The Oak Harbor High School football team took Everett’s new-found success and ran it through a grinder Friday, Sept. 25. The Wildcats won the Wesco opener 55-7.

The Seagulls won just three of 30 games the past three seasons, but they came to Wildcat Memorial with a 3-0 record this season, momentum and a new attitude.

That confident attitude and what the Everett players expected to do to Oak Harbor was expressed in some media outlets Friday morning. That was a mistake.

“Our players knew about the comments before first period (of the school day) was of over,” Oak Harbor head coach Jay Turner said. By the time the first period of the game was over Friday night, so was the contest.

The Wildcats averaged nearly 20 yard a carry in their first two possessions and led 13-0 at the end of the opening quarter. The onslaught continued as Oak Harbor scored a touchdown on every possession and piled up 537 yards.

Meanwhile, the Wildcat defense clipped the wings of the Seagull attack.  Everett quarterback Murdock Rutledge threw four touchdown passes and tossed for over 300 yards in each of the two previous games.

He connected on only four of 13 passes for 55 yards. Thirty-six of those yards came on a touchdown throw against the Wildcat reserves late in the game.

Oak Harbor also sacked Rutledge five times, a key to the win, according to Turner.

“We knew if we could get a pass rush, we could slow them down,” he said.

In all, Everett finished with 168 total yards.

Dyllan Harris, who moved to running back from receiver two weeks ago because of injures to other backs, led the Oak Harbor offense with 195 yards on only eight carries; he scored on TD runs of 68 and 66 yards.

He also caught the two of five passes quarterback Tyler Snavely completed for 18 yards.

Harris had only one carry in the second half; the other two starting backs had none. In the first half, Princeton Lollar gained 87 yards on seven carries and Savion Passmore rushed for 60 yards on seven carries.

Nine different Wildcats had carries in the games. Andrew Miller chipped in with a 56-yard run and Thomas Gilham ran 29 yards for a score.

For the game, Oak Harbor averaged 13 yards per carry.

Everett recorded two first downs on its first possession before punting to the Oak Harbor three-yard line.

Oak Harbor used only five plays to cover the length of the field. Lollar ran for 73 of those yards on three carries, including the final 32 for the first score. Eric Jensen’s point-after kick hit the right upright and Oak Harbor led 6-0. Jensen would hit the next seven PAT tries.

Snavely slipped through the Seagull defense for 16 yards and Oak Harbor’s second score late in the first period.

Lollar scored from the two with 10:46 left in the first half, capping a 61-yard drive that was aided by two Everett penalties.

It took Oak Harbor only two plays to score on its next possession. Harris flew 68 yards to make it 27-0.

Passmore joined the scoring parade with a nine-yarder with 32 seconds left in the half.

The Wildcats received the second-half kickoff, and Harris zipped 66 yards on the first play, pushing the score to 41-0 and putting the mercy rule of a running clock into effect. From that point, Oak Harbor began to substitute heavily.

The backups continued to move forward.

Miller raced 57 yards to the two-yard line, then ran the next two for the score with 5:25 left in the third quarter.

That made it 48-0.

Everett picked up its score on the next possession, finishing a 74-yard drive with Rutledge’s 36-yard pass on a fourth-and-16 play.

Oak Harbor chewed up 10 minutes on its next drive, going 82 yards for the final score, a 29-yard run by Gilham. Ryan Valencia ran for 32 yards on four carries during the drive.

Besides the “usual suspects” (Harris, Lollar, Passmore), Turner said, Oak Harbor received strong games from linemen Michael Corfman and Sam Zook.

Both had five tackles and a sack.

Kevin Reyes recorded seven tackles and two sacks; D’Andre Bellamy added five tackles and Mac Nuanez four.

Deangelo McKinney defended two passes and Harris one.

It was a big win, and not just in score for Oak Harbor.

“Any win in league is huge,” Turner said. “It’s nice to get the first one.”

Next up is a trip to Arlington (1-0, 3-1), the team Turner called the league favorite when asked at the beginning of the season. The Eagles’ only loss was to Eastside Catholic, the state’s top-ranked 3A team. Arlington defeated Marysville Getchell 34-7 in its Wesco opener Friday.

(Kevin Reyes puts a big hit on an Everett runner. Reyes finished with seven tackles and two sacks. Photo by John Fisken.)