Oak Harbor service clubs presented the Oak Harbor High School football team with a trophy Jan. 23, as a tangible reminder of the act of sportsmanship displayed by the Wildcats in the wake of the tragic shootings at Marysville-Pilchuck High School.

Oct. 24, the day Oak Harbor and Marysville-Pilchuck were to play for the Wesco 3A North divisional football title, a Marysville-Pilchuck student shot and killed four classmates and then himself.

Oak Harbor coach Jay Turner called M-P coach Brandon Carson and offered to forfeit the game, allowing those in Marysville to concentrate on more important matters.

In an added show of support, several Oak Harbor football players attended a vigil in Marysville and a Tomahawk football team meeting that evening.

Marsyville-Pilchuck, in its own act of sportsmanship, stopped by an Oak Harbor practice several days later to present the Wildcats with the first-place divisional trophy.

Ron Wallin of the Oak Harbor Rotary Club spearheaded the effort to give the trophies of recognition to the high school teams.

He and service club representatives presented the trophy to Turner and the football team prior to an Oak Harbor High School wrestling match Friday.

Oak Harbor service clubs also gave a similar trophy to Marysville-Pilchuck Athletic Director Greg Erickson and the Marysville Rotary president to be presented to the M-P football team in the near future.

“We did not want this to go unrecognized,” Wallin said. “Society needs to be reminded of what these teams did.”

By displaying the trophies at the high schools, Wallin said, the hope is to stimulate and perpetuate conversion about the acts of sportsmanship.

“This is something that needs to be passed on,” he said. “As time passes, people will forget. This will be a reminder.”

During the presentation, several club representatives spoke, including school board member Gary Wallin from the Oak Harbor Kiwanis Club: “We can’t thank you enough for what you did.”

Oak Harbor Mayor Scott Dudley, who was out of town at a conference when the tragedy occurred, said, “When we heard about what you did, people were in awe.”

The names of the coaching staffs and the names and numbers of each player are engraved on each trophy.

“It was very generous of our local service clubs to do what they did,” Turner said. “The trophy that they presented to the players is really nice. It’s great to be in a community with so much support from the different organizations.”