EVERETT – As the Oak Harbor Wildcats celebrated a victory that earned them a division championship, the opposing coach searched for answers, if only in a rhetorical sense.
“What can you do? How does that happen?” Cascade Bruins football coach Jake Huizinga wondered aloud.
Huizinga’s team rallied from an early 14-0 deficit and played solid defense down the stretch. But two early Cascade mistakes on kickoff returns mystified Huizinga and led to both Oak Harbor touchdowns, helping Oak Harbor post a 14-12 victory Friday night at Everett Memorial Stadium.
Quarterback Marshall Lobbestael (13-for-21, 157 yards, two interceptions) threw a TD pass and running back Chris Valencia added a 5-yard scoring run for Oak Harbor (7-1 Western Conference North Division, 8-1 overall) in the regular-season finale for both teams. It served as a division-title contest.
“It was a strange game,” said Oak Harbor coach Dave Ward, whose team scored all of its points in the first three minutes, 14 seconds, but still snared the division’s No. 1 seed for the Class 4A quad-district playoffs. Oak Harbor hosts the South Puget Sound League North Division No. 4 seed, likely at Mount Vernon High School.
Back Lorne Bridgford (27 carries for 130 yards, one TD) led Cascade (5-3, 6-3), which will be the North No. 3 seed. The Bruins will hit the road to play the SPSL South No. 2 team. Lake Stevens (6-2, 7-2), which beat Everett on Friday, is the North No. 2 seed.
Cascade had several excellent chances to score in the game, but came up empty on a key series late in the first half and didn’t muster points over the final two quarters. A botched snap on a point-after-touchdown kick attempt and a failed two-point conversion run also proved costly.
Cascade’s Huizinga blamed himself. “I don’t think I called a very good game tonight. I didn’t put our team in a position to win that game,” he said.
Both teams played outstanding defense, especially in a scoreless second half. But Cascade never fully overcame its early miscues.
Oak Harbor kicked off to start the game, but it led 14-0 before Cascade ever ran an offensive play. The Wildcats surged to the early lead thanks to two Cascade gaffes – a fumble on the opening kickoff and an unintentional squib kick (according to Oak Harbor’s Ward) that the Bruins failed to recover. The Wildcats scored 1:50 into the game on Lobbestael’s 16-yard TD pass to Tony Thulin and scored again 1:24 later on Valencia’s 5-yard burst.
“If we can’t field a squib kickoff, then we deserve to give up points,” Huizinga said.
Cascade, facing a 14-0 deficit, scored 12 straight points to get back in it. The Bruins traveled 67 yards in eight plays, including five runs for 38 yards by Bridgford, en route to their first TD. Later, Snel threw a 14-yard TD pass to Steven Souza early in the second quarter.
But there were no more points in a peculiar game marked by odd sequences and punishing defense.
Cascade had one last chance in the fourth quarter after Snel intercepted a Lobbestael pass near the Bruins’ goal line and returned it 20 yards. But Oak Harbor’s defense, fueled by sacks from Jake Rouser and Michael Bressler (who also recovered the unintentional squib kick), clamped down and sealed the victory.
Cascade limited Oak Harbor to its lowest point total of the season. The Bruins intercepted two passes and had several key short-yardage stops.
“We played hard. We’re a good football team and we had a good (defensive) scheme,” Huizinga said of bottling up Oak Harbor’s Lobbestael, who entered the game with 1,608 passing yards and 24 TDs.
“They’re physical and they (made) it tough to run,” said Oak Harbor’s Ward.
At Everett
Oak Harbor14000-14
Cascade6600-12
Oak Harbor-Thulin 16 pass from Lobbestael (Johnston kick)
Oak Harbor-Valencia 5 (Johnston kick)
Cascade-Bridgford 9 run (kick failed)
Cascade-Souza 14 pass from Snel (run failed)
Records-Oak Harbor 7-1 in division, 8-1 overall. Cascade 5-3, 6-3.
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