Something had to give.
The Mount Vernon High School football team brought its stout defense to Wildcat Memorial Stadium Friday, Oct. 11, to stop the fleet-footed Oak Harbor offense. The Bulldogs’ brakes failed as Oak Harbor ran away with a 35-14 non-conference win.
Oak Harbor now turns its attention to Marysville Getchell, who comes to town for the Wildcats’ homecoming game at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 18. An Oak Harbor win guarantees the Wildcats a spot in the playoffs and negates the need for a play-in game.
A victory would also set in place a battle for the Wesco North 3A title in the final regular season game at Maryville-Pilchuck (2-0, 6-0). The Tomahawks are ranked third in the state 3A poll and face winless Everett this week.
Marysville Getchell headed in the season with thoughts of challenging for the North championship but has slipped to 1-2 in league and 3-3 overall. Some preseason polls picked the Chargers to finish second to M-P this year.
Getchell is led by quarterback Taylor Koellmer, who is second in the division in passing with 615 yards. His top receiver, Kaleb Seymer, ranks fourth with 10 catches for 189 yards.
Wil Owens leads the ground attack with 476 yards on 77 carries, good for fifth in the division.
The Oak Harbor/Mount Vernon game pitted two 4-1 teams with opposite strengths. Oak Harbor averages 36 points per game behind a strong running game. Mount Vernon leans on a stingy defense, limiting opponents to 11 points per contest.
The Wildcats, playing without leading rusher Dejon Devroe out with a concussion, stung the Bulldogs with big plays and a big second quarter.
Sheyenne Sams, who finished with 166 yards on 17 carries and two touchdowns, got the scoring started with a 26-yard run with just over five minutes left in the first quarter. Mark Johnston kicked the PAT.
Then came the second-quarter cascade. Dyllan Harris scored from five yards out less than two minutes into the period. Harris struck again, linking with Clay Doughty on a 35-yard TD pass play. Just before the half, Julian Faralan plowed in from the 2-yard line.
Mount Vernon got a bit of a spark when it scored just second into the second half.
Sams snuffed out the Bulldogs’ momentum with a 48-yard scoring strike midway through the period.
The Bulldogs ended the scoring with a touchdown with 8:24 left in the game.
Faralan finished with 68 yards on 18 carries.
Doughty helped picked up the slack with Devroe out by hitting 5-of-8 passes for 60 yards. Harris caught four of the tosses for 52 yards.
The Oak Harbor defense held the Wesco 4A North’s second-leading rusher, Brandon Hayman, to 49 yards on 16 carries. Hayman entered the game averaging over 100 yards per game and five yards per carry.
