It is so cliché, but it is so true – football is a game of inches. And the Oak Harbor High School football team needed a few more.

Oak Harbor came up just short several times in a 20-13 loss to Marysville Getchell in the annual homecoming game Friday, Oct. 18, at Wildcat Memorial Stadium.

The Chargers, getting the inches they needed when it mattered most, marches 89 yards to score the winning points with 1:35 left in the game.

The loss is Oak Harbor’s sixth straight after opening then season with a win.

“This hurts a lot,” Oak Harbor coach Marcus Hughes said. “I wanted the kids to win more than anything; that’s what hurts the most to me. We needed this win for the kids, for the school, for the community.

“I take a lot of the blame.”

The Wildcats (0-5, 1-6) close out the league schedule at 6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 26, at Bellingham’s Civic Stadium against Squalicum (3-2, 5-2).

That will be followed by two cross-over games. Oak Harbor will finish seventh in the Wesco North and will host the seventh-place team from the Wesco South – most likely Everett (0-6, 0-7) – at 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 1.

For the final game, Oak Harbor will be matched with another team that did not qualify for the playoffs.

The Wildcats got off to a great start against Getchell, scoring in two of its first three possessions. What happened between those scoring drives proved to be the trend for the remainder of the night. In its second possession, Oak Harbor stalled out at the Chargers’ 14-yard line, missing a first down by inches.

The Wildcats scored only twice in the game but also punted only twice. They moved the ball but could not finish drives, turning the ball over on downs four times.

The last fourth-down failure came at the end of the game when Oak Harbor needed three yards but mustered only two, turning the ball over at the Marysville Getchell 31 with 46 seconds remaining.

The Wildcats did, however, convert a huge fourth-down play in the game’s opening drive. On fourth-and-12 from the Charger 15, Matt Kelley made a spectacular touchdown catch on a toss from Kaito White. Jake Mitten kicked the extra point.

It took just three plays for Getchell to respond, as Austin Byron raced 41 yards for a Charger TD. The point after was blocked, and Oak Harbor led 7-6.

The Wildcats’ second scoring drive began early in the second quarter. White completed passes of 21 and 28 yards to Nolan Byng and Landon Cantrell, setting up Cantrell’s three-yard TD run. The PAT kick was blocked, and it was 13-6.

Getchell tied the game on the opening possession of the second half.

In the fourth quarter, Oak Harbor marched to the Getchell 11 before turning the ball over on downs, setting up the Chargers’ game winning drive.

Getchell had its field goal team ready when it faced a third-and-11 at the Oak Harbor 21, but a completed pass got just enough – a measurement revealed a first down by, of course, inches – to keep the drive alive.

While Oak Harbor came up short several times, it did make strides forward in other aspects of the game.

“We did a lot of good things,” Hughes said. “The defense played well; we tackled better. I thought the ‘O’ line’s protection was good.”

His highest praise was for quarterback White.

“Kaito was outstanding,” Hughes said. “We have been waiting all season for someone to step up. I am ecstatic about that.”

White completed 12 of 20 passes for 165 yards. Six different Wildcats caught passes, led by Cantrell with four for 45 yards.

White also rushed 57 yards on 15 carries. Brenden Andersen added 58 yards on 18 carries.

Oak Harbor finished with 307 yards of offense, running 63 plays to only 39 for Getchell.

The Wildcat defense limited the Chargers to 217 yards.

In all, Oak Harbor played a good game; it just came up a few inches short.

Nolan Byng rumbles for 21 yards after catching a pass. (Photo by John Fisken)

Justin Campbell (57) and John Leete (74) set up to protect quarterback Kaito White. (Photo by John Fisken)

Oak Harbor’s Landon Cantrell leaps over Marysville Getchell’s Aiden Verdugo to catch a pass. (Photo by John Fisken)

The Oak Harbor High School student section releases purple and gold “smoke” at the beginning of Friday’s homecoming game. (Photo by John Fisken)

Caden Leckelt throws Getchell’s Landyn Olson for a loss. (Photo by John Fisken)

Kaito White (14) scoots through a hole provided by Justin Campbell, right. (Photo by John Fisken)