JJ Mitchell scored a pair of goals to get the Oak Harbor High School soccer season off to a winning start, helping the Wildcats nip visiting South Whidbey 2-1 Saturday, March 11.

“It was an interesting game,” coach Jeff Laiblin said. “It was not a clean game for us, but we found a way to win.”

That way was channeled through Mitchell, a two-time all-conference player. He started the scoring midway through the first half off an assist from Nathan Merrill.

Ten minutes later, South Whidbey’s Michael Lux evened the match with a Falcon goal.

Mitchell broke the tie with 15 minutes remaining, this time off an assist from Kanoa King.

Both teams created good scoring opportunities throughout the match, but “great goalkeeping” by both schools, Laiblin said, kept the contest close.

Jared Hoyt and Austin Moncada shared keeper duties for the Wildcats; Julian Inches manned the net for the Falcons.

“We played better in the second half than the first,” Laiblin said. “We are learning a new system than in years past, and today showed we still have work to do. When we played the system as it was meant to be played, I liked what I saw.

“We learned a lot from this game, and I look forward to using the lessons learned and applying them to future games.”

Oak Harbor continues non-league play when it hosts Jackson at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 14.

Kurtis Zylstra beats South Whidbey’s Graham Colar to the ball. (Photo by John Fisken)