Meadowdale secures Wesco’s No. 2 seed

Published 11:28 pm Thursday, October 28, 2010

OAK HARBOR — For a game played on a cool but beautiful fall night and absent almost any turnovers, it sure wasn’t pretty.

Oak Harbor and Meadowdale combined to commit eight turnovers but in the end, it was the guy who made seemingly the costliest who made up for it in a big way.

After Meadowdale recovered an Oak Harbor fumble, quarterback Nathan Ball connected with sophomore receiver Giavani Shepard on the right sideline. Shepard stayed in bounds and ran back across the field untouched for a 52-yard touchdown with 2:33 left in the third quarter, giving the Mavericks a lead it never gave up as Meadowdale defeated Oak Harbor 41-20 in a Western Conference Class 3A football game Thursday at Wildcat Memorial Stadium.

The win gives the Mavericks (5-2. 6-3) the No. 2 seed in Wesco and a home playoff game Friday at Edmonds Stadium against the South Puget Sound League No. 2. Oak Harbor’s (3-4, 5-4) season came to an end.

“It’s a big win for us,” Meadowdale coach Mark Stewart said. “We were missing some guys and had to move some guys around. It was good to be able to come up here and get a win because we aren’t used to having to go so far for a game and it’s the second time we’ve done it this season. I’m proud of the guys.”

It was sweet redemption for Shepard, who muffed a punt return late in the second quarter that set up an Oak Harbor touchdown that tied the score at 20. He said it wasn’t too hard to recover from his mistake.

“It was disappointing but coach said never get down and just go out there and make another play,” said Shepard, who had six catches for 102 yards. “I just kept my head up and kept playing.”

“He’s a talented player and he knows he can make plays,” Stewart said. “Sometimes you don’t really have to say anything to them. They know they can play, they just have to get back out there.”

Shepard and Ball put the way away with 4:26 to go. Ball threw incomplete on fourth-and-2 but Oak Harbor was called for pass interference, one of just four penalties in the game. Two plays later Ball passed to Shepard from 10 yards out in the end zone to give Meadowdale a two-touchdown lead.

“(Shepard) is a talented player,” Oak Harbor coach Jay Turner said. “They were a bigger and more physical team and I think they wore us down a little. And they took advantage of our turnovers, and that’s what good teams do. They can smell blood.”

Oak Harbor had a shot to take the lead midway through the third quarter but an Ian Kolste pass was intercepted in the end zone by Darren Bojrab. The Wildcats fumbled the ball away on their next possession as well and were shut out in the second half.

“We cut down on our mistakes and kept the pace and didn’t let up,” said Meadowdale defensive end Jeremy Gomez, who recovered a fumble and blocked a kick. “We got the advantage in the second half and didn’t let up.”

Ball was 13-for-21 for 247 yards for Meadowdale. Kyle Newsom had two touchdown runs for the Mavericks.

The game couldn’t have started much better for Oak Harbor, as an excellent opening kick return was followed on the first play by a 50-yard touchdown run down the right side by Josiah Miller for a 7-0 lead.

Meadowdale immediately answered with a big play of its own. On second-and-11, Ball used play-action to free up tight end Sam Thomas for a 55-yard scoring pass, though the point-after kick failed.

Though the Mavericks survived their first turnover, they weren’t so lucky on their second. After Kyle Frank recovered a Tyler Morehouse fumble, Oak Harbor went 82 yards on seven plays, including a 25-yard run by Peter Franssen that set up a 7-yard touchdown run by Jon Lanningham and a 14-6 Wildcat lead.

Meadowdale came right back, driving 80 yards on eight plays, culminating with a 1-yard plunge by Newsom to bring the Mavericks within 2 at 14-12. The Mavericks forced a punt and took the lead 20-14 on a Ball 1-yard keeper and two-point conversion with 4:32 to play before the half.

Meadowdale forced what appeared to be a three-and-out but Shepard called for a fair catch yet still tried to catch it only to have it bounce out of his hands and into the hands of Oak Harbor’s Sam Wolfe.

Three plays later, Wolfe ran around left end 11 yards for a touchdown to make it 20-20 at the half.

At Oak Harbor Memorial Stadium

Meadowdale614615—41

Oak Harbor14600—20

OH — Josiah Miller 50 run (Peter Franssen kick)

M — Sam Thomas 55 pass from Nathan Ball (kick blocked)

OH — Jon Lanningham 7 run (Franssen kick)

M — Kyle Newsom 1 run (kick failed)

M — Ball 1 run (Thomas pass from Ball)

OH — Sam Wolfe 11 run (kick failed)

M — Giavani Shepard 52 pass from Ball (kick failed)

M — Shepard 10 pass from Ball (Kyler Larsen pass from Ball)

M — Newsom 10 run (Brian Marty kick)

Records—Meadowdale 5-2 league, 6-3 overall. Oak Harbor 3-4, 5-4.