‘Cats top M-P, earn spot in playoffs | Football

Published 12:19 pm Sunday, October 25, 2015

Finally.

For the first time in 10 years, the Oak Harbor High School football team defeated Marysville-Pilchuck, thumping the Tomahawks 42-13 Friday, Oct. 23, at Quil Ceda Stadium.

Wildcat head coach Jay Turner said it was nice to top his alma mater, but it was more satisfying because it was the first time since he became head coach that Oak Harbor beat the Tomahawks and that this win locked up a spot in the play-in round of the state tournament and a possible home playoff game.

Oak Harbor (4-1, 5-2) finished second in the Wesco 3A North and will now face the second-place team from the Wesco South, Meadowdale (4-2, 5-3), at 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 30, at Edmonds Stadium in a seeding game.

Win or lose, the Wildcats will advance to the playoffs.

The two Wesco division champions, Arlington in the North and Glacier Peak in the South, will meet to decide the first and second seeds from the conference into the state tournament play-in round. The Oak Harbor and Meadowdale game will mostly likely decide the third and fourth seeds, but Ferndale of the Northwest Conference could take one of those spots depending on the outcome of its final league game Friday. Regardless, Oak Harbor will advance.

The Wildcats and Meadowdale have squared off three times in the past four years in the cross-over round, with the Mavericks winning twice. Oak Harbor, however, took the last meeting 27-8 in 2013.

In the win over Marysville-Pilchuck, the Wildcat offense continued to do its thing – grinding out yards with the running game and eating up the clock. The Oak Harbor defense in the second half was equally as impressive and helped the Wildcats pull away after leading 21-13 at halftime.

Oak Harbor limited the Tomahawks to only three possessions in the second half, which resulted in just 14 plays, 40 yards and two first downs (one by penalty). Marysville-Pilchuck’s time of possession, out of 24 minutes, was only 4:15.

It was an outstanding performance after a defensive mixed bag the first two periods. In the first half, Oak Harbor stopped the Tomahawks twice on fourth down, picked off a pass, blocked a PAT kick and recovered a fumble, but it also gave up 302 yards and 13 points. M-P QB Eric Lind, at one point in the first half, completed eight of nine passes for 112 yards. After the break, he connected only two of six for five yards.

In regard to the defensive improvement, Oak Harbor assistant coach Jon Atkins said, “The biggest difference was that we executed better and simplified things a bit on defense because their quick huddle was causing some alignment issues. Once we got that fixed, the kids really executed the plan and made sure tackles, something we had some trouble doing the first half.”

Oak Harbor opened the game by stopping Marysville-Pilchuck on downs at midfield. From there, Oak Harbor marched in for the first score. During the drive, Princeton Lollar ran 29 yards to the Tomahawks’ four-yard line and then scored two plays later. Eric Jensen kicked his first of six PATs.

M-P responded by going 68 yards six plays to tie it at 7-7.

The Wildcats came right back, covering 76 yards (and overcoming a first-and-18 because of a holding call) to take the lead for good, 14-7, on Dyllan Harris’ two-yard run on the final play of the first quarter.

Savion Passmore intercepted Lind in the end zone to halt the Tomahawks’ next possession.

After an Oak Harbor punt and another Wildcat stop on fourth down at its own 31, Harris zipped 66 yards and Oak Harbor lead 21-7 with just over one minute left in the half.

Marysville-Pilchuck nearly scored twice in the final 68 seconds. First, the Tomahawks used its timeouts to help cover 66 yards in nine plays and scored with 10 seconds left in the period. The PAT kick was blocked.

Oak Harbor muffed the ensuing kickoff, and Marysville-Pilchuck had time for one play from the Oak Harbor 36. Lind completed a pass inside the Oak Harbor five-yard line, but the ball was knocked loose just short of the goal line as the Tomahawk receiver struggled to reach the end zone.

Marysville-Pilchuck wouldn’t get close to scoring in the second half, and the only thing that stopped the Oak Harbor offense was the final whistle when Wildcat backup quarterback Jordan Bell took a knee twice inside the M-P 10.

The Wildcats started the second half with a 75-yard scoring drive, capped by a two-yard Lollar run. The highlight was a 37-yard pass from Tyler Snavely to Passmore on a third-and-nine play during the first series.

As fog rolled in, making it difficult to see the field from the bleachers, Oak Harbor sliced through M-P for another score when Harris ran in from the four.

Early in the fourth quarter, Harris finished the scoring with a nine-yard run.

It was another big night for the Wildcat ground game (375 yards). Lollar bulled for 168 yards on 26 carries; Harris finished with 110 yards on 11 runs (and had a 59-yard TD run wiped out by a penalty); and Passmore added 76 on 11.

Snavely hit four of six passes for 74 yards; Passmore caught two for 58 yards.

One of Oak Harbor’s goals, Turner said, is to keep improving each week. The Wildcats have made great strides since a sloppy opening loss to Monroe when Oak Harbor’s inexperience was exposed.

“Our kids aren’t so young any more,” Turner said.

(From the top: Dyllan Harris breaks loose for a long run. Savion Passmore gets some face time with an M-P defender. Quinn Karney tackles Tomahawk Justin Trueax. Princeton Lollar slips down the sideline trying to reach the end zone. Photos by John Fisken.)