FB 2011-10-21 vs Marysville-Getchell

As expected, the Oak Harbor Wildcats dominated the visiting Marysville-Getchell Chargers on Homecoming night last Friday.

The game didn't start well for the 'Cats. The Chargers took the opening kickoff out to the OH 31, then OH got hit with a defensive pass interference call, but right after that Jeremy Foster tackled the MG runner in the backfield then Brent Ryan recovered a fumble at the MG.

After the turnover, an apparent OH score was brought back due to a holding call, but 3 plays later Ryan went in from 3 yards out for the first score of the game.

The OH "D" held Getchell to a 3-and-out, but 3 plays later Getchell took the ball back with an interception at their own 39. Again an OH penalty gave MG another first down, but they wound up punting after another 3 plays.

On the 2nd play from scrimmage, Josiah Miller broke loose down the near sideline for a 70-yard scoring run with 1:50 left to make it 14-0. Another 3-and-out for Getchell forced a punt which Miller returned to the 14, then got another 7 yards tacked on due to the horse collar tackle by the Chargers. This time Miller caught a pass from Ian Kolste. That score was his 23rd of the season, tying Blake Ward's total from 2003 and made it 21-0 as time expired in the first quarter.

Two plays later the OH offense was back on the field after Ben Miller tipped a Charger pass that was then intercepted by Casey Ferguson at the Getchell 10 yard line. One play later Miller set a new school record for touchdowns in a single season, running it in from the 10.

Later in the second, a halfback pass by Getchell was intercepted by Mike Washington at the MG 25 and returned to the 1 yard line. Ryan punched it in to make it 35-0 with 10:20 left in the half.

Marysville had one good play, completing a screen pass at midfield then running down to the OH 16 before being tackled, but the Chargers failed to convert a 4th and 8 play, then Oak Harbor marched down the field in 5 plays, ending with Sheyenne Sams going in from 27 yards out. The final score of the half came on a 5-yard run by Miller with 1:40 left making it 49-0.

Isaiah Trower ran 75 yards on the 3rd play of the first possession of the second half, then Julian Faralan ran 35 yards for what appeared to everyone as a touchdown, but was spotted at the 1 yard line be the officials. No matter, as Faralan ran in on the next play to make it 63-0 with 4:17 left in the 3rd quarter.

Now deep into the depth chart, the Wildcats didn't move the ball as efficiently, turning the ball over on downs at the Getchell 20. The final score of the game came with just 8 seconds left when Logan Faught intercepted a MG pass and returned it 30 yards for a TD.

Final score - Oak Harbor 69, MG 0. This is believed to be a school record for most points by a varsity team in a single game in school history.

Next for the Wildcats is a trip to Edmonds Stadium on Thursday, October 27th to play the Meadowdale Mavericks. Both teams will enter the game 8-0. The Wildcats average over 50 points per game on offense, the Mavericks allow an average of just over 7 points per game on defense. The winner will be WESCO 3A champ and get home field advantage.

From information currently available, if (actually, when - time to be confident) Oak Harbor beats Meadowdale and is WESCO 3A #1, they will host Greater St. Helens League (Vancouver area) #3 on either November 4th or 5th, probably the 5th due to travel distance. If they win that game the Wildcats will be District 1 #1 and will be in the bottom half of the state bracket.

If the Wildcats don't win, they will be WESCO 3A #2 and will play Metro (Seattle) League #5, with the winner District 2 #2 and would most likely play Bellevue in the first round of the state playoffs.

After the game, the players gathered for their typical postgame conference with the coaches, but afterwards spread out around the midfield soccer circle and commenced to do several rounds of the Hokey Pokey.

Then, as part of the Papa Murphy's Pizza promotion of free pizza for a years, OH kicker Peter Franssen attempted a 35-yard field goal. If he made the FG, the person selected in the drawing would win free Papa Murphy's pizza for a year. Kolste held the ball, Coach Fisher and Turner were under the goalposts, and the rest of the team gathered at the 40. Kolste spotted the ball, Franssen kicked the ball cleanly, BUT, the ball sailed wide right.

No worries, as Papa Murphy's allowed a second try, and this time Franssen's kick was right down the middle.


Video highlights are posted HERE.

Over 100 photos of Homecoming night activities are posted HERE. Included are Football Senior Night introductions. Photos posted here are free to download.

Game photos are posted HERE. Game photos are all from the second half and feature a lot of the 2nd string players.

VB 2011-10-20 vs Glacier Peak

Last Thursday, October 20th, there was a massively important volleyball match in the OHHS gym, with Glacier Peak coming to town and home-court advantage in the upcoming playoffs on the line.

Starting over in the dome, the Freshman had a bad first game, losing 11-25. They recovered well, and posted 25-18, 25-22 in the final two games to win the match 2-1.

The JV won their first game easily, 25-16, struggled a bit in the second before pulling away to win 25-20. With the match won, Coach Swankie used the 3rd game to experiment with his lineup and while the girls played hard, fell 16-25.

In varsity action, Oak Harbor looked like a championship team, destroying the Grizzlies 25-9 in game one. The Wildcats came otu a bit flat in game two, falling behind 3-6 early, but quickly regained the lead and led 20-12 at one point. Kayleigh Harper served up an ace to end game two in favor of OH, 25-27. The Wildcats now led the match 2-0.

Game three was back and forth throughout until late, when 3 straight kills and a service ace put Glacier Peak up 24-22. A hitting error by the Wildcats ended the game 25-22 for GP, but the Wildcats still led 2-1.

Not ready to go home , Glacier Peak grabbed an early lead in game four, but never commanded the game, until late, with the score 21-17 in favor of GP. From there, an overpass kill, an ace and an error by the Wildcats led to game point for the Grizzlies. A kill by Glacier Peak ended the game 25-18 and tied the match at 2 games apiece.

In the decisive game five, Oak Harbor built a 7-3 lead on a big kill of an overpass by Kelsey Rankin, but GP fought back to tie the game at 7. A Roshel Muzzall tip put OH back on top 8-7 but a kill by GP tied it back up at 8. Another Muzzall tip gave the lead back to OH 9-8, and after a GP error and a Muzzall service ace, OH led 11-8. A big kill by DeGuzman coupled with a block by Rankin put our girls up 13-8. Harper put the game and match away with a dink just over the GP blockers. OH won game five 15-10 and the match 3-2.

The Wildcats travel to always noisy Everett Monday for their final regular season match, then return home on October 31st for the district playoffs.

Video highlights are HERE. They include Freshman, JV and varsity action.

Photos from all 3 teams are HERE.

Middle School Cross Country 2011-10-20 at City Beach

The Wildcat United cross country team, made up of students from both OHMS and NWMS, ran their second home meet of the season last Thursday at City Beach Park in Oak Harbor with much success.

Of the four races, boys and girls 7th grade and boys and girls 8th grade, Oak Harbor runners won three.

In the 7th grade girls race, it was another 1-2 finish for Oak Harbor, with Kaitlyn Chelberg coming in first in 10:50 and Carolynn Wicker just one second behind. After one Burlington and one Mt. Vernon runner crossed the finish line, it was a slew of OH runners. Gabrielle Chavez was 5th in 12:23, Mia Gehrmann 6th, Erica Sugatan 7th, and Emma Lerch 8th. Karissa Cashen was 10th for Wildcat United.

Also in the 7th grade race but not in the top 10 this time were Maegan Gore, Christina Ferris, Maliah Anliker, Sarah Gartley, Julia Hebert, Aujuna Frye and Jennifer Hebert.

Click HERE for photos of the 7th grade girls race.

The 7th grade boys race was the only one without an Oak Harbor runner as the winner. Of the 31 runners in the race, only 5 were from OH. Kelly Holt was the first of these, finishing in 6th overall in 10:47. Kegan Snell was right behind in 7th, just one second later. Michael Husmann was 14th, Alexander Hartley 18th and Jayke Callies 19th.

7th grade boys photos are HERE.

Mariel Empinado won the 8th grade girls race and won big. Her winning time was 10:23, and the second place time over a minute later: 11:29. Also in the top 10 for OH were Emily Miesle in 4th, Zoe Bassett 5th, Caitlyn Dodge 6th, Carly Hall 7th, Sarah Dodge 9th and Geslyne Barreta 10th. The total time difference between 4th and 8th was just 4 seconds - it was a tight group of runners. Also finishing for Wildcat United were Resego Mooki, Anna Whitefoot, Mily Larsen and Jackelyn Garcia

Photos from the 8th grade girls race are posted HERE.

Oak Harbor took the top 2 spots in the 8th grade boys race, with Logan Clark winning in 9:44 and Garrett Haugen second in 10:10. John Dix was 6th, Matt Molitor 8th and Michael Thornton 10th. Nathan Larsen, Garrett Stahl, Jared Hunt, Casey Quijino, Dominic Jones and Justin Cross rounded out the 8th grade field for Oak Harbor.

Photos from this race are HERE.

The meet ended the middle school cross country regular season. Next week, on October 27th, the runners head to Mt. Vernon for the championships.

Next up for the middle schools is girls volleyball, with the first match on November 15th when North Whidbey travels to OHMS. Admission is always free to middle school sporting events.

FB 2011-10-19 Freshmen vs Shorecrest

It was another thumping Wednesday night at OHHS at the Freshman football team beat Shorecrest 50-0.

The Oak Harbor domination was so complete, that the Shorecrest highlight was a punt. They punted from their own 39, the ball hit the ground at the OH 40 and bounced and rolled all the way to the OH 8 yard line.

The start of the game was fairly slow, as OH led 8-0 at the first break. The score came on a 12-yard run with 7:25 left and OH went with a 2-point conversion to make it 8-0.

In the second quarter Oak Harbor unleashed the offense, scoring 4 times in just over 5 minutes. The first second quarter scored was a 26-yard run with 6:25 remaining, then after a Shorecrest 3 and out Oak Harbor ran the first scrimmage play 46 yards to make it 22-0 with 4:15 left.

After an interception at teh OH 46, the offense was on the field again and this time needed two plays, ending with a 34-yard run to make it 29-0 with 2:23 left.

The final score of the first half came after Shorecrest failed to convert a 4th down attempt at their own 43. The Wildcats ran just one play and scored from 43 yards out with 1 minute on the clock. The halftime score was 36-0.

Oak Harbor received the opening kickoff to start the second half, and had their only sustained drive of the game. They started on their own 20 yard line and needed 12 plays to march 80 yards in 5:35, ending with a 22-yard run into the end zone. The score was now 42-0 for Oak Harbor and started a running clock for the remainder of the game.

After the highlighted Shorecrest punt, made longer by an Oak Harbor penalty, the Wildcats started with the ball on their own 4 yard line and 1:00 left in the 3rd quarter. Nine plays later with 4:45 left in the game the Wildcats scored once more from 7 yards out to make it 50-0.

Shorecrest was content to let the clock run out, giving OH a 50-0 win.

There is no Marysville-Getchell freshman football team for the Wildcat freshmen to play next week, so they invited the Arlington Eagles to Wildcat Memorial Stadium for a special Tuesday afternoon game. The contest starts at 5:30pm and admission is free. The concession stand will be open, serving hot chocolate, coffee, and Wildcat dogs. It will be the final freshman game of the year.

Video highlights are posted HERE.

Girls soccer 2011-10-18 vs Mountlake Terrace

It was another rough night for the Wildcat soccer team last night at Wildcat Memorial Stadium.

Terrace scored once in the first half and once in the second half to defeat the OHHS JV squad 2-0.

In the varsity match, the teams played evenly until MLT was able get a shot past the OH goalkeeper with less than 5 minutes to go in the first half. Earlier in the half, an apparent goal by Oak Harbor was not called by the ref, leaving MLT ahead 1-0 at the half.

In the second half, MLT scored twice and while Oak Harbor had numerous shots on the Hawk goal, none went in.

Terrace won the game 3-0.

The girls travel next week to Shorewood before hosting the final game of the year, against Everett.

94 photos of JV and Varsity girls in action are posted HERE.

Girls Swim 2011-10-17 vs Meadowdale

In their final home meet of the season, the OHHS girls swim team dominated visiting Meadowdale 122-61. The Wildcats won 8 events and their depth allowed them to get second place in 10 more.

As usual, Ciara Hu and Karina Concepcion led way with two individual wins each. Hu in the 100 fly and diving, Concepcion in the 50 free and 100 back.

Also winning their events were Mollie Briddell (200 free), Irysh Concepcion (100 free) and Nicole Vogt (400 free). The Oak Harbor 4x100 free relay was also first.

After the diving event, the team took time out to recognize the departing seniors.

The team travels to Kamiak Thursday for the final regular season meet of the year.

98 photos of swimming and diving, plus group photos of the seniors, are posted HERE.

Boys Tennis 2011-10-13 JV vs Glacier Peak

While the JV tennis team struggled this year, losing twice to Mountlake Terrace by a single match, individually the season was very successful. Coach Mark Strohschein was pleased with the progress his young team made over the season, and is looking for many to make the move to Varsity next year.

Photos from last Thursday's match against Glacier Peak are posted HERE.

FB 2011-10-14 Varsity at Shorecrest

With the regular season starting to wind down the Wildcat varsity football team traveled to Shoreline Stadium to play the Shorecrest Highlanders last Friday night looking to keep their perfect record intact.

Oak Harbor got on the board first on a 1-yard run up the gut by big Brent Ryan to finish an 8-play, 59-yard drive halfway through the first quarter. Shorecrest responded early in the second with a 45-yard pass play to tie the scored at 7. The Scots then took a 13-7 lead on another TD pass, this one from 17 yards out and 5:27 left until halftime.

The Wildcats started their next drive at their own 25 yard line and drove down to the Scot 32, but a 4th and short conversion attempt failed and Shorecrest took over. For one play. The Scots fumbled the ball back to OH and the Wildcat offense was back in business at the Shorecrest 32. Seven plays later it was 14-13 in favor of the Wildcats with 44 seconds left in the half.

After an inspiring halftime speech by head coach Jay Turner, the Wildcats came out of the locker room and took 2:03 off the clock before Ryan went in again from a yard out, putting OH up 21-13. The "D" held Shorecrest to 3-and-out, then Josiah Miller made it 27-13, capping a 68-yard, 10-play drive with a 7-yard sweep around the right side.

On the next Scot possession, the defense stepped up even more, recording 3 sacks, one by Casey Ferguson and two by Jon Lanningham. The second Lanningham sack was on a 4th and 23 pass attempt by Shorecrest, giving OH the ball at their own 39. Another time consuming drive by the Wildcats gave Ryan yet another score, boosting OH to a 33-13 lead.

The Shorecrest offense continued to sputter, and things went from bad to worse when an errant snap on a punt sailed over the punter's head and into the Shorecrest end zone. Ferguson was right there to tackle the punter in the end zone for a safety. Now with 9:26 left in the game, OH was pulling away 35-13.

The Wildcat offense still wasn't done scoring. On the free kick after the safety, it appeared as if Miller would have yet another return TD, but is 75-yard run was called back by a holding penalty. No matter, as 5 plays later he was in from 23 yards out to make it 42-13.

Shorecrest got the final score of the night, completing a pass from 22 yards out into the end zone.

Final score - OH 42, Shorecrest 21.

The next game for the Wildcats is a combination of homecoming and senior night this Friday against winless Marysville-Getchell.

59 photos from the game are posted HERE.

Video highlights are HERE.

Youth football 2011-10-15

Four of the six Oak Harbor Youth Football teams played at the Ft. Nugent field Saturday while the other two were on the road.

At Burlington, the Bobcats won 47-13 to boost their record to 5-1. Their only loss was to 6-0 Sedro Woolley. Next weekend the Bobcats start their playoffs with a game against Arlington Blue at Mt. Vernon High School at 3pm.

At Mt. Vernon HS, the midget Panthers destroyed the MV Black team 48-8. Their record is now 3-3 with one regular season game remaining, Saturday at 9am at Ft. Nugent vs 3-3 Sedro White.

The other midget team, the Cougars lost 32-0 to 6-0 Burlington Gold. The Cougars found themselves down 16-0 early after Burlington recovered a pair of onside kicks. Outside of those two early scores, the Cougars did well on defense, allowing a single score in the 2nd quarter and just one in the second half. The Cougars are now 1-5 and play 5-1 Stanwood in the final game of the day next weekend at Ft. Nugent.

Cougars highlights are HERE.

A few photos, including some of the cheerleaders, are posted HERE.

Both Junior teams played back-to-back Saturday. The 5-0 Jaguars went first against 4-1 Bellingham and it was a fairly static game through 3 quarters. Bellingham scored with 4:41 left in the 1st quarter and missed the PAT. That score would stand until the Jags got on the board with 8:48 left in the game. The Jags were set to punt, but the defensive line surge forced the punter to pull the ball back and run. 79 yards later he was in the end zone. The 1-point PAT was good, giving Oak Harbor a 7-6 lead. Until that play, Bellingham had been playing with confidence while the Jaguars were hesitant. After the score, Jaguar confidence soared and they score twice more, on a 1-yard QB sneak and on a 7-yard run to the right. When the final horn sounded, the Jags remained the only undefeated team in the Junior Mountain division at 6-0. Final score - Oak Harbor 19, Bellingham 6. The Jags finish their season at home next Saturday against 0-6 Stanwood.

Click HERE for video highlights of the Jaguar's game

Photos are HERE.


The Pumas ran only 1 offensive play in the first 9 minutes of the game but led 12-0 over Mt. Vernon. The first play from scrimmage went 37 yards down the right side and a 27-yard punt return accounted for the scoring. Oak Harbor scored again. Opting to go for it on a 4th and 1 at their own 35, they broke loose for a 65-yard romp to make it 18-0 for the Pumas. MV ran the kickoff back for a TD to make it 18-6, but OH also scored on the 70-yard kickoff return to put their lead back to 18 points. A 93-yard run down the right sideline put the game out of reach at 38-6 at halftime. The final score of the game came on the opening kickoff of the second half, when the Pumas ran the kick back 67 yards to make it 44-6. The Pumas are now 4-2 and travel to 2-4 Arlington Gold for their final game.

HERE are Pumas video highlights

HERE are some photos

Finally, the senior Wildcats (6-1) were 44-12 winners over 1-6 Lakewood. Again, the Oak Harbor team scored early and often. It was 12-0 at then end of the first quarter and 18-0 at half. The Wildcats allowed a couple of long runs for touchdowns in the second half, one each in the 3rd and 4th quarters, but scored 4 times to set the final score. The Wildcats finish their season at home vs 5-2 Sedro Woolley next weekend.

A video highlight reel is HERE

A few photos are posted HERE.

VB 2011-10-13 - Special Coupeville/South Whidbey Edition

The South Whidbey Falcons drove up the highway to Coupeville to take on the Wolves in volleyball Thursday night and brought along a lot of fans.

This was the second meeting between the two teams this year. In the first match, Coupeville gave up a 2-0 lead and lost 3-2 at South Whidbey.

First up was the JV squad. The JV numbers were down since half of the players were split off into a "C" team to play against the Falcons' "C" team over in the aux gym.

South Whidbey won the first game 25-18 then Coupeville won the second game 25-16. In the deciding third game the Wolves were dominated as South Whidbey won 25-7.

74 photos of the JV Wolves and the Falcons are posted HERE.

In C-team action, South Whidbey swept all 3 games, 25-18, 25-21, 25-21.

75 photos of both South Whidbey and Coupeville "C" teams in action are posted HERE.

The varsity match was almost a mirror image of the meeting in the Falcon gym. South Whidbey won the first game 25-23 and went into extra points to capture the second game 27-25. In game 3 it was Coupeville on top 25-18 and Coupeville also won the 4th game 25-12.

In the fifth and deciding game, Coupeville dug in and went on to win 15-12 and win the match 3-2.

Over 150 photos of the two varsity teams are posted HERE.

Girls Soccer 2011-10-11 vs Lynnwood

It was an up and down night for Oak Harbor girls soccer Tuesday night at Wildcat Memorial Stadium.

On the up side the JV team dominated the visiting Lynnwood Royals 5-0. It's the third win of the season for the JV girls.

On the down side, after 80 minutes of regulation and two 5-minute overtime periods, the Lynnwood and Oak Harbor varsity teams left the field with a 0-0 tie on the scoreboard. The previous meeting between the two teams also resulted in a tie. Both varsity teams remain winless this season.

A total of 79 photos of the JV and Varsity squads are posted HERE.

FB 2011-10-12 Freshmen @ Marysville-Pilchuck

The good news - the OHHS Freshman team remains undefeated in WESCO 3A. The bad news, they are no longer undefeated for the season, losing 14-0 at a wet Quil Ceda Stadium against the Marysville-Pilchuck Tomahawks.

MP scored in the first quarter, taking the opening kickoff and driving down to the OH 3 yard line, partly due to a 30+ yard run by the Tomahawks, before punching it in. The kick missed, leaving the score at 0-6 at 6:59 in the first quarter.

The rest of the quarter was filled with punts by both teams and ended with MP still on top 6-0.

Oak Harbor moved the ball down to the MP 14 yard line, but a 4th and 1 run attempt was stopped at the line of scrimmage for no gain. MP scored again on this possession, running in from 29 yards out. The 2-point PAT attempt was good to make the score 14-0 in favor of Marysville.

Again OH drove into Tomahawk territory, with 21 seconds left play, but the Wildcat QB was bumped as he let go of the ball and it was intercepted at the 16 yard line. 20 seconds later the Tommies returned the favor, fumbling the ball at the OH 34 with just a second left. OH took a knee to end the half down 14-0.

In the second half, turnovers proved the difference. OH received the kickoff and drove to the MP 7, but the ball was stripped and recovered by Marysville. The next Wildcat drive in the 2nd half ended with a 4th down pass attempt at the MP 24 fell incomplete. In the 4th quarter, an OH fumble at midfield stopped another drive.

On the bright side, the OH defense prevented any further MP scoring, even though the Tommies had a first and goal inside the one yard line. By the time it was 4th down, that distance was now 7 yards, but time was running short and Oak Harbor was able to get only to midfield before time expired.

Before this game, the Wildcat freshmen had been averaging over 46 points per game over four game and had allowed only 6 points. Even with the loss, the boys are still 4-0 in league play, tied with Meadowdale. Unfortunately, since Meadowdale is last on the varsity schedule, the two freshman teams will not play head-to-head this year.

Next week's game, originally scheduled for Thursday at Shorecrest has been moved. The game will now by played Wednesday at OHHS. Admission to all freshmen football games is free.

About a minute's worth of video clips are posted HERE.

VB 2011-10-10 vs Mountlake Terrace

Stinging from two straight losses last week, the Wildcats were ready for a rematch against the Mountlake Terrace Hawks Monday night at OHHS. Saturday at a tournament in Anacortes, the Wildcats went undefeated in pool play, but lost 2-1 in the opening round of bracket play to the Hawks.

Before the game, Coach Molitor took some time to recognize the 3 seniors on this years' team. Standing before the cheering home fans with their parents were Christina Alexander, Lizzy Chase and Janine DeGuzman. We wish them well.

Things looked good early in game one, with Oak Harbor taking a 6-1 lead, but Terrace crept back into the game, knotting the score at 20 then took at 23-21 lead. Our girls responded well, scoring 4 straight, ending with a Christina Alexander service ace and a Kayleigh Harper kill. OH wins game one 25-23.

In game two, the Wildcats again took a 6-1 lead, but MLT was back in it quickly, tying the score at 14. The two teams would be back and forth for a while until a pair of kills by Janine DeGuzman and a Roshel Muzzall service ace put the 'Cats ahead for good. Another kill by DeGuzman gave OH game point then a hitting error by the Hawks gave game two to OH, 25-18.

Game three was close throughout. With the score tied at 15, Oak Harbor started to pull away, increasing their lead to 4 points, 23-19. For the second time that night, a kill by DeGuzman put the Wildcats at game (and match) point, and this time she put it away with her 10th kill of the night. Game three to Oak Harbor 25-20 and the match to the Wildcats 3-0.

Wednesday the team travels to Lynnwood. The Wildcats are currently tied for 2nd with the Royals who lost 3-1 to Glacier Peak on Monday. Then the Wildcats host Glacier Peak, also part of the current 3-way tie for 2nd place in the last home match of the season on Monday, October 24th.

157 photos of Freshman, JV and Varsity action are posted HERE.

Video highlights of the varsity team only are HERE.

Youth football 2011-10-08

Four of the six Oak Harbor teams were in action Saturday at Ft. Nugent Park, 3 of them at home.

On the road, the senior Wildcats held on to their tied for 2nd place with a 20-14 win at Arlington Gold. The 'Cats are now 5-1 on the season.

At home, the Jaguars game was a nail-biter as the game went down to the wire. In the end, it was Oak Harbor 18, Burlington Gold 13. The Jaguars remain undefeated and along in first place in the junior division.

44 photos of the Jaguars are posted HERE.

Another winner Saturday were the Panthers, who improved to 2-3 on the season with a 36-14 victory over Burlington Blue.

26 Panthers photos are HERE

Finally, in another game that went down to the final seconds, the Pumas fell to Ferndale 32-25. Ferndale had a big lead, but a late comeback by the Pumas was thwarted when Ferndale fell on the onside kick. The Pumas are now 3-2 and in a tie for 5th place.

Click HERE for 61 photos of the Pumas

The 4-1 Bobcats and 1-4 Cougars both had byes.

Next weekend has all six teams in action with four games at Ft. Nugent. The Cougars take on Burlington Gold at 9am, the Jags face Bellingham at 11am, Wildcats vs Lakewood at 3pm and the Pumas vs Mt. Vernon at 3pm.

Football 2011-10-07 vs Mt. Vernon

The Josiah Miller show visited Oak Harbor last Friday night at the Wildcats took on the Mt. Vernon Bulldogs. MV came in with a 4-1 record, their only loss to 4A Mariner, 28-24.

The game started badly for the Wildcats at the opening kickoff was fumbled at the OH 27 and MV recovered. One play later the Bulldogs were in the end zone, just 16 seconds into the game.

Oak Harbor responded with a Miller 67-yard TD run on a 4-play drive that started at the OH 20. Peter Franssen kicked the PAT to tie the game 7-7 not quite 2 minutes into the game.

Mt. Vernon coughed up the ball on the first play of their next drive, Oak Harbor recovering at the MV 37. A couple of miscues later, the Wildcats were looking at a 4th & 26 at the Bulldog 35. Miller went back to punt, but instead of kicking, ran down the near sideline and into the end zone to put OH up 14-7.

The Bulldogs came right back and threw a 65-yard pass completion for a score, but the kick failed leaving OH up by one point, 14-13. That score would stand until the end of the first quarter.

The second quarter started with MV on the OH 21 yard line and they scored on the first play with a pass into the end zone. It was then 20-14 for the Dogs.

The Wildcats failed to convert a 4th down attempt at midfield, then Mt. Vernon drove for another score, taking a 27-14 lead with 7:51 left in the half.

On Oak Harbor's next drive, Miller again made the big play, catching a pass from OH QB Ian Kolste and running 70-yards to close the score to 27-21. After the OH kickoff, the defense stepped up and forced MV to punt, but the Bulldog defense was also stiff, forcing a turnover on downs.

With under a minute left in the half and the ball at their own 38, Mt. Vernon went to the air, which was a mistake. Under extreme pressure by the Wildcat line, the Bulldog quarterback threw the ball up for grabs. The grabee was Miller, who caught the ball at the OH 43 and returned it 32 yard to the MV 25. Four plays later it was 1st and goal at the Bulldog 7 yard line. Kolste went back to pass and found 6-3 Mike Washington in the end zone with 3 seconds left in the half. Franssen's PAT let OH go into the locker room at the half with a one point lead, 28-27.

Mt. Vernon received the 2nd half kickoff, returned it to the 50, then ran in from 3 yards out to regain the lead 33-28 after the PAT run failed.

Again, Miller was there for the 'Cats. He finished a 5 play drive that started at the MV 36 with a 27-yard reception. The normally solid Franssen missed the PAT, but OH was back on top 34-33.

Both teams punted on their next drives, but Mt. Vernon fumbled on their first play and the ball was recovered by Dakota Sinchak at the MV 25 yard line. Two plays later it was Miller into the end zone from 3 yards out to boost the OH score to 40-33.

Now the Bulldogs, who has used their size to great advantage in the first half, were starting to tire. The Wildcat defense again forced a punt and Miller broke free up the middle for a 66-yard TD run to make it 46-33.

A 4th and 18 MV pass fell incomplete in the end zone, giving the Wildcats the ball at the OH 29 yard line with 7:38 left in the game. With the big Bulldog line panting, the OH offense went to work. Brent Ryan, who had been shut down up the middle for most of the game and took advantage of the Mt. Vernon fatigue and was able to get gains and more importantly, first downs. The 11-play, 71-yard, 5-minute drive was capped by an 11-yard run by Miller with 2:37 left in the game. OH now led 53-33.

Mt. Vernon, with a first down at their own 34, fumbled the ball on the first play and it was recovered by Dayne Herron to seal the victory for Oak Harbor and boost their record to 6-0.

Miller, who broke a school record last week with his 5 touchdowns, broke his own record Friday with 6 scores.

The 9th-ranked Wildcats travel to Shoreline Stadium next Friday to take on the 4-2 Shorecrest Scots

77 photos from the game are posted HERE.

Video clips are all of Miller this week, with one exception - Dayne Herron's fumble recovery at the end of the game. Click HERE to watch the video.

FB 2011-10-05 Freshmen vs Lynnwood

Another week, another blowout by the Oak Harbor freshman football team. The victim this time was Lynnwood, who ended up on the short end of a 68-0 score.

The Wildcats scored in all aspects - offense, defense and special teams.

The first quarter ended with OH on top 14-0. The offense ran just 3 plays to score the two touchdowns.

For the remainder of the first half, Oak Harbor ran just offensive plays and scored 6 touchdowns on offense, and one on a punt return, leading 48-0 at the break.

The second half started with a running clock, but still Oak Harbor was able to score three more times. Two touchdowns came on interception returns, including one by big #71 Jansen from 21 yard out.

Next for the Freshmen is a trip to Marysville on 10/12 to take on the Tomahawks.

Video highlights are posted HERE.

A few photos taken from the booth are HERE.

Youth Soccer 2011-10-08 @ Ft. Nugent Park

Saturday was a busy day for our photographer, as he was able to get images from 9 soccer games while squeezing in 3 youth football games.

We now have photos of all the U-6 teams now posted and all but one of the U-8 teams (sorry, GU-8 team 5 - we'll get you in two weeks).

Here are the U-6 and U-8 teams we got photos of on Saturday the 8th of October:

GU-6 Pink Dragons vs Purple Sporty Dolphins

BU-8 Blue Lightning Runners vs Red Rockets

BU-8 Green Lightning Dragons vs Blue Bullets

BU-8 Orange Shredders vs Grey Hornets

BU-8 White Eagles vs Yellow Zombies

Later in the morning we were able to pick up two U-10 games, one each of boys and girls.

BU-10 Orange Predators vs Black & White Oreos

GU-10 Purple People Eaters vs South Whidbey

Finally, on the big fields:

BU-12 Green Enraged Monkeys vs Coupeville

GU-13 Islanders vs Granite Falls

No photos next week - sorry. We'll be back with photos on October 22nd and 29th.

VB 2011-10-06 vs Meadowdale

It was a big night in the Oak Harbor gym Thursday night when the Wildcat volleyball team took on the Meadowdale Mavericks for two reasons. First, it was breast cancer awareness night, with both varsity teams in pink jerseys. Also, both teams came into the contest with just one league loss, so sole possession of first place in WESCO 3A was on the line.

The freshman team lost their first two games but won the third to finish the night 1-2.

JV game was was tight early, but Oak Harbor errors let Meadowdale take a 14-10 lead. A pair of kills by Olivia Hunt put OH back up 17-16. Hunt got two more points later, along with Ashley Johnston and freshman Amelia Berner to bring OH from a 20-21 deficit to game point. A service error by the Mav gave the first game to the Wildcats 25-22.

In game 2, Coach Swankie was forced to call an early timeout, with the score 4-4, to try and re-focus the team, but quicker than they realized, the girls found themselves down 18-11. Service aces by Johnston and Hannah Christensen helped close the gap to just two points, 21-19. A hitting error by Meadowdale and a Christensen kill then tied the game at 21. Meadowdale then scored 3 straight to hold game point, 24-21. Two Maverick errors made it 24-23 and forced Meadowdale to call a timeout. Right after the timeout, Deanna Ruben scored the tying point with a service ace and a block by Christensen put the Wildcats at match point, 25-24. A Wildcat service error followed by a hitting error reversed the teams, but Christensen tied the game yet again with a kill, but a pair of OH hitting errors gave Meadowdale a 28-26 win, tying the match 1-1.

Oak Harbor trailed most of game 3, but kills by Johnston and Christensen put Oak Harbor ahead for good, 18-17. With the score 21-18 Meadowdale called a timeout, but two kills by Hunt made it 23-18, Peyton Craven put one down to give Oak Harbor match point, then Hannah Christensen put the game away with a service ace.

The JV match was a good setup for the main event.

Varsity game one was close early, with neither team able to get more than a 3 point lead until Oak Harbor got ahead by four, 20-16, forcing a Meadowdale timeout. After the timeout, Roshel Muzzall served up an ace and 5 foot 2 inch Janine DeGuzman added a pair of kills to make it 23-18. The Wildcats faltered a bit, letting Meadowdale tie the game at 23, then the Mavs grabbed game point, 25-24 but a back-row kill by 4-11 Christina Alexander tied it at 25. Meadowdale again had game point 26-25 and again Alexander got a back row kill. Finally, with the score now at 27-27, kills by Kelsey Rankin and DeGuzman gave game 1 to Oak Harbor, 29-27.

On a high from the important first-game win, the Wildcats, with Hannah Salmons on the service line, reeled off 9 straight points and held at least a 9-point lead for the rest of game two. DeGuzman got a kill for game point, 24-11, and another kill to win the game 25-13. Oak Harbor looked in control, leading the best-of-five match 2-0.

Game 3. Oak Harbor led early, but Meadowdale came back to tie the game 8-8, then slowly pulled ahead, leading 17-13. The Mavs went on a 5-0 run to build their lead to 22-13, and put the 'Cats away with a 25-14 game 3 win.

Game 4. Wow. This was another back-and-forth game and was tied 14-14 when Meadowdale found their groove and went on a 10-3 run and holding game point 24-17. Muzzall got a big kill and seemed to spark the 'Cats, but they fell 25-18, tying the match 2-2.

The final game was also a nailbiter. Oak Harbor led 5-3 early, but Meadowdale refused to give in and took an 8-5 lead. The Mavs would continue to hold at least 2-point advantage, leading 10-8, but served up 4 straight to give them match point, 14-8. Now it was Oak Harbor's turn to dig in and they closed the gap to 14-11, but a big kill by Meadowdale finished the 'Cats 15-11. Meadowdale wins the match 3-2.

The next home volleyball match is Monday night, October 10th vs Mountlake Terrace, then a match on the road Wednesday against Lynnwood.

131 photos of JV and Varsity action, including varsity intros, are posted HERE.

Video highlights are HERE.

Boys Tennis vs Shorewood, Lynnwood and Everett

The boys tennis team had a hard week, falling 7-0 to Shorewood and 6-1 to Lynnwood.

In the Shorewood match on 10/4, 3rd doubles Tom Dale and Jacob Nelson split the first two sets, winning the first 7-5 and losing the second 6-4. Due to time constraints and since the outcome between the two teams was already decided, there wasn't a 3rd set, but a super-tiebreaker. In that period, Shorewood was able to pull away and win 10-4. The win left Shorewood undefeated at 11-0.

Lynnwood came to town on Thursday, and again the doubles team of Nelson and Dale was the bright spot of the day, winning their match in straight sets, 6-2, 6-1. Also in doubles, the #1 team of Harrison Miller and David Kusnick also went to a super tiebreaker. Oak Harbor won the first set 6-2, Lynnwood the second 6-3, then Lynnwood captured the tiebreaker 10-5.

Friday's match was a makeup from Wednesday, at Everett. Oak Harbor played hard but could not win the 4 matches needed to win the day. #1 singles Carlos Neto Gioia, an exchange student from Brazil, won 6-3, 7-5 as did #3 singles Will Southard, in 3 sets 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. Also winning were first doubles Harrison Miller and David Kusnick, 3-6, 6-3 then 13-11 in the tiebreaker.

Photos from the Lynnwood varsity match are posted HERE.

In JV action, Everett won on Wednesday 5-2. Oak Harbor victors were Casiano Atienza at 3rd singles, who won in a 3rd set tiebreaker, and 3rd doubled Robert Hartley and Manuel Gunzal, also winning in a 3rd set tiebreaker.

Thursday at Lynnwood the JV team was swept 7-0.

Middle School Cross Country 2011-10-05 at City Beach

The Oak Harbor United middle school cross country team was at home Wednesday for the first time in at least two years with a meet at City Beach Park, hosting LaVenture, Anacortes and Mt. Baker Middle Schools.

The 7th grade girls race was first and the Wildcats dominated. Kaitlyn Chelberg was first on the 1.5 mile course in a time of 9:22. Right behind her was Carolynn Wicker in 9:26. Lauryn Boekle and Erica Sugatan were 6th and 7th, and Emma Lerch and Gabrielle Chavez were 9th and 10th to round out the top 10 finishers. Also running were Karissa Cashen, Maegan Gore, Malia Anliker, Christina Ferris, Sarah Gartley, Aujuna Frye, Julia Hebert and Jennifer Hebert.

73 7th grade girls photos are posted HERE.

The top OH finisher in the boys 7th grade race was Kelly Holt, finishing in 4th place in a time of 9:47. Kegan Snell was 5th, just 12 seconds later. Also running were Michael Husman, Lucas Nickelson, Brett Caveness, and William Neckelson

36 photos of the 7th grade boys are HERE.

Oak Harbor again took the top 2 spots in the girls 8th grade race. Mariel Empinado was first in 9:30 and Suzanna Kaltenbach was second in 9:59. Other top 10 finishers were Emily Miesle, Ayla Muller, AnnaBelle Whitefoot, Sarah Dodge, Carly Hall, Zoeanne Bassett, and Caitlyn Dodge. Other runners were Geslyne Barreta, Olivia Tharaikill, Rosego Mooki, Mily Larsen, Jackelyn Garcia, Angelique Guina and Chloe Aebersold.

8th grade girls photos are HERE.

Finally the 8th grade boys. Logan Clark was second for Wildcat United in 8:42 and Garrett Haugen was 4th in 9:10. Matt Molitor, Sam Venditti, Orien Altman, Nathan Larsen, Garrett Stahl, Jared Hunt, Isaac DeLeon, Casey Quijano, Dominic Jones and Justin Cress also ran for the team.

The 8th grade boys photos are HERE.

Next week the team travels to Anacortes then are at home again at City Beach on October 20th. The first race started at 3:30 and it's free for everyone. Come cheer on your favorite.

Girls Swim 2011-10-03

In their home swim meet Monday evening against Marysville-Getchell and Marysville-Pilchuck, the Wildcats dominated, defeating the Getchell Chargers 137-44 and the Pilchuck Tomahawks 140-39.

Karina Concepcion won the 50-free in a time that automatically qualified her for state, swimming the two-length race in 28.57.

Ciara Hu was a double winner in the 200IM and 100 Fly.

Another double winner was Irysh Concepcion in the 100 and 200 freestyle.

All three relay races were won by Oak Harbor. The 200 medley relay had Karina Concepcion, Tricia Desquitado, Ciara Hu and Angela Johnson. The 200 free relay had both Concepcions, Olivia Meyer and Johnson. The 400 free relay featured Irysh Concepcion, Desquitado, Hu and Nicole Vogt.

Vogt also won the 400 freestyle race and Meyer won the 100 breaststroke.

47 photos, including diving, are posted HERE.

FB 2011-09-30 vs Lynnwood

Another week, another blowout. While not many doubted the final outcome, Lynnwood did make a game of it. While the OH offense pounded it out as usual, the defense provided some points of their own.

OH got on the board first when Peter Franssen intercepted the 3rd play from scrimmage at the 50 and ran it back for a score. He then kicked the PAT to put OH up 7-0 just over a minute and a half into the game.

Lynnwood's first real drive was impressive. The started on their own 17 yard line and drove down to the OH 8 yard line, where Josiah Miller knocked the ball out of the hands of the Royals player and recovered it at the OH 2 yard line. Oak Harbor then used just over two minutes to drive 98 yards, ending with a Miller 11-yard TD run with 4:23 remaining in the 1st quarter.

The Royal's next drive went all the way for a score. The started on their own 11 and after a 65-yard catch and run play were down to the OH 4 yard line with a 1st and goal. Two plays later they were in for the score, but the 2-point PAT attempt failed leaving OH on top 14-6 with 2:16 left in the first quarter.

The next OH drive displayed some of the athleticism on the team. Ian Kolste threw a long pass to Miller who was covered by a Lynnwood player but caught the pass after backpedaling for nearly 10 yards then gained another 10 after the catch. The quarter ended with OH at the Lynnwood 3 yard line looking at a 2nd down. On the first play of the 2nd quarter Miller ran in from the 3 to boost OH to 21-6.

Again, Lynnwood got a drive going but could not finish. During a scrum near midfield, an Oak Harbor player simply yanked the ball out of the Lynnwood player's grasp to give the ball back to OH at the Lynnwood 33. Four plays later Miller caught a Kolste pass from 15 yards out to make it 28-6.

Three plays later it was the Wildcats' ball again after a Miller interception at the OH 47. On this drive the Wildcats didn't score, a 4th down pass from the Lynnwood 24 fell incomplete, but 6 plays later the Royals punted back to Oak Harbor. Miller scored yet again, this time from 29 yards out with 1:54 left in the half, making it 35-6 for OH, which would stand until halftime.

In the second half, Miller broke away for another long run, this one for 48 yards. The PAT kick failed, making the score 41-6 just over a minute into the half.

Lynnwood punted on their next possession after Cord Krueger and Cody Hernkind teamed up to tackle the Royal runner behind the line of scrimmage.

It took only 3 plays for the Wildcats to score again. Mike Washington caught a Kolste pass and was pushed out of bounds at the 1, then Brent Ryan walked through a gaping hole to make it 48-6 for Oak Harbor and start the running clock for the rest of the game.

Lynnwood then drove down to the Wildcat 22 yard line, then Mike Washington stepped in front of the receiver, grabbed the ball, then ran 87 yards to the goal line. At the 4:01 mark in the 3rd quarter it was now Oak Harbor 55, Lynnwood 6.

It was 4-and-out for Lynnwood, then it looked like OH was going to score again, but an 82-yard run by Isaiah Trower was called back and OH ended up punting. The Royals didn't move the ball far on their next possession, with a 4th down pass falling incomplete.

By now, Oak Harbor was playing mostly the younger players, but the line was still blasting huge holes for the runners. With 3:01 left in the game, Sheyenne Sams went through one of the holes and 46 yards later it was OH 62, Lynnwood 6.

The OH kickoff went to the Lynnwood 20 where it was picked up and returned 80 yards for their second score of the night. The 2-point conversion was good. OH 62, Lynnwood 14, 2:48 left.

But STILL, Oak Harbor wasn't done scoring. With just over a minute left, Julian Faralan found another hole provided by the OH line and sprinted 54 yards to pay dirt. The kick failed, and after the kickoff Lynnwood was content to let the clock run out.

Final score - Oak Harbor 68, Lynnwood 14.

The win puts the Wildcats' record at 5-0. As of Friday, ALL the Oak Harbor football teams are undefeated. The JV team is 3-0 as is the Freshman team. In the 3 games, the JV team has allowed only 3 scored and the Freshman team has put 117 points, an average of 39 per game and has allowed only a single touchdown.

The freshmen will be at home Wednesday at 5:30pm against Lynnwood. Come cheer them on - admission is free.


Click HERE for video highlights.

Click HERE for 63 photos of the game.

Youth football 2011-10-01

Five of the Six Oak Harbor Youth Football teams played Saturday with 4 winners.

The Midget Panthers had the week off and their current record is 1-3.

The Jaguars, Bobcats and Wildcats were at home and all won. The Jaguars were all over Burlington Blue 38-6, with the Burlington TD coming late in the game. The Jags are undefeated this season. The Bobcat game was closer but they also won 30-21 (they are now 4-1) and in the late game the Wildcats trounced Concrete 41-7, boosting their record to 4-1.

The Pumas traveled to Stanwood and left with a shutout 35-0 giving them a record of 3-1.

The Cougars were down early, came back in the second half, but lost to Sedro White 50-22. Their record is now 1-4.

Next weekend there are 3 home games. The Panthers vs Burlington Blue at 9am, the Jags vs Burlington Gold at 11am and the Pumas vs Ferndale at 1pm. All games are free to watch and concessions are available.

54 Cougars pics are HERE.

28 Jaguars photos are HERE.

Youth soccer 2011-10-01 at Ft. Nugent

Yet another Saturday at Ft. Nugent Park with hundreds of boys and girls outside, having fun, and learning skills and teamwork on various North Whidbey Soccer Club teams.

Photos from 4 games are posted below.

BU-8 Grey Hornets vs Yellow Zombies photos are posted HERE. The Hornets are sponsored by the Island Family Hearing Clinic and the Zombies are proud to call Angelo's Caffe as their sponsor.

GU-8 Pink Pop Rocks vs Red Volcanoes photos are HERE.

GU-8 Purple Lightning Girls vs Blue Wildcats are HERE.

GU-6 Teal Dragons vs the Green White Pegasus Unicorns are HERE.

Boys Tennis update

The boys JV tennis team had matches on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday last week, one a makeup of a rained out match.

Wednesday the Mountlake Terrace Hawks were at OHHS and the OH boys played one of their best matches. Singles Vance Freitas and Flint Snyder both won in straight sets and the doubles team of Tabor Rupp and Ziwei Peng won in a 3rd-set tiebreaker, but winning the 3 matches wasn't enough as MLT won the day 4-3.

Thursday the JV team was at Shorecrest and were swept 7-0 and Friday Freitas won the only OH match, in a 5-7, 6-4, 1-0(5) tiebreaker against Marysville-Getchell.

83 photos from Wednesday's match against Mountlake Terrace are posted HERE.

The varsity squad played on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, winning one of the 3 matches.

At OHHS on Tuesday, Carlos Neto Gioia, Will Southard won in singles while doubles teams David Kusnick and Harrison Miller & Ben Harrison and Cameron Bester all won in straight sets to give the Wildcats a 4-3 victory. OH also won an exhibition doubles match with Jacob Nelson and Zach Akker the victors.

Wednesday the boys were at Mountlake Terrace only #1 singles Carlos Neto Gioia and #3 singles Will Southard won their matches. MLT won the day 5-2.

On Thursday, only Southard was able to defeat his opponent, winning 6-4, 6-1. OH 1, Shorecrest 6.

VB - Special Coupeville Edition - 2011-09-29 vs Lakewood

If you weren't in the Coupeville gym Thursday night, you missed some exciting volleyball.

In JV action, the Wolves found themselves down early and fought back to make it a game before falling 19-25 in game 1. Game 2 was even closer, with the girls right in it the whole game, but again Lakewood was able to pull out a win, 25-22. In game 3 it was again back and forth but this time the Wolves came out on top 25-21.

The varsity team had a rough start in game 1 and couldn't overcome the deficit and fell 21-25. They played well in game 2 and won 25-21 and also won game 3 25-22 to take a 2-1 match lead.

Things fell apart in game 4 as the Cougars won 25-14 to tie the match.

That's when it REALLY got exciting. In the first-to-15-but-win-by-two final game, neither team seemed to have the game in hand until Coupeville went on a 5-0 run late to hold match point, 14-10. However, two Wolf hitting errors and a pair of Cougar service aces tied it up at 14. From there, neither team could get the decisive 2-point lead to win until Lakewood finally took the game 19-17 and won the match 3-2.

A total of 182 photos of both JV and Varsity action are posted HERE.

We'll be back in 2 weeks for the Coupeville-South Whidbey match on October 13th. We'll also be at the soccer game on October 20th against Sultan.

VB 2011-09-27 vs Everett

The OH Volleyball team continued their win streak with an exciting 3-1 victory over the visiting Everett Seagulls last Tuesday.

Oak Harbor jumped to an early 8-3 lead but Everett crept back in, tying the first game at 15. The Wildcats started to pull away 22-18 and finished up winning 25-21. Game 2 started out even, and the 'Cats were down 8-10 at one point, but the girls gathered themselves and finished with a 8-3 run to win 25-17, In game 3, the Wildcat slipped a little and Everett picked up a 25-19 win. Game 4 was totally back-and-forth, with neither team ahead by more than 2 points until late in the game when Janine DeGuzman got hot. She pounded down 4 of the final 5 OH points (Kayleigh Harper got match point) as Oak Harbor won game 4 25-23.

The JV team was down big early, 10-4, but fought their way back into the game and won the first game 25-21. The also won game 2 25-19 to win the match. In game 3, Everett got a 25-22 win.

Over in the dome, the freshman lost a close game one 22-25, won game two 25-19 then fell in game three 15-25

A total of 162 photos are posted HERE. They include Freshman, JV and Varsity action, as well at Freshman and JV individual and group photos.

Video highlights from the freshman and Varsity matches are posted HERE.

Thursday night at Shorecrest, the Wildcat varsity got it done quickly, winning 3-0 (25-13, 25-17, 25-15). Both the JV and Freshman teams won 2-1.

Next for the volleyball team is a trip to Shorewood on October 4th and at home against currently undefeated Meadowdale on Thursday the 6th.

Christina Wicker named Athlete of the Week

See the full article in the Everett Herald.

http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20110926/SPORTS01/110929792/1007

FB 2011-09-26 JV vs Everett

It wasn't pretty, but our boys got the job done, beating the Everett JV football squad 13-6.

Everett got on the board first with a 9-yard QB scramble. The PAT attempt failed, leaving the score at 6-0 with 5:29 left in the 2nd quarter.

Oak Harbor came right back and tied the game on a 49-yard pass completion from Anthony Smith to Frank Grecco with 3:49 left in the first half. That PAT also failed.

The final score came when Cord Krueger put his head down and ran over the Everett defender from 11 yard out. That kick was good with 2:39 remaining in the 3rd quarter.

Everett had a chance to tie the game with 10 seconds left on a 4th and 15 play, but Wildcat pressure on the quarterback forced an incompletion.

55 photos from the first half are posted HERE.

Video clips from the second half are posted HERE.

Youth football 2011-09-24

Five of the six Oak Harbor teams were in action Saturday, 3 at home and two away.

At home the Pumas started with a 50-6 thumping of Sedro Woolley. The senior Wildcat team went next, keeping the win streak going with a closer 27-12 win over Anacortes. Then at 1pm things didn't go well for the midget Panthers as they fell to Arlington Gold 46-0.

On the road, the Bobcats were at Sedro Woolley and lost their first game of the season, coming up just a PAT short, 6-8.

Finally, the midget Cougars picked up their first win of the season with a come-from-behind victory over Mt. Vernon. The Bulldogs led early, 14-0 and 22-14 at the half. The Cougars took the lead 26-22 with 9:08 left but MV responded by scoring and kicking a PAT to retake the lead 30-26 with just 46 seconds on the clock. The Cougars responded well to the pressure, taking just 25 seconds to take a slim 32-30 lead with 21 ticks left on the clock. The OH defense rose and shut down the MV offense as time ran out.

103 photos of the Cougar game, including the cheer squad, are posted HERE.

FB 2011-09-23 @ Everett

At the beginning of the season, Oak Harbor was picked by the coaches to finish 3rd in WESCO 3A, just ahead of Everett. Last Friday, it took just 2 plays to show that Oak Harbor was more than one place better than the Seagulls.

Everett received the opening kickoff and on their first play Tucker Lundstrom stripped the ball and Josiah Miller fell on it giving OH a first down at the Everett 25. On the very next play Miller ran around the right side to put Oak Harbor up 7-0 just 12 seconds into the game. Everett's next possession ended with a punt at midfield after 7 plays, then the Oak Harbor drive was stopped short at the Everett 2 yard line by a Seagull interception. Everett returned the ball to their own 47, but 6 plays later, facing a 4th and 6, Josh McVey got in and sacked the QB to give OH the ball.

Oak Harbor then put together a 9-play drive that ended with a Brent Ryan 1-yard TD run with 9:47 to go in the 2nd quarter. The PAT kick failed, giving OH a 13-0 lead. Oak Harbor's kickoff went out of bounds giving Everett excellent field position at their own 35, but 3 plays later Miller picked off the Seagull pass then on the Wildcats' first play ran 67 yards to the end zone. The 2 point PAT attempt was no good. With 8:47 left in the half it was OH 19, Everett 0.

Everett went 3-and-out on their next possession, punting down to the Oak Harbor 8 yard line. Quickly moving back out to mid-field, quarterback Ian Kolste handed the ball to Brent Ryan who rumbled 50 yards up the middle for another Oak Harbor touchdown. The kick was good to make it 26-0 with 5:48 left until halftime.

Everett finally got on the board, tossing a pass just over the head of the Wildcat defender for a 44-yard TD with 3:57 left in the half. Oak Harbor 26, Everett 7.

This is when OH really got rolling. On a 3rd and 9 play at the Everett 46, Kolste found Miller open at the 40 yard line then Josiah evaded a bunch of Seagull defenders to boost the OH lead to 33-7 with 1:08 to go. Oak Harbor then tried an onside kick which was recovered by Michael Maletto at the Everett 46. Then, running nearly the same play, Kolste got the ball to Isaiah Trower at the 38 and he ended up in the end zone to make it 40-7 with 55 seconds on the clock.

In the second half, the Wildcats got the ball first and it looked like Peter Franssen scored yet again for the 'Cats, but his 47-yard run was called back. No matter, as 5 plays later Ryan punched it in from 4 yards out to put OH up 47-7 and start a running clock for the remainder of the game.

Everett's next possession went nowhere, ending with two straight sacks, one by Troy Sturdevant with Tucker Lundstrom, the other by Casey Ferguson.

Everett finally scored again with both teams deep into their depth charts on a QB run from 13 yards out.

Final score - Oak Harbor 47, Everett 14.

Next up for the 'Cats is a home game Friday against the winless Lynnwood Royals, who are giving up an average of 44 points per game. Kickoff at 7pm at Wildcat Memorial Stadium.

79 photos from the first half are posted HERE.

Video highlights are HERE.

Little League baseball Fall Ball - 2011-09-24

On Saturday, both North Whidbey little league teams played at the Windjammer Fields in Oak Harbor.

In the early game, the A-Team defeated the Black Hawks 15-4 (both team from North Whidbey) and in the nightcap of the doubleheader, the A-Team hosted South Whidbey.

South Whidbey took an early 5-0 lead, but errant pitching by South Whidbey walked in a number of runs, two of them by batters hit by pitches. The A-Team kept the pressure on and won the game 11-6.

98 photos of the second game are posted HERE.

Girls Soccer 2011-09-24 vs Marysville-Getchell

The Oak Harbor Wildcat girls soccer team had their first Saturday match of the season, and it was a beautiful, sunny day at Wildcat Memorial Stadium against the Marysville-Getchell Chargers.

The JV game ended in a typical unsatisfying soccer score - 0-0.

In the varsity game, Getchell scored once in each half to defeat the 'Cats 2-0.

111 photos from the varsity game, including the varsity intros, are posted HERE.

Cross Country @ City Beach and Seaside

The Oak Harbor Cross Country team held their only home meet of the year Thursday afternoon at Oak Harbor's City Beach park. Visiting were squads from 4A schools Cascade, Monroe and Kamiak.

The races started with the boys JV, and Oak Harbor dominated, capturing the first 8 places. Those first eight OH runners were Stephen Miller (16:53), Isaac Matthews, Adriel Eckart, Clayton Richardson, freshman Joel Erickson, Alex Krantz, and Nathan Wagner. Also in the race were Brendan Bristow, Gunnar Melnick, Ryuta Meany, Stacy Jappert and Alex Berry.

In the boys varsity race, Kamiak captured 3 of the top 7 places to win the met with 25 points. Oak Harbor finished 3rd with 65 points. First for the Wildcats was Matt Reith in 8th place and a time of 15:29. Freshman John Rodeheffer was just 3 seconds behind in 9th overall. Also earning points for the Wildcats were Josh Schrum in 10th, John Kaltenbach in 14th and Esai Cunningham in 27th overall. Freshman Dakota Powers finished 29th, Thomas Honeycutt 31st, Chris Opdyke 34th and Caley Powers 35th.

81 photos of the boys JV and varsity at City Beach are posted HERE.

Oak Harbor's Christina Wicker and Monroe's Megan Bull ran neck and neck for most of the 4,500 meter race, but Bull pulled off the win at the end, finishing in 17:21. Wicker finished in 17:27 for second place. Alex Laiblin, Hannah Bressler, Heather Dale and Taylor Von Grey rounded out the top 5 OH finishers, earning the Wildcats a first place team finish with 36 points. Kamiak was second with 43. Other OH runners were Jonalynn Horn, Ashley Everett, Mackenzie Jackson, Rachel Crowther, Carlie Kenny, Emily Bain, Nikki Blanchard, Emily Saar, Sophie Rath, Grace Pauley and Alexa Holmly.

Click HERE for 77 photos of the girls at City Beach.

The next day, both the boys and girls both left for Seaside, Oregon for the annual 3-course challenge. Laid out there is a 4,500 meter easy course, a 5,000 meter moderate course and a 5k hard course. There were a total of 79 teams fielding over 1,700 runners.

On the easy course there were 294 boys and 264 girls. Dakota Powers was the top OH runner, finishing in 22nd overall in a time of 16:40. His brother Caley, Alex Krantz, Nathan Wagner, Gunnar Melnick and Chris Opdyke were all in the top 100. Jonalynn Horn was the first OH girl, finishing in 12th with a time of 19:51. Ashley Everett, Mackenzie Jackson and Nikki Blanchard were also in the top 100.

John Rodheffer finished 2nd overall out of 375 runners in the boys moderate race, clocking in at 18:45. Esai Cunningham, Stephen Miller, Clayton Richardson, Isaac Matthews, Wyatt Homola and Patrick Mayer were all in the top 100. For the girls, Hannah Bressler was 7th out of 238 girls, finishing in 23:38. Taylor Von Grey was 18th and Carlie Kenny 25th.

Finally, in the hard course, OH senior Matt Reith was 6th of 366 boys, crossing the line in 20:15. Josh Schrum was 20th and John Kaltenbach 22nd. Oak Harbor junior Christina Wicker competed against 227 other girls on the hard course and beat them all, coming in first overall with a time of 23:48. Alex Laiblin was 28th, Heather Dale 31st and Rachel Crowther 73rd.

FB 2011-09-21 freshmen vs Shorewood

Wednesday night the Oak Harbor freshmen completed the 3-team sweep of Shorewood in football by defeating the Thunderbirds 70-0.

On Monday the JV squad traveled to Shoreline Stadium and shut out the T-birds 48-0. It was the JV team's first shutout of the season. Carlos Beltran scored first from 6 yards out and on the ensuing kickoff the 'cats forced a fumble on the Shorewood 4 yard line. Beltran took the ball in again. Anthony Smith threw two TD passes and Troy Sturdevant added a TD pass of his own.

Wednesday it was just ugly. Oak Harbor's first four touchdowns came on 1 play drives of 10, 2, 25 and 10 yards each. At the 9:49 mark in the 2nd quarter it was OH 29, Shorewood 0 and by halftime it was 50-0 after a 55 yard interception return. Oak Harbor opened the second half by running the kickoff 91 yards into the T-bird end zone and scored twice more on 59 and 16 yard runs.

The JV squad is at home Monday at 5:30pm and the Freshmen travel to Everett Wednesday for their next games.

61 photos from the freshman game are posted HERE.

Freshman video highlights clips are posted HERE.

VB 2011-09-20 vs Marysville-Getchell

Tuesday night was the first-ever meeting between the new Marysville-Getchell HS and the Oak Harbor Wildcats in volleyball. The MG team does not have a freshman team. Their JV team has one junior, two sophomores and the rest are freshmen.

Because of that, our JV team perhaps thought that the Charger JV team would be easy to beat, especially after the JV girls jumped to a 6-2 lead in game one. At that point, it looked like some complacency set in and quicker than it seemed, the Chargers were up 20-12. Not on good volleyball, but on unforced errors by the Wildcats. MG went on to win that first game 25-18. Our JV girls learned from that game, and in game 2 sprinted to a 10-1 lead on their way to a 25-12 game 2 victory. Game 3 was close early, until, with the Wildcats leading 12-7, Deanna Rueben served up 10 straight points, 8 of them service aces, leading the 'Cats to a 25-8 game 3 win and a 2-1 match win.

Game 1 of the varsity game was back and forth early, then OH opened a 10-6 lead and increased it to take game 1 25-10. Game 2 started with the Chargers up 4-0, then OH got back on track and took back the lead 7-6 then scored 4 straight to end game 2 25-17. In game 3 Oak Harbor jumped out to a 11-2 lead and never looked back, winning 25-13 and taking the match 3-0.

The VB girls are at Glacier Peak Thursday then return home Tuesday, Sept 27th to face the Everett Seagulls.

85 photos are posted HERE.

Video highlight clips are HERE.

Varsity Football 2011-09-16 vs Shorewood

The scoreboard operator was busy Friday night putting up a total of 13 touchdowns during the Wildcats' game against the Shorewood Thunderbirds.

Shorewood got on the board first with a nice-looking 61-yard drive in 6 plays. The kick failed giving the T-birds a 6-0 lead.

Oak Harbor struck back quickly, starting with Isaiah Trower's 42-yard kickoff return. 7 plays later Brent Ryan powered in from a yard out to make it 7-6.

The Wildcat defense adjusted quickly, forcing a Shorewood punt after only 3 plays and 4 plays later Peter Franssen ran 13 yards to put OH up 14-6.

Franssen played a big role during the next Shorewood possession, intercepting the ball at the OH 26, then just 2 plays later Trower scampered for 61 yards to make it 21-6.

Shorewood was forced to punt again. OH started on their own 18 yards line but a 45-yard run up Ryan set up a Ian Kolste to Trower pass from 20 yards out. With 7:39 left in the first half, Oak Harbor led 28-6.

Shorewood returned the OK kickoff 58 yards but 3 plays later fumbled with OH recovering. The next drive was the first time OH was not able to score. They went for it on 4th and 9 but came up less than a yard short of a first down. Shorewood took over at their own 34 yard line and took 12 plays to get to the Wildcat 7 yard line before scoring on a 7-yard pass with 19 seconds left in the half. The 2-point run conversion failed, leaving the score 28-12 at the half.

The Wildcats struck first in the second half, receiving the opening kickoff then scoring just over a minute later when Josiah Miller ran 28 yards to up the OH lead to 23 points, 35-12.

The Wildcats forced a T-bird punt on their first possession of the half, but OH fumbled the ball back and Shorewood completed a 21-yard TD pass to cut the OH lead to 35-20. Shorewood then got another turnover, this one an interception of a tipped ball at the OH 29 then scored from 2 yards out to cut the OH lead to just 9 points, 35-26 with 9:01 left in the game.

Oak Harbor wasn't about to let the recent Shorewood success continue. After the T-bird kickoff, the Wildcats used just 40 seconds and 2 plays to put Franssen back into the end zone after a 43-yard run and 10 seconds later Miller intercepted a Shorewood pass at the 30 yard line and ran it in for another score. The two TDs put OH back up by 23 points, 49-26.

Late in the game, Jack Richter scored on a 1-yard run with 4:29 left and Shorewood responded with a 3 yard run with 28 seconds left.

Final score: OH 56, Shorewood 33.

45 photos are posted HERE.

Video highlights are posted HERE.

Oak Harbor Youth Football 2011-09-17

All six Oak Harbor teams played last Saturday with all six games at away locations.

Overall, the OH boys did well, winning 4 of the 6 games and were in the other two.

Here's all the scores:

Wildcats 52, Mt. Vernon 6
Jaguars 28, Sedro Blue 8
Pumas 22, Bellingham 34
Panthers 24, Sedro Blue 6
Cougars 20, Burlington Blue 39
Bobcats 40, Mt. Vernon 8

The only photos from last week's games are of the Cougars game at Burlington. Those photos are posted HERE.

Youth Soccer 2011-09-17 @ Ft. Nugent Park

The Fall Youth Soccer season is underway, with teams playing their second game of the year at Oak Harbor's Ft. Nugent complex.

We were able to get photos at 6 games, linked below.

For more information on youth soccer, go to the NWSC website.

First up were the GU-6 White Pegasus Unicorns, wearing green uniforms, vs the Purple Sporty Dolphins, sponsored by GO Realty. 53 photos are posted HERE.

Next were the BU-6 Red Dragons, sponsored by All Island Pest Control against the Grey Super Seagulls. 49 photos are HERE

The as-yet-to-be-named BU-6 White team played the Lime Meanie Greenies and 53 photos are HERE.

Still with the U6 boys, 58 photos of the Orange Tigers and Green Hot Wheels are HERE.

Another girls game, the Red Crazy Daisies vs Light Blue Tangled has 40 photos HERE.

Finally, click HERE for 36 photos of the BU-6 Yellow Wildcats and Dark Blue Tigers, sponsored by Martin Auto Electric.

Our next set of photos will be on October 1st, concentrating mostly on the U-8 games.

Boys Tennis 2011-09-16 at Lynnwood

The boys tennis team fell in a disappointing 7-0 loss to the Lynnwood Royals Friday afternoon. The match was originally scheduled for Thursday afternoon but was rained out

In singles action, only 3 matches were played as OH was forced to forfeit due to a lack of players, and Lynnwood dominated the matches that were played, winning in straight sets.

The first doubles team of Cameron Bester and David Kusnick took their first set through 5 tiebreakers before falling 6-7(5) and 2-6.

The tennis team is up next at home on Thursday the 22nd against Glacier Peak.

Girls soccer 2011-09-13 vs Glacier Peak

The girls soccer team played their first home game of the season, and it was against #6 ranked Glacier Peak.

The JV team played on of their best games of the season, but wound up on the short end of a 3-0 score.

The varsity team fell 7-1, with the OH score coming from Jember Jansen late in the first half.

On Thursday the teams traveled to Lynnwood. The JV team won 2-0 and the varsity tied 1-1. The OH score was by McKenzie Schneider with an assist by Faith Franssen.

The next game for the Wildcats is 9/20 at home against Meadowdale.

Over 100 photos from the Glacier Peak game, along with pre-season group photos are posted HERE.

JV Footballl 2011-09-12 vs Glacier Peak

The Wildcat JV team played their first game of the season vs Glacier Peak and overcame a late comeback by the Grizzlies to win 17-14.

Oak Harbor got on the board first with a Frank Grecco field goal with 30 seconds left in the first quarter. The Wildcats increased their lead to 10-0 after a 56-yard run by Sheyenne Sams with 7:26 left in the first half. Just over a minute later, GP scored on a 1-yard run to make it 10-7. Then, with just 3:30 left in the half, Julian Faralan crossed the goal line from 7 yards out to make it 17-7.

There was no scoring in the 3rd quarter, and with 7:19 left in the game, Glacier Peak closed to within 3 points with a 5-yard pass TD.

With Oak Harbor on their own 41 yard line, freshman quarterback Doughty completed a pass to Matilla on the near side. The pass was caught at the GP 43, then was knocked loose at the GP 26. Cumberbatch was right there and pickup up the ball in mid-stride and took it down to the 2 yard line before he was tackled.

Unfortunately, OH fumbled the handoff on the very next play, but Glacier Peak was kind enough to give the ball back to the Wildcats after just 4 plays.

Oak Harbor sealed with win with a great interception by Michael Maletto with just over 2 minutes in the game. OH was able to get a first down then ran the clock out by taking two knees.

Final score: OH 17, GP 14.

Video highlights clips are posted HERE.

Just 4 photos from the booth are HERE.

Boys Tennis vs Shorecrest and Shorewood

Friday afternoon the varsity boys tennis team traveled to Shorecrest and Monday hosted Shorewood, and in both matches were shut out 7-0.

At Shorecrest, all our boys lost in straight sets, with only the doubles team of Ben Harrison and Sam Glavick scoring more than 2 in any of their sets.

vs Shorewood, one of the best teams in the state according to OH coach Horace Mells, the Wildcat boys again didn't win any sets and won only 6 games total.

Coach Mells was impressed with how the OH players, even though overmatched, stepped up and played some of their best tennis of the year against Shorewood.

56 photos of the 3 doubles teams vs Shorewood are posted HERE.

Varsity Football 2011-09-09 at Glacier Peak

The Wildcat varsity football team traveled to Veteran's Stadium in Snohomish for their first road game of the year, against Glacier Peak.

After the first quarter ended 0-0, the 'Cats got on the board first with a 30-yard field goal by Peter Franssen to open the 2nd quarter. Glacier Peak answered with a 10-play drive capped by a 34-yard pass touchdown. Glacier Peak was now on top 7-3 with 9:07 to go in 2nd quarter. Glacier Peak's next drive was stopped by a leaping interception by Dakota Sinchak on the Oak Harbor 1 yard line. Oak Harbor then drove into Grizzly territory but time ran out in the half. Halftime score: 7-3 in favor of GP.

The Wildcats opened the second half with a 69-yard drive ending with a 3-yard Brent Ryan push into the end zone to put OH back up 10-7 with the 6:19 mark in the 3rd. GP regained the lead with a 75-yard catch and run touchdown with 5:21 remaining to make it 14-10, a score that would stand to the end of the quarter.

The fourth quarter is when the game really got exciting. Oak Harbor went 3-out to start, then GP scored on a 5-play drive to make it 21-10 at the 8:35 mark. On their next possession, the Wildcats fumbled on the first play, giving the Grizzlies the ball at the OH 19 yard line and 2 plays later scored from 14 yard out. The kick failed, leaving GP ahead 27-10 with 7:09 left in the game.

Down but not out, the Wildcat roared back with an 8-play, 60-yard drive ending the Ryan diving across the goal line from a half-yard out. With 5:01 left in the game it was 27-17. The Wildcats held GP to just 4 plays, then Ian Kolste connected with Peter Franssen from 41 yard out with 2:48 left to cut the GP lead to 4 points, 27-23 after the OH PAT attempt failed. After the OH onside kickoff attempt, recovered by GP, the Grizzlies started on the OH 49. 4 plays later they fumbled and the ball was recovered by the 'Cats with 1:12 left in the game. Five plays later it was Ryan again to put OH up 30-27 with just 18 second left. Glacier Peak drove down into OH territory and with just 9 seconds left got off their final play. It was a pass to the far sideline, caught with about 4 seconds on the clock. Instead of stepping out of bounds, the receiver elected to try and run, and would up going backwards and scrambling around at about the OH 35. Stopped, he tossed the ball backwards to the GP quarterback. The Wildcats ganged up on the GP QB and stripped the ball from him and jumped on it to end the game with a 30-27 OH victory.

26 photos from the 2nd quarter are posted HERE.

Video highlights clips are posted HERE.

Oak Harbor Youth Football 2011-09-10

Five of the six Oak Harbor teams played this past Saturday, four of them at home.

In the single away game, the Jaguars traveled to Arlington Gold and put on an offensive show, winning 42-20.

At home, the day started with the midget Cougars vs Mt. Vernon Black. This was a back-and-forth game early with neither team able to advance the ball. Finally, MV was able to break their runner free on a 4th and 23 play for a 30-yard score with 8:06 left in the 2nd quarter. The Bulldogs scored again with 3:18 left to take a 13-0 lead. Oak Harbor closed the score on the first play after the kickoff on a 53-yard TD run. The Cougars though they had a 63-yard TD run with about a minute to play but it was called back due to a block in the back. The half ended with MV leading 13-7. MV got the final score of the game with 1:40 remaining in the 3rd quarter on a 43-yard run. Final score MV 19, Cougars 7.

Cougars video highlights are posted HERE

18 photos of the Cougars are posted HERE.

The 11:00 game was the senior Wildcat team vs Arlington Blue. Although the score shows a blowout, the game was anything but. The game was decided on just a few key plays by the Wildcats on both offense and defense. Two promising Arlington drives, including one late in the game, were stopped by timely OH interceptions. The first Wildcat score was on a 61-yard run at the 8:45 mark in the first quarter making it 8-0. The 'Cats scored again on a nice drive, leaving just 3:43 on the clock until halftime, now leading 16-0. The final OH score was with just 3:21 left in the game. The kick was also good, making the final score 24-0.

Click HERE for Wildcat video clips

Wildcat photos are posted HERE.

At 1pm the midget Panthers faced the Stanwood Spartans. Like the early Cougars game, Oak Harbor was never out of it, but just couldn't find a way to move the ball and get into the end zone. Stanwood scored first with 8:46 left in the half and again with 5:49 left in the game. The final score was 14-0 in favor of Stanwood

HERE are some Panther highlights

Click HERE for 21 Panther photos.

The final game of the day was the peewee Bobcats vs Stanwood. This game was all Oak Harbor from the start. Stanwood scored on the first play from scrimmage, using only 17 seconds to run 55 yards to the end zone. Later in the first, a 10-yard run made the score 13-0 and a third score left the score 20-0 in favor of OH at halftime. The Bobcats extended their lead to 26-0 early in the 3rd quarter. Stanwood got on the board with 5:28 left in the 3rd quarter, then OH answered right back with their own score with 3:44 remaining to make it 33-6. In the 4th quarter, the Oak Harbor and Stanwood subs each scored. Oak Harbor with 9:32 left in the game and Stanwood with 1:46 left. Final score: Oak Harbor Bobcats 39, Stanwood 12.

Bobcats video clips are here.

HERE are 18 photos from the Bobcats' game.

VB 2011-09-08 vs Stanwood

If you were a paying fan at Thursday's volleyball match at OHHS vs Stanwood, you sure got your money's worth.

Starting over in the dome, the Freshman team won the first two games 25-22, 25-18, but fell in the third with a mixed lineup, 14-25.

In the main gym, the JV team took a commanding 19-11 lead in game one, scoring on two service aces by Stephanie Milliron and one by Deanna Ruben, and kills by Olivia Hunt and Hannah Christensen. They won the first game 25-18. Oak Harbor stumbled early in the second, spotting the Spartans a 7-13 lead, but tied things up at 19 on a Tiffany Kepner service ace. The score was back and forth until a pair of kills by Peyton Craven and a service ace by Ashley Johnston gave the Wildcats match point, 24-22. Unfortunately, Stanwood wasn't ready to give up and scored 4 straight to take game two 26-24. With the match tied at 1 game each, the 3rd game started sluggishly, with neither team playing spirited ball. Oak Harbor finally pulled away, leading 10-7 and increasing the lead to 24-12 and needing only one point to put the match away. Again, Stanwood wasn't ready to go away and scored 12 straight points to tie the match at 24. In the extra points, the game was either tied or OH had the advantage, but couldn't get it put away. Finally, with the score at 27-26, Christensen was able to hit through the Spartan block for match point. Game 3 to the Wildcats 28-26.

The varsity match was just as exciting. In the first game Stanwood took an early 10-5 lead and never let up, dominating the Wildcats 25-11. Oak Harbor took an 8-3 lead in game 2 after a solo block by Kelsey Rankin then a Roshel Muzzall kill made it 9-4. The Wildcats never looked back and were at game point, 24-16 when Muzzall hit a hard serve that to everyone in the gym looked in, including the corner line judge, but the official overruled the judge and awarded the point to Stanwood. Game 2 ended 25-17 in favor of OH with another Rankin block. Oak Harbor led through most of game 3, but Stanwood stayed with us and tied the game at 19, then went on a 6-2 run to win the game 25-21.

Game 4. Wow. Neither team led by more than 3 points throughout the game, which was tied no less that 3 times early, and again late, 24-24. This is when it got really exciting. Stanwood held match point 3 times until the Wildcats scored, then held game point 27-26 after a double block by Rankin and Hannah Salmons. Stanwood hung on and had match point another 3 times before OH was able to grab it back 31-30. OH had another game point 32-31 after Janine DeGuzman hit a cross shot, but Stanwood still stayed in it. Finally, a kills by Kayleigh Harper and Muzzall put it away, Oak Harbor winning 34-32 and tying the match at 2 games each.

In the fifth and deciding game, both teams were showing their fatigue but Stanwood was able to capitalize on the Wildcat errors, taking an early lead and holding it throughout, winning 15-11 and taking the match 3-2.

A total of 162 photos of all 3 teams, plus several pre-season team photos, are posted HERE.

JV video highlights are HERE.

Varsity video highlights are posted HERE.

Boys Tennis 2011-09-08 vs MLT

The boys tennis team was back in action, hosting their first home match of the year against the Mountlake Terrace Hawks.

Four of the seven scoring matches went to 3 sets, but Oak Harbor was only able to win one of them.

OH winners were #3 singles Harrison Miller (5-7, 6-3, 6-3) and #4 singles Will Southard (6-0, 6-2).

Second doubles Benjamin Harrison and Samuel Glavick had one of the longest matches of the day before falling to the MLT team. The score in their match was 3-6, 7-6(7), 5-7. 3rd doubles Jacob Nelson and Tom Dale also played tough, falling 6-4, 2-6, 6-7(1).

In exhibition action, Sean Kelley and Antonio Unpingco teamed up to win 8-4 in doubles play.

73 photos from singles action are posted HERE, along with preseason team photos.

VB 2011-09-06 vs Mariner

The OHHS volleyball teams, Freshman, JV and Varsity all won on the opening night of the 2011 season in a nonleague match against 4A Mariner.

The freshman team won their first game 25-17, lost the second 23-25, then came from behind to grab game 3 25-21 in an exciting finish.

After sprinting to an early 6-1 lead behind 3 service aces by Deanna Ruben, the Wildcats had a few errors and let the Marauders back in the game but never gave up the lead, holding on to win 25-20 on a service ace by Ashley Johnston. The girls regrouped and started game 2 on a 9-0 run then took a 15-3 lead after a service ace by Hannah Christensen. Peyton Craven scored game point, 25-15. In game 3, Coach Swankie experimented a bit with his lineup and Mariner was able to grab an early 4-1 lead, but three points in a row by Olivia Hunt put the Wildcats up 10-7. Mariner fought back, regaining the lead 14-13 then extended it to 20-14. Oak Harbor got to within 3 points, 21-18, but Mariner was able to hang on for a 24-20 win, but the JV girls won the match 2-1.

In varsity action, Christina Alexander served the team to an early 4-1 lead and that's as close as it would get as the Wildcats dominated the game 25-8. Game 2 was similar, with OH leading 5-1 early. Mariner kept it close, but 4 straight Wildcat points, two by Janine DeGuzman, ended game 2 with a 25-14 Wildcat win. Oak Harbor turned up the heat even more early in the 3rd game, leading 6-0 before Mariner could get a point, then extending the lead to 11-2. OH would again go on to win the game, this one by a score of 25-15.

The girls are in action again tonight, September 8th in another non-league match at OHHS vs Stanwood.


Video highlight clips are HERE

133 photos are posted HERE.

Boys Tennis 2011-09-06 vs Marysville-Getchell

The Oak Harbor Boys Tennis team swung into action Tuesday, playing the first-ever sports match against the new Marysville-Getchell High School.

The varsity team traveled to Marysville while the JV team was at home.

In JV action, first singles Sean Kelley won in a 3rd set tiebreaker (10-3) and first doubles Tabor Rupp and Ziwei Peng also won in a 3rd set tiebreaker (10-7). Unfortunately, those were the only JV victories at Getchell took the match 5-2.

The varsity score was reversed, with the Wildcats winning 5-2. In singles, #2 Eric Berner, a senior, won 6-2, 6-4, 3rd singles, sophomore Harrison Miller, won 6-3, 7-6(5), and 4th singles, junior Will Southard, won 6-1, 6-2. Freshman Carter Saar, first singles, played a tough match but fell 3-6, 6-3, 2-6.

In varsity doubles, David Kusnick and Cameron Bester, both juniors, won 6-2, 6-4, Seniors Ben Harrison and Samuel Glavick won a close 6-7(6), 7-5, 6-3 match. 3rd doubles, Sophomore Jacob Nelson and Freshman Tom Dale took their match to 3 sets but MG picked up the win 7-5, 2-6, 2-6.

Kusnick also won an exhibition singles match 8-1.

The varsity team is at home Thursday, Sept 8th against Mountlake Terrace.

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Varsity Football 2011-09-02 vs Mountlake Terrace

The varsity football season kicked off last Friday with the Wildcats hosting Mountlake Terrace at Wildcat Memorial Stadium.

The Hawks received the opening kickoff and on their very first play of the year were called for a false start. Things went downhill from there. After running just 3 offensive plays, Nick Farrell forced a fumble that was recovered by Cody Hernkind, giving the Wildcats the ball on the Terrace 30 yard line. Four plays later Josiah Miller ran it in from 13 yards out to put the Wildcats ahead 7-0 with 9:11 left in the first quarter.

Terrace's second series also ended in a fumble, again with Hernkind recovering, but the Wildcats were unable to score, coming up just inches short on a 4th and 1 play.

The first quarter ended with the Wildcats leading 7-0.

Early in the 2nd, Oak Harbor drove down to the MLT 27, but a pass intended for Mike Washington was just a bit long and was intercepted at the 3 yard line. Not to worry, as the Hawks lost 2 yards in their 3 plays, punting from their own 1 yard line. Again the 'Cats turned the ball over, this on a fumble on the Terrace 30 yard line. And again, Terrace punted after 3 plays.

The Wildcats scored their second TD of the night on a 23-yard pass play from Ian Kolste to Josiah Miller with 4:06 to go in the first half.

Miller scored again just over 3 minutes later on a really nice 84-yard scamper down the near sideline. Franssen's kick made it 21-0 which was the score at halftime.

On their first possession of the 2nd half, the Hawks went 3-and-out, punting to Miller. The ball slipped through his fingers, but Isaiah Trower was there, picked up the ball at the OH 46 and ran it all the way to the end zone to put OH up 28-0.

Terrace's next possession lasted all of 5 plays, the last two ending in tackles for loss, including a nice teaming of Hernkind and Tucker Lundstrom to force the punt which went to the OH 8 yard line.

There, the Wildcats marched all the way to their 5th TD of the night, behind a 52 run by Brent Ryan starting at the OH 12 and ending with a 23-yard Franssen run.

With the game well in hand, the Wildcats started dipping into their reserves, and those players made some noise as well. Troy Sturdevant had a nice sack, Julian Faralan had a nice run to bring the ball inside the 10 yard line and Jack Richter ran it in for the final TD of the game.

Final score - Oak Harbor 42, Mountlake Terrace 0.

Next up for the Wildcats is a trip to Snohomish's Veteran's Stadium to face the Glacier Peak Grizzlies. Game time is 7pm.

A video highlight clip is posted HERE.

47 photos are posted HERE.

Oak Harbor's Josiah Miller is an Everett Herald "Player to Watch"

Read the complete article HERE

High School Football starts this Friday

The Wildcat varsity football team opens the 2011 season with a game against the Mountlake Terrace Hawks at Wildcat Memorial Stadium at 7pm.

Help fill the stadium for opening night!