OAK HARBOR — There was a time when Jay Turner would cheer and work tirelessly for Marysville Pilchuck.
However, these days Turner prefers purple and gold to red and white.
It’s been 24 years since the Oak Harbor High football coach suited up for Marysville Pilchuck. However, for the third consecutive year, the Wildcats’ coach will face his alma mater in the final week of the regular season with a Wesco 3A North title on the line.
“It’s been awhile since I’ve been there,” Turner said. “Marysville is always a special place for me. (Current Tomahawks offensive line coach Scott) Stokes was my head coach in high school. It’s always nice seeing those guys. I cheer for them every single week of the year.
“Except for the week we’re playing.”
Turner starred at Marysville Pilchuck in the late 1980s as both an all-state football and basketball player for the Tomahawks. He graduated in 1990 and went on to play defensive end at the University of Montana before returning to the Pacific Northwest to serve as a Oak Harbor’s defensive coordinator under former Wildcats coach Dave Ward, who is now at Sedro-Woolley.
“He’s simply one of the best ever to play football at MP,” said Stokes, who was the head football coach at Marysville Pilchuck from 1988-97. “He was an extraordinary player. He was just one of those relentless athletes. He did everything to the best of his ability and he had lots of ability.”
As a player, Turner was a quiet leader and a “tremendous teammate,” Stokes said, adding the young man was widely liked by his teammates and coaches alike.
“He’s just top flight,” Stokes said. “I’ve never been in his classroom but you just know he’s a tremendous math teacher, too. He’s just one of those really high-quality people.”
Current Marysville Pilchuck head coach Brandon Carson echoed Stokes’ thoughts.
“Jay’s a great guy,” Carson said. “I enjoy competing against him and his teams. He’s a class act. He’s always fun to talk to. It’s nice to bounce ideas back and forth because we do things so similar.”
When Ward retired from the school in 2008, Turner was widely viewed as the next in line to coach the Wildcats. He was chosen to take over and has led Oak Harbor High’s football team ever since.
“I don’t know that I even thought much about it (when he was a player),” Stokes said, “but when he got into the coaching biz I thought immediately, ‘He’s going to be good. The kids will love him.’ I think the record speaks for itself: I was right.”
Turner said that in Stokes he had a good role model for being a coach.
“He’s a great coach. He can get every ounce of talent out of you,” Turner said. “He can squeeze all the potential out of a player.”
Marysville Pilchuck has won the past two contests against Oak Harbor. The Tomahawks defeated the Wildcats 39-21 last season. In 2013, the Tomahawks needed 26 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to win a 47-39 thriller.
Turner and Oak Harbor are hoping for a different result this season against the Tomahawks, currently ranked No. 4 in the latest 3A Associated Press poll
“We feel like we just want to go in and play the best game we can play and let the chips fly,” Turner said. “We feel like we’ve gotten progressively better over the season. We’re using this as a test to see where we’re at. Marysville Pilchuck is a top four team in the state.”
The Oak Harbor coach is happy his team has something to play for in the eighth week of the season, and just hopes the players enjoy the experience.
“It’s exciting for the kids,” Turner said. “Us coaches, we’ve been in this situation a few times. I think it’s more exciting for the kids to get to play for a league title. It’s what high school football is all about.”
The league champion also receives a No. 1 seed in next week’s 3A crossover games — and the home playoff game in the following week’s quad-district tournament that comes with it.
“I think it prepares you a little bit for the playoff games,” Carson said. “One thing that really stands out is we’re in control of our own destiny. Sometimes you get to this point in the season and you’re wondering, ‘If they win this happens, if this happens, that does.’ For this, the winner is going to be the league champion. We don’t have to worry about what other people do.”
Regardless of the outcome, there will be hugs and handshakes all around after the game.
But there’s one word Stokes and Turner are hoping to be able to hear, instead of having to say.
“I’d hate to have to shake his hand and give him a hug and tell him, ‘Congratulations,’” Stokes said. “But I’m going to shake his hand and give him a hug no matter what.”
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