Behind an avalanche of first-half points, the Oak Harbor High School football team buried Lynnwood 53-6 at Edmonds Stadium Friday, Oct. 1.

It was hard to say which played better, the Oak Harbor offense or defense – and the special teams had some shining moments as well.

The Wildcats scored in all six of its first half possessions with a big assist from the defense. Interceptions by Josiah Miller, Judd Ford and Justin Counts gave the Wildcats the ball at the Lynnwood 10-, 13- and 9-yard lines to begin scoring “drives.”

The defense also forced the Royals to punt from deep in their territory, giving Oak Harbor the ball at the Lynnwood 37 and 34.

The only long drive for Oak Harbor came on the game’s opening possession when the ‘Cats went 77 yards in eight plays. The drive included a 21-yard run by Sam Wolfe and a 30-yard run by Miller. Miller capped the march with a 10-yard jaunt.

On its next possession, Oak Harbor went 37 yards, Wolfe the final five.

Now it was the special team’s turn: Miller, with the aid of fine blocking, returned a punt 83 yards for the next Wildcat score.

Back-to-back interceptions set up the next to scores. The first ended the first quarter scoring when Matt Burgoyne tossed a 12-yard TD pass to Peter Franssen. That made it 26-0.

The second interception came in the first possession of the second quarter. That led to a seven-yard touchdown from Burgoyne to Aaron Boesch. The two TD tosses by Burgoyne were the only passes thrown by Oak Harbor in the game.

At this point, the starting Wildcat running backs left the game for good.

Isaiah Trower tacked on another score with a 29-yard run, then Jon Lanningham made it 46-0 at the break with a four-yard run.

The only misadventures of the first half was the PAT kicking. Franssen was 4-for-7 with two blocked.

Franssen and the kick coverage unit was outstanding as they held the Royals to an average starting position of the Lynnwood 17-yard line on seven kickoffs in the first half.

Oak Harbor’s only score in the second half was another Miller punt return; this one covered 53 yards. Frank Grecco kicked the PAT.

The Royals’ only score came on a 52-yard run by Corey Hoerner in the third quarter.

Oak Harbor substitutes played all but the first defensive series of the second half. In all, 11 different Wildcats carried the ball in the game. Oak Harbor finished with 189 rushing yards on 32 attempts. Zack Ayer had 49 yards on eight carries and Miller added 41 on four.

Lynnwood had just 85 yards of offense, 52 on Hoerner’s run. The Oak Harbor defense recorded six sacks: three from Boesch and one each by Brent Ryan, Kyle Frank and Lanningham.

Coach Jay Turner had much to be happy about: “There were a lot of guys who played well. We ran the ball extremely well. We only threw the ball two times all game but the two throws were real good. I thought our punt return team looked good as not only was Josiah Miller running well but the guys were blocking extremely well. The defensive was solid. We had nice pressure on the QB, and we controlled the line of scrimmage.”

Turner was also happy that everyone who suited up played by the end of the third quarter. He said the play of Trower and Lanningham stoodout among the reserves.

The win lifted Oak Harbor’s league and season record to 3-2 with two league games left (Meadowdale and Shorecrest). The Wildcats sit fourth in the Wesco 3A; the top three teams advance to the playoffs and the fourth place team earns a berth in a play-in game.

Glacier Peak (4-0), Everett (3-1) and Meadowdale (2-1) are above the ‘Cats. Shorecrest is one game back at 2-3.

Oak Harbor plays a nonleague game at Mount Vernon (2-3) at 7 p.m. next Friday, Oct. 8, then returns home the following Friday in a big matchup with Shorecrest. Mount Vernon beat Lynnwood 42-12 last week.