Sometimes an athlete does something that immediately makes you wonder, “Did that really just happen?” That was the case Friday night when wide receiver Mike Bell made an incredible catch.
The Oak Harbor High School football team was in big trouble, trailing the Lake Stevens Vikings 14-0 with less than five minutes to go in the second quarter at Wildcat Memorial Stadium. But in one play, Bell energized Oak Harbor fans and got his squad back in the game.
On first-and-10 from Oak Harbor’s 48-yard line, Wildcats quarterback Johnny Encinas launched a pass downfield toward Bell, who was covered by two Lake Stevens defenders. Instead of resulting in what would have been Encinas’ third interception in his first pass attempts of the game, the ball bounced past the defenders to Bell, who somehow clamped the ball to his right shoulder with his right arm while running backwards. A few seconds later Bell, after spinning in the opposite direction, zipped into the end zone and Oak Harbor was within seven points. It was one of the biggest plays in the Wildcats’ eventual 24-21 victory.
“That was absolutely unbelievable,” Encinas said of Bell’s reception. “I just threw it up and I (hoped) Bell would make a play on it.”
Encinas said he initially thought Lake Stevens picked off the throw. But the 6-foot-5 Bell (40 catches for 449 yards and eight TDs this season) came through.
“All the sudden I look up and he’s running down the sideline,” said Encinas, a first-year starter who has passed for 1,427 yards and 21 TDs. “I don’t even know how he did it. He doesn’t know how he did it.”
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