After his team weathered a week of shock, sacrifice, adulation and attention, Oak Harbor High School football coach Jay Turner didn’t know what to expect when his Wildcats took on Mountlake Terrace Friday night in Oak Harbor.
He liked the answer he received; Oak Harbor walloped the Hawks 49-9.
The win earned the Wildcats the third seed out of the 3A Western Conference and will host Kennedy Catholic next Friday or Saturday in the quad-district playoffs.
Terrace is the fourth seed and will head to Olympia to face Capital.
“The past week has been a roller-coaster ride,” Turner said after the game. “We didn’t know how the kids would respond. It took a few minutes to get comfortable.”
Once the Wildcats settled in, Mountlake Terrace was in trouble.
The Hawks moved the ball early, with Ryan Lacrosse scoring from three yards out on the game’s first possession.
The next time Terrace had the ball, the Hawks ate up enough yardage to set up a 46-yard field goal by Ivan Melchor.
From that point, Mountlake Terrace collected only three first downs.
Oak Harbor rolled early and never stopped, averaging over 10 yards per play.
After the Hawks’ first score, Oak Harbor sophomore fullback Princeton Lollar bolted up the middle for a 45-yard TD, his first of four scores. On the run he shed two defenders at the 15 and carried another the final 10 yards into the end zone. That wasn’t the last would-be tackler he bulled up the field. The 225-pounder ran for 163 yards on 17 carries.
He was joined in the spotlight by a handful of teammates.
Quarterback Clay Doughty hit nine of 11 passes for 213 yards and a touchdown. Dyllan Harris caught eight of those passes for 191 yards and the score. On gains of 42 and 51 yards, Harris out-jumped and out-wrestled two defenders to complete the plays.
Dejon Devroe ran for 103 yards on nine carries and scored twice. He had a 30-yard touchdown run nullified by a penalty.
Mark Johnston kicked seven extra points.
Koby Cosper and Mike Lanningham recorded sacks.
In all, the Wildcats piled up 532 yards.
Turner praised the play of his offensive line, saying it “did a nice job of punching some holes.”
Terrace finished with only 159 yards of total offense. It ran just 16 plays in the second half for 26 yards.
Oak Harbor led 28-9 at the break and 42-9 after the third quarter.
With all the emotions of the Marysville-Pilchuck shooting and the hectic aftermath, Turner said they “tried to eliminate as many distractions as possible.” He added, “The kids were excited to get out and play after not playing for two weeks.”
“I’m really proud of our kids,” Turner said. “It’s a good group of kids and they understand what is important.”
And he wasn’t referring to winning football games.
