "player development" role as JV coach very seriously, and works hard to prepare his players for the next level.

68 images from the game are posted HERE.

Boys Tennis results vs Monroe

It was a beautiful day for tennis, and at Oak Harbor High School, the OHHS tennis team played beautifully, evening their season record at 4-4 with a convincing win over league rival Monroe, 6-1.

The Wildcats won all 3 doubles matches for the first time this year, and 3 of 4 singles matches. All matches were in straight sets, with senior Ryan Evans blanking his opponent 6-0, 6-0.

In other singles action, Jordan Kingma won 6-2, 6-0 and sophomore Josh Evans won 6-1, 6-0, with Derek Thomas still not 100%, falling 6-1, 6-2.

On the doubles courts, the pair of Jewell and Valles wont 6-2, 6-3, Baleros and Marshall 6-2, 6-2, and O'Dell and Holbrook 6-3, 6-2.

In an additional, non-scoring match, sophomore Matthew Rice won by shutting out his opponent 6-0, 6-0.

Whidbey Wildcats Wrestling - Registrations begins soon

The Whidbey Wildcats Wrestling club is about to kick off another year of youth wrestling in Oak Harbor.

The club welcomes wrestlers of all abilities, from age 5-18. Registration begins on October 13th at 6pm in the OHHS mat room.

Cost is $85.00, which includes a singlet, T-shirt and team shorts. 3 tournaments will be held in Oak Harbor this year.

Visit the club website at http://www.leaguelineup.com/welcome.asp?url=whidbey

Middle School sports get started

The Middle Schools offer 4 sports seasons, with the first and last season single-sports seasons. They start with Cross Country and end with Track. This year, due to budget cuts, the two middle schools have combined for a single Oak Harbor cross country team.

Last Wednesday was the first meet, held at Pt. Susan Middle School in Stanwood. The Oak Harbor Sports Report couldn't be there, but we now have results! I would love to include all the athletes' first names, but the results I received only include first initials. Sorry.

Starting with the 7th grade boys, Oak Harbor had one runner in the top 10 - C. Johnson who finished in 4th place with a time of 9:03, just 13 seconds after the winner. Other 7th grade runners for the boys were T. Peterschmidt, N. Wagner, T. Horton, A. James, T. Sanders, C. Edwards, R. Harrison and H. Miller.

The 8th grade boys had two top-10 finishers in W. Homola (2nd) and H. Kaltenbach (3rd). Homola finished the course in 8:48 and Kaltenbach was only a second behind at 8:49. Other finishers were J. Knoll, M. Cross, M. Frank, Z. Hasting, J. Kurfis, T. Taylor, Q. Guillermo, K. Turner, D. Kusnick, B. Benz, S. Gianguzzo and S. Jappert. Due to the combined efforts of the runners, Oak Harbor, as a team, finished in 1st place with 61 points, 10 point ahead of 2nd place Conway.

The 7th grade girls team also did well, with O. Meyer nabbing 1st place, followed by A. Laiblin in 3rd and A. Leete in 8th. H. Kagey, and J. Maier also competed, and even with a small team, the good running pushed the girls into a 1st place team finish, just 3 points ahead of Langley.

Finally, the 8th grade girls. The Oak Harbor team was unable to place anyone in the top 10, but finished enough runners to earn points, putting them ahead of 4 other teams. First for the Oak Harbor team was C. Wicker, then T. Nienhuis, A. McLoud, H. Hamamoto, C. Kenny, E. Adkins and K. Rankin. Wicker, Nienhuis and McLoud finished as a group, only 3 second separating their times.

While our runners may not have always been the fastest, there were 34 kids out there doing their best and having fun. In our view, they're all winners for just going out and trying, especially when it's so easy to just go home and watch TV or play computer games.

Next for the middle school runners is a meet this Thursday at Sedro-Woolley. On October 15th, Oak Harbor will be hosting their only home meet of the season at Wirth Farm off Boon Road. Come on out, brave the cool fall air, and cheer for our kids. It's FREE!!!

Fall league girls basketball

Both the varsity and JV teams were in action Sunday. The JV team played at 1:30 under coach Keely Smollack, but I don't have any results.

The varsity played at 5:45 at Skagit Valley College against Stanwood, and it was a hard game on the Wildcats as they were missing many regular players. Jessica Denmon is injured, Molly Deleon had a family commitment, and Cheyenne Tubo and Cori Henricksen were also missing. Most of the players that did show up were almost late due to the traffic in Anacortes due to the Oyster Run. Stanwood won the game, but it was a good challenge for the girls that were there, and many of the girls, who will be JV this winter, got some good playing time against a good Stanwood team. Janelle Yoshimoto and Sheena Corey traded point guard duties. Coach Gary Brundidge said there was a new girl, from Belgium, who played a bit and did well, and at one point in the game, Becca Moeai, who is not what you would call a petite girl, tripped and fell right on top of the Stanwood post player. Neither girls was injured, and both were able to continue.

Next for the fall league girls are games at 11:15 and 12:20 next Sunday at Skagit Valley College. Admission is FREE!!!

Roving reporter Michelle Sandstrom visits with Kirsten Roof

Michelle has been busy this week with three athlete profiles. Look for regular Monday varsity profiles in the future.


Kirsten Roof is a varsity soccer player for Oak Harbor high school. Not only does this smart, bubbly blonde have soccer everyday after school and weekend games for select soccer, she also has a life that consists of a boyfriend, family, and friends.
I recently sat down with her for lunch and got the chance to ask her some questions many of us non athletes wonder about, such as how the athletes manage their time.
She was sitting next to me in a soft red, ankle low dress looking kind of nervous and really wanting to eat lunch so I began with the question “why are all the soccer girls wearing there homecoming dresses today”? And with a smile and half laugh she answered “it was creating team bonding and hoping gets more people out there in the stands to watch us and of course just for fun”. We giggled for awhile and then with ten minutes left of lunch we got back into a discussion about soccer.
“What is your position, number, and why” I asked in a rushed tone trying to finish this interview before lunch was over. “My number is fifteen because each year when you’re a senior you have to choose a senior number and that’s what was open when I got there and I am center and an outside mid fielder”. “And how long have you been playing” I asked and when I looked up she had her thinking face on; “ok well eighteen minus that equals thirteen, so yeah thirteen years”!
“As you know football players have girls wear their jerseys, do you girls do that”? “I personally do and so do some others, Derrick wears mine”.
“What about goals for this season, how do you expect yourself and the team to do”? “Well were improving and we almost beat Everett the other night and that’s crazy because there freakishly good and we lost in a second overtime. And as for me, I would really like to score and just over all win”! “Speaking of wins, how do you take a loss”? “I have learned to take a loss very well because we have lost a lot but we are improving and I stress improving”!
“Being on a sports team is an amazing experience, I only know from XC and track, how is it on a soccer team”? “Really fun because were all good friends and we play dress up and have a lot of sleepovers and carbo loads”. “It sounds like you girls have a lot of fun together, what do you do in your spare time or is that your spare time”? “Hahaha what spare time? I really don’t know how I balance anything, school is for friends and homework is in between classes and on bus rides”.
We finished up our interview within two minutes before the bell and as I thanked her she got up and hurried off to get some food.

Another busy sports Saturday at Ft. Nugent Park - Soccer and Football

At Ft. Nugent Park Saturday, the Oak Harbor Sports Report was able to get to 3 soccer games and 5 football games. It was a stretch, but we were able to get photos from all 8 events we covered.



First up is soccer, featuring the GU-8 Pink Dynamite, sponsored by the Latte Lady. You can see the Latte Lady all over town in her maroon VW bus, bringing your coffee to you! After the game, coach Morgan Dutton, an OHHS soccer player, said of her girls "they are showing good development and are communicating well on the field". The girls are playing good soccer, and coach wants to improve on that my working on better passing. 95 photos of the game are posted HERE.



Next in soccer was the BU-6 Jets, sponsored by Patty Folkestad of Re/Max Properties and the Blue Sharks, sponsored by Der Kinderhuis Montessori school. Coach Curt Montano of the Jets said the best part of coaching kids this the fun. "It's fun to watch them play - there's lots of action in a very small area". Also, games at this level are normally high scoring affairs, with double-digit scores by both teams not uncommon. We were able to get 81 decent photos and have posted them HERE.



Finally in soccer, the Girl's U-11 Academy team "Courage", sponsored by NWSA. Headed by 3rd-year head coach Ryan Baker, the team is a traveling squad made up of girls who show the potential to play on the select teams in the future. The girls played a team from Stanwood-Camano, and were relentless, scoring 3 goals in the first half and adding another 4 in the second, while holding Stanwood scoreless. Coach Baker said "the girls moved the ball really well", and by spreading the field, were able to wear the other team down. Overall, he said "They played a wonderful game". 81 images from the game are posted HERE.



Moving to football, the Oak Harbor Youth Football League played 5 games, starting at 9am. While there were some delays, and it was close, league officials were able to get the last game completed before it became too dark to play.



In the first game of the day, the Midget Cougars played Lakewood, and showed those other Cougars just who's house they were in! The game was all Oak Harbor, who finished with the 35-0 win. Coach Marcus Bell was proud of the way his boys played. Due to covering a soccer game at the same time, only 17 photos from the game are posted HERE.



The second football game featured the PeeWee Lynx vs Lakewood, and this was a much closer game. Each team lost a fumble in the 1st quarter, and in the 2nd, Lakewood executed a near-perfect reverse for a TD. Unusually for Peewee football, Lakewood opted to kick the PAT (worth 2 points at this level), and we found out why. The kick had plenty of distance, but hit the right upright about 10 feet above the crossbar. If this kid has that good of a leg at age 8, watch out NFL! The Lynx grabbed the Lakewood kickoff and returned it for a TD, building a 14-6 lead that they would keep. The Lynx scored twice in the 3rd, and the final score was 27-6 Lynx. 60 images of the game and Lynx Cheerleaders are HERE.


3rd on the schedule was the Midget Panthers vs Arlington. This game started out badly for the Panthers, with Arlington holding a 13-0 halftime lead, but the Oak Harbor boys were able to chip away at the lead, and late in the 4th quarter, the score stood at 19-16 in favor of Arlington after an OH touchdown. The onside kick attempt failed, and Arlington was able to run the clock out. 43 images of the players and cheer squad can be found HERE.

Following the Panthers were the Junior Pumas, and this game did not go well for Oak Harbor at all. The Pumas just couldn't get going, and wound up on the short end of a 44-20 score. We were only able to get 18 good images, which are posted HERE.

The nightcap game, which almost became a literal, rather than figurative term, was between the Senior Wildcat team, made up of middle school-age boys, and the Anacortes team. Although the Wildcats came up short, 26-6, the game was closer than the score indicated. If the Wildcats had not lost a couple of fumbles or completed a couple of key passes, the score could easily have gone the other way. 55 images of players and the cheer squad are posted HERE.

Next weekend is another full day at Ft. Nugent, with another 5 football games and 13 soccer games.

In football, the Senior Wildcats play Orcas at 9am, followed at 11 by the Junior Pumas vs Burlington, then the Midget Cougars vs Arlington at 1pm, Peewee Lynx vs Concrete at 3pm, and Junior Jaguars vs Bellingham. All football games are on the new upper field next to the upper parking lot.

Soccer has both boys and girls U-6 games at 9 and 10 am, boys and girls U-8 games at 9 and 10, with an additional boys game at 11am. There will be a co-ed 10-11 game at 9am, and at the U-10 level, there are two boys games at 9am and a 3rd game at noon. All soccer games are on the lower fields near the main parking lot.

The concession stand, operated by the OHYFL, will be open all day, the Latte Lady parks near the soccer fields during soccer games, and Sno-Cone Joe can be found in the drop-off circle near the football field.

Boys Tennis

The OH tennis men ran into a buzzsaw called Snohomish High School last Friday. The Panthers were able to capture all 7 varsity matches in strights sets.

On the positive side, all the varsity singles players were back from their injuries, and Jordan Kingma and Josh Evans played some good tennis against a superior and undefeated Snohomish team.

Some photos of two doubles matches are posted HERE.