A punishing ground game in the third and fourth quarters combined with a safety erased a four-point lead and lifted Stanwood to a 22-10 victory over Oak Harbor in Friday WesCo North football action.
Like the old days of the Seahawks and “Ground Chuck,” the Spartans rushed the ball 36 times for 218 yards, 144 of them coming in the second half, to hand Oak Harbor its second straight league loss. The Wildcats are 2-4 overall.
“They got smash mouth with us,” coach Jay Turner said. “They were bigger and stronger than we were.”
Friday was Stanwood’s homecoming and the Spartans opened the scoring with no time showing on the clock in the first quarter on a 34-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Brock Reinecke from quarterback Michael McCune.
The extra point kick from Kale Schmidt sailed wide and the Spartans held a 6-0 lead.
Stanwood continued to hold the six-point lead until Oak Harbor kicker Kevin Flavin capped an eight play, 58-yard drive, hitting a 39-yard field goal with 45 seconds remaining in the first half.
After the break Oak Harbor took a brief 10-6 lead when quarterback J Jordan hooked up with Josh Higbee on a 35-yard scoring strike but after that, it was all Stanwood.
Jordan was tackled in the end zone for a safety after trying to scramble out of trouble deep in Oak Harbor territory, and Devon Wooldridge gave the Spartans the lead for good on a 1-yard run with 58 seconds remaining in the third quarter.
In the third and fourth quarters the Spartans did not put the ball in the air and ran their offense out of an old-style two tight end, T-formation, pounding the ball on the ground at the Wildcat defense.
“We kinda thought they might try running their offense like that, so it wasn’t a shock to us,” Turner said. “They were just a whole lot more physical up front than we were and we couldn’t get them stopped.”
Wooldridge scored an insurance touchdown with 7:10 remaining in the fourth quarter to put the game away for the Spartans.
The tough Stanwood defense held the Wildcats to just 15 rushing yards, but Jordan was able to pick apart the defensive backs completing 12 passes for 148 yards.
Higbee had four catches for 66 yards and Rashaad Smith hauled in two balls for another 48.
Wooldridge carried the ball 12 times for 90 yards to lead Stanwood and teammate Brad Gee netted 87 yards on 15 rushing attempts.
Homecoming comes to Oak Harbor Friday, Oct. 17, when the Wildcats host Arlington.
Football
Friday, Oct. 10
Stanwood 22, Oak Harbor 10
Oak Harbor 0 3 7 0 — 10
Stanwood 6 0 9 7 — 22
First quarter
S — Brock Reinecke 27 pass from Michael McCune (Kick failed) :00
Second quarter
OH — Kevin Flavin 39 FG :45
Third quarter
OH — Josh Higbee 35 pass from J Jordan (Flavin kick) 11:00
S — Safety Jordan tackled in end zone 6:36
S — Devon Wooldridge 1 run (Kale Schmidt kick) :58
Fourth quarter
S — Wooldridge 40 run (Schmidt kick) 7:10
Game stats.
Oak Harbor Stanwood
First downs 9 17
Rushes-yards 19-15 36-218
Passing yards 148 62
Comp.-Att. 12-33-1 1 5-6-0 1
Fumbles-lost 2-1 2-1
Sacks-yards lost 2-18 0-0
Penalties 5-60 4-35
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — Oak Harbor: J Jordan 12-8, Donovan Hunt 5-4, Derrick Clarit 2-3; Stanwood: Devon Wooldridge 12-90, Brad Gee 15-87, Ryan Schroyer 12-35, Michael McCune 5-4, Devon Hochstetler 1-2.
PASSING — Oak Harbor: Jordan 12-33-1 1 148; Stanwood: McCune 5-6-0 1 64.
RECEIVING — Oak Harbor: Josh Higbee 4-66, Rashaad Smith 2-42, Hunt 2-21, Stephen Lewis 3-17, Clarit 1-2; Stanwood: Brock Reinecke 2-39, Brandon Thomas 2-12, Wooldridge 1-11.
WesCo Scores Oct. 10
Stanwood 22, Oak Harbor 10
Marysville-Pilchuck 28, Lake Stevens 0
Snohomish 42, Cascade 26
Arlington 21, Monroe 14
