Marysville-Pilchuck shredded the Oak Harbor High School football team 42-0 Friday, Sept. 13, in the Wesco North opener at Quil Ceda Stadium.

The Wildcats (0-1, 1-1) will try to bounce back when they travel to Sedro-Woolley for a 7 p.m. nonleague game Friday, Sept. 20. The Cubs, led by former Oak Harbor head coach Dave Ward, are 2-0 this season, including a 34-27 win over 4A Mount Vernon Friday.

Three of Marysville-Pilchuck’s touchdowns against Oak Harbor were from beyond 50 yards as the Tomahawks used big plays to subdue the Wildcats.

Jordan Justice raced 58 yards for the game’s first score, then Kyle Nyblod returned a pick-6 52 yards for the second.

By the end of the first quarter, M-P led 21-0. It upped the lead to 35-0 at the half. The Tomahawks’ lone score after the break was a 65-yard run by Dillon Kuk in the third quarter.

One of the positives of the game for Oak Harbor was its improved play in the second half, according to coach Marcus Hughes.

The Wildcats came out flat at the beginning, Hughes said, but “played hard” after halftime.

“We knew there would be a game like this,” Hughes said. “Whenever you start a new program, you are going to go through something like this.”

“This game was more on me than them,” he added. “We are going to simply some stuff this week.”

Oak Harbor was able to overcome four turnovers in its season-opening win over Seaquam but couldn’t escape the mistakes against M-P. In addition to the interception, the Wildcats lost two fumbles, short-circuiting two promising Oak Harbor drives, according to Hughes.

“We have got to clean that up,” Hughes said.

The Wildcats finished with only 151 yards of offense.

Cameron Asinsin hit 8-of-17 passes for 47 yards. Nathan Hummel caught two of those tosses for 27 yards.

Oak Harbor rushed 19 times for 104 yards, led by Malachi Rainey-Baker who picked up 62 yards on only two carries.

Oak Harbor played the game without its leading rusher, Caden Leckelt, and key two-way lineman Justin Campbell because of injuries. Leckelt is expected to miss this week’s trip to Sedro-Woolley as well, according to Hughes.

Dylan Carson led Marysville-Pilchuck with 104 yards on 10 runs. In all, the Tomahawks picked up 254 yards on just 16 rushes, an average of almost 16 yards per carry.

Jake Elwood hit all three of his passes for 67 yards.

Ethen Decherong led the Oak Harbor defense with five tackles, and Jake Mitten added four.