Cross Country teams now ranked

The OHHS Boys and Girls Cross Country teams are both ranked 9th in the most recent Seattle Times rankings!

Great job Wildcats!

Cross Country 2011-10-29 at South Whidbey

Both the boys and girls OHHS Cross Country teams were at South Whidbey HS Saturday afternoon for the District Meet. The top 2 teams would go on to the state meet in Pasco.

Last week at the league meet, the Oak Harbor girls came in second to Glacier Peak, this week with the Northwest League 3A teams added, the result was still the same. Glacier Peak first, Oak Harbor second. The Grizzlies tallied 22 points and the Wildcats 62. Shorecrest was in 3rd with 114, Getchell 5th with 118 and Meadowdale 5th with 192. Individually, the winner of the 5k course was Amy-Eloise Neale from Glacier Peak, who finished in 17:46. Second place finished in 18:51, also from Glacier Peak. Third was a girl from Meadowdale.

Christina Wicker was first for the Wildcats, finishing in 8th overall with a time of 19:43. Then, in roughly every other position, 5 other Wildcats crossed the line. Hannah Bressler was 10th, Heather Dale 12th, Alex Laiblin 15th, Ashley Everett 17th and Carlie Kenny 19th. Taylor Von Grey was 28th, out of 79 runners. The second place finish sends the entire team to state for the second year in a row.

Last week, the boys finished in second place, by just 6 points, to 10th ranked Glacier Peak. Saturday, the boys got their revenge, scoring 53 points as they won the District 1 team title and also earned their second trip in a row to the state meet. Glacier Peak finished 2nd with 79 points. Everett was 4th with 116 points, Mt. Vernon 4th with 134 points and 5th Mountlake Terrace with 150 points.

Individually, a Ferndale runner won the race in 16:20, with Everett in 2nd and Shorecrest in 3rd. For the Wildcats, Matt Reith was 6th overall in 16:43, followed closely by Josh Schrum in 7th and John Rodeheffer in 8th. John Kaltenbach was 11th, Stephen Miller 21st, Esai Cunningham 22nd and Dakota Powers 30th out of 83 runners.

The state meet is next week, Saturday November 5th, at the Sun Willows Golf Course in Pasco, WA.

Boys photos are posted HERE.

Girls photos are posted HERE.

Football 2011-10-28 - Special Coupeville edition

It wasn't pretty Friday night in a class 1A playoff game at Wildcat Memorial Stadium featuring Coupeville vs #4 ranked Meridian.

Coupeville was down 5 players from last week's game, then lost another three during Friday's game, two via ambulance.

Things didn't start well for the Wolves as a bad snap on a punt was recovered by Merdian in the end zone for an early touchdown.

The Coupeville defense played tough throughout the first half, but the offense just couldn't get anything going against the strong Meridian defense.

In the end it was Meridian 47, Coupeville 0.

Photos from the game are posted HERE.

FB 2011-10-27 at Meadowdale

For their final regular season game of the year, the 9-0 Oak Harbor Wildcats traveled to Edmonds Stadium to take on the 9-0 Meadowdale Mavericks. The game was billed as the immoveable object (the Meadowdale defense) vs the irresistible force (the OH offense).

In this case, the defense won.

The game started out well for Oak Harbor when Josh McVey recovered a fumble caused by Casey Ferguson during a sack, the Josiah Miller ran in from 21 yards out with 5:56 left in the first quarter to put OH ahead 7-0.

Meadowdale responded with an 8-play drive, ending with a 12 yard run with 2:03 left to tie the score.

After trading punts, Oak Harbor took the lead again on a 30-yard field goal by Peter Franssen with 5:23 left until halftime. It's now OH 10, Meadowdale 7.

After punts but both teams, Meadowdale recaptured the lead, 14-10 on a 5-yard run with 2:34 left. Oak Harbor came right back and scored with 4 seconds left when Ian Kolste found Mike Washington in the corner of the end zone to give OH the lead at halftime, 17-14.

Oak Harbor received the 2nd half kickoff but punted after 6 plays, Meadowdale slowly moved upfield, and it looked like the OH defense had the Mavs stopped, but the QB found an open receiver downfield for a 44-yard TD strike with 5:13 to go in the 3rd.

On their next possession the Wildcats were facing a 4th-and-long, and opting to use a play that had worked several times earlier in the season, punter Josiah Miller got the go-ahead to attempt the fake, but Meadowdale was ready and caught Miller for a 9-yard loss, setting up a 1-yard Meadowdale run to make it 28-17 with 2:46 left.

The Wildcat's next offensive series ended with a Meadowdale interception at their own 21 but the Mavs were forced to punt it away after 4 plays.

The next OH drive started at their own 46 and 9 plays later were down to the Meadowdale 24, but a 4th down attempt was unsuccessful, giving Meadowdale the ball. Seven plays later a 12-yard run made it Meadowdale 34, Oak Harbor 17, and that score would be the final.

Next up for the Wildcats is a home play-in game vs Eastside Catholic. The winner goes to the state playoffs, the loser is done for the year. The game will be Friday night, November 4th at 7pm at Wildcat Memorial Stadium.


40 photos are posted HERE.

Video clips are HERE.

Girls soccer 2011-10-26 vs Everett

The Oak Harbor girls soccer teams completed their 2011 season Wednesday night with a game against league-leading and undefeated Everett.

In the JV game, goalkeeper Makenzie Perry had numerous saves, but 3 balls got through, giving Everett a 3-0 win.

In the varsity game, Everett showed why they are ranked #3 in the state in 3A. The varsity game ended with Everett on top 10-0.

Although the varsity season was winless, not all the games were losses. The Wildcat girls tied with Lynnwood twice, the first matchup 1-1, the second 0-0, and tied Shorewood 0-0.

The JV team won 4 and tied once this season. Wins came over Lynnwood (2-0 and 5-0), Shorecrest (1-0) and Getchell (1-0). The tie was the first match against Getchell that ended 0-0.

Photos of JV and varsity teams against Everett are posted HERE.

Girls soccer 2011-10-26 - Coupeville Edition

The Coupeville Wolves girls soccer team hosted a first-round 1A playoff game Wednesday night vs Meridian HS.

Although Meridian spent a lot of time in the Coupeville half of the field in the first half, the score was 0-0 at the break.

Shortly after halftime was over, though, Meridian broke the tie with a goal and added another later to win the game 2-0, ending Coupeville's season.

Photos are posted HERE.

There will be another special Coupeville edition of the Oak Harbor Sports Report on Friday, as the Wolves host Meridian again, this time in a playoff football game at Wildcat Memorial Stadium. Game time is 7pm.

FB 2011-10-25 Freshmen vs Arlington

The Oak Harbor Freshman football team completed their season at home Tuesday evening with a 47-0 win over Arlington.

The Wildcats ran only 10 offensive plays in the first quarter, with 4 of them going for touchdowns as OH built an early 28-0 lead.

In the second quarter, two drives were stopped inside the Arlington 10 yard line, but the Wildcat scored on a 7-yard run with 2:14 left to boost the score to 34-0.

OH got the opening kick in the second half and used 10 plays to cover 54 yards to make it 41-0 and trigger a running clock for the remainder of the game.

The final OH touchdown came on a fumble recovery. Arlington fumbled on their own 13 yard line, and after the ball sat on the turf for a second or two, an OH player picked it up and ran straight up the middle for the score.

Arlington did move the ball late, moving the ball from the OH 48 down to the 6, but the clock ran out on the Eagle's chance to avoid the shutout.

The Freshman team ended the season with a 6-1 record. The team scored 282 points over their 7 games, an average of 40 points per game and allowed only 3 touchdowns. Two vs Pilchuck and one vs Everett.

Thursday the varsity team travels to Edmonds Stadium to take on the Meadowdale Mavericks. Both teams are undefeated and the winner will be WESCO 3A league champion.

Video clips are posted HERE.

Photos are HERE.

Cross Country 2011-10-22 at Lakewood HS

The WESCO 3A championships were held Saturday afternoon at Lakewood HS just outside of Arlington. As expected, Glacier Peak won both the boys and girls titles, but in second place in both were the Oak Harbor Wildcats.

GP dominated in the girls race, and no Oak Harbor girls were in the top 10 finishers, but the Wildcats did capture the next 3, and put 3 more into the top 20. Hannah Bressler was 11th, Christina Wicker 12th, Heather Dale 13th, Alex Laiblin 16th, Ashley Everett 18th and Taylor Von Grey in 20th. Also in the varsity race were Carlie Kenny at 21st and Jonalynn Horn in 24th.

In the girls JV race, Rachel Crowther was the top OH runner and was 8th overall. Also running were Emily Bain, Nikki Blanchard, Gracey Pauley and Sophie Rath.

On the boys side, the gap between Glacier Peak and Oak Harbor was only 6 points. GP scored 56 to the Wildcats' 62. That was a lot closer than the 47-point gap in the girls race. The top OH runner was Matt Reith, who finished in 4th place overall. Two other Wildcats also finished in the top twenty - Josh Schrum in 8th, John Rodeheffer in 9th and John Kaltenbach in 15th. Also in the boys varsity race for OH were Stephen Miller, Dakota Powers, Esai Cunningham, Nathan Wagner, Patrick Mayer, Thomas Honeycutt, Adriel Eckart, Wyatt Homola and Clayton Richardson.

In the boys JV race, Isaac Matthews was the top OH finisher, in 21st overall. Also running were Brendan Bristow, Joel Erickson, Gunnar Melnick, Ryuta Meany and Alex Berry.

Next for the Cross Country team is the District race, held at South Whidbey High School in Langley. The first 3A race starts at 12:10pm, and admission is free.

Youth soccer 2011-10-22 @ Ft. Nugent

What a day! Saturday's games started in a pouring rain and ended in blazing sunshine.

In the next-to-last week of games in the fall season, there were still a lot of soccer to be played, rain or no rain.

With photos of all the U-6 teams and all but one of the U8 teams done, this weekend is mostly U-10 and U-12 action.

In girls games, we finally got to the final GU-8 team. The Teal Diamonds vs the Purple Lightning girls. 55 photos of the game are posted HERE.

GU-10 Lime Sounders vs South Whidbey photos are HERE.

GU-10 Pink Mustangs vs Purple People Eaters pics are posted HERE.

Photos of the GU-12 Green Cherry Bombs vs Purple Thunder game are HERE.

In the final girls game of the day, the Red TNT from Coupeville took on the Red Dragons from North Whidbey. Yes, both teams were in red. Coupeville had white trim on their jerseys while North Whidbey had black sleeves. To compound the confusion even more, the Dragons were short on players and had to borrow two from Coupeville, who wore orange bibs over their jerseys. You can see photos from this game posted HERE.

In boys games, the BU-10 Blue Soccer Brawlers played the Green Tsunami, with photos posted HERE.

Finally, in what has to be the two most interestingly named teams this year, the Green Enraged Monkeys played the Orange Gangsta Gummi Bears in BU-12 action. Those photos are posted HERE.

Youth football 2011-10-22

All six Oak Harbor youth football teams were in action last Saturday, with 4 teams playing at home.

On the road at Mt. Vernon, the peewee Bobcats played their first-round playoff game against Arlington Blue and beat them 13-0. They now move on to a semifinal game next weekend.

Also away were the junior Pumas, who fought hard but came up 2 points short in a 28-30 loss to Arlington Gold. The Pumas end the regular season with a 4-3 record.

At home, the Panthers started the day, playing Sedro White in a pouring rain. The game was close, but Oak Harbor won 39-26. The Panthers finished the regular season with a 4-3 record and will be in the playoffs starting next Saturday.

Panther photos are posted HERE.

Next were the senior Wildcats. They came out flat and were never really competitive in the game against Sedro Woolley, falling 32-8. The Wildcats ended the season with a 6-2 record and will be in the playoffs next weekend.

Click HERE for Wildcat photos.

The third game was the undefeated junior Jaguars vs 0-7 Stanwood. The Jag stumbled through the early parts of the game, ahead, but not putting it away. Late in the game they settled down to win 24-0 and finish in first place in the Junior Mountain division.

38 Jags photos are HERE.

Finally, the midget Cougars also played Stanwood, and this game did not go well for Oak Harbor. The Cougars scored on a punt return, but that was it as Stanwood went on to win 38-6. The Cougars will no be in the playoffs this year.

Photos from the Cougars game are HERE.

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.