Stanwood’s defense bottles up Oak Harbor / Football

By Jim Waller • September 28, 2019 1:30 am

Behind a stingy defense and two late touchdowns, Stanwood defeated the Oak Harbor High School football team 22-6 Friday, Sept. 27, on a cool, wet night at Wildcat Memorial Stadium.

Oak Harbor (0-2, 1-3) dropped its third straight game and now heads to Ferndale (2-0, 2-2) for a 7 p.m. game Friday, Oct. 4. Stanwood (1-2, 2-2) picked up its first conference win.

After Stanwood kicked a field goal – the first of three by Garrett Craig in the game – in its first possession, Oak Harbor responded with its only score. The Wildcats began the drive at midfield after recovering an on-side kick and finished with three Brenden Andersen runs. Jaunts of 20 and 13 yards set up Andersen’s 4-yard score. The PAT kick was wide, and Oak Harbor led 6-3.

Andersen found success early running between the tackles. He piled up 96 yards on his first six carries before Stanwood plugged the holes. From that point, Andersen gained 11 yards on 9 runs, finishing with 107 on 15 carries.

That was most of the Wildcats’ offense. Oak Harbor finished the game with only 119 yards, getting just 6 in the second half on 17 plays, three which were punts. That includes two sacks for a minus 18 yards.

Stanwood ran 77 plays in the game, 33 more than the Wildcats and racked up 354 yards, 250 rushing.

Stanwood tied the game with a field goal just before halftime, set up by an interception at the Oak Harbor 21-yard line. That interception came after a crazy sequence that saw four picks – two by each team – in a span of four throws and seven plays.

On its first possession of the second half, Stanwood took a 9-6 lead on Craig’s third field goal.

The Spartan’s scored on a 31-yard run by Tylor SanNicholas with 8:22 left in the third quarter to go up 16-6.

Stanwood took over on downs at the Oak Harbor 20 with 2:27 left in the contest and took advantage of the short field by scoring the game’s final points with 1:24 left.

The Spartans lost starting quarterback freshman Wyatt Custer to a serious leg injury with 1:09 left in the first half. He collected 58 yards rushing on 13 runs and completed 7-of-21 passes for 70 yards and two interceptions. His replacement, Cade Lukehart, ran for 53 yards on 13 runs and passed for 34 yards, hitting 3-of-8.

SanNicholas gave the Stanwood offense a jolt. He didn’t get his first carry until the third quarter but finished with 80 yards and two touchdowns on nine carries.

Kaito White made his first start at quarterback for Oak Harbor and completed 5-of-15 throws for 22 yards.

Jake Mitten and Michael Gomez led the Wildcat defense with 13 tackles each. Calvin Whelpley recorded two tackles for losses, Justin Campbell had two sacks, and Landon Cantrell and Nathan Hummel each had interceptions.

Bennett Andersen (20) brings down a Stanwood ball carrier. (Photo by John Fisken)

In the photo above, Oak Harbor running back Brenden Andersen (26) sets up Stanwood defender Ryder Baumgarner; then below, Andersen leaves Bumgarner sprawling on the way to a big gain. (Photos by John Fisken)