Nearly two months after the season started, the Oak Harbor High School wrestling team finally competed at home, but Marysville-Pilchuck spoiled the evening by defeating the Wildcats 45-26 Thursday, Jan. 8.

The match was the Wesco North opener for both schools and was the defending champion Wildcats first divisional loss in three seasons.

M-P (6-3) came into the match ranked ninth and Oak Harbor 11th among the state’s 3A schools in the latest poll by the Washington Wrestling report. The rankings, however, predict how teams will finish in the state tournament and not how they will fare in dual matches.

Thursday, Oak Harbor won the first bout against Marysville-Pilchuck, then the Tomahawks reeled off seven wins (six by falls) in the next eight matches to go up 39-6.

Overall, the Wildcats picked up wins from their four state tournament veterans (Mark Johnston, Jackson Constant, Christian Bertram and Jeremy Vester), Michael Lym and Dymond Piper.

The remaining portion of the lineup struggled, which wasn’t unexpected, according to coach Peter Esvelt.

“We have the start of a great varsity team in a year or two,” Esvelt said. “We had a lot of young kids in the lineup; I was impressed in how they wrestled.”

Oak Harbor sent two freshmen and four sophomores to the mat.

Esvelt noted that Lym, a freshmen, earned a pin at 126 pounds and sophomore Nate Mecom held his own for one period with M-P’s Killian Page at 182. Page is ranked second in the state and finished second in last year’s state tournament.

The contest opened at 160 pounds and featured the night’s top matchup: Johnston versus the Tommies’ Keith Pablo.

Johnston is ranked third and Pablo fifth at 160 by the Wrestling Report, although Johnston has wrestled at 152 the past few weeks.

He moved up to face Pablo, Esvelt said, to have a competitive match. Johnston came back to win 6-4.

Top-ranked Vester (138) won 15-0; sixth-ranked Bertram (132) won by a fall (3:12) and ninth ranked Constant (285) won 3-0.

Piper (152) collected Oak Harbor’s final win, 16-7.

Oak Harbor (3-4) goes to Arlington (5-4) at 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 15.

Other Oak Harbor results versus Marysville-Pilchuck:

170: Brycin McIntyre lost by pin (3:26).

182: Mecom lost by pin (2:18).

195: Martin Powers lost by pin (:24).

220: John Long lost by pin (1:12).

106: Robert Pennington lost by pin (3:48).

113: Garrett Stahl lost 7-0.

145: Zach Aketch lost by pin (3:33).