“With the wind blowing into the his face on fourth and 13, Wildcats’ punter, Chad Riepma, took the snap on the 10 yard-line and booted his first punt of the game. Although the ball originally landed on the 30, the bounce and roll netted a negative 13 yards and gave Snohomish (4-3, 5-3) possession on Oak Harbor’s door step. The play was indicative of the entire first half of the game for Oak Harbor. A 26-0 third quarter deficit, thanks to fumbles, bad field position and mental mistakes in the first half, was too much as the Cats (2-5, 2-6) could not recover and lost to conference-leading Snohomish Friday evening, 26-13.We wanted to come out in the first half revved up and ready to go, sometimes you do and sometimes you don’t, said head coach Dave Ward. But our guys kept fighting back and made a game out of it. Special teams provided most of the action in the first half, along with one of the most critical plays of the game. A punt by Snohomish into the wind on fourth and one, with Oak Harbor down by 14, netted only 12 yards and would have given the Cats the ball at midfield. But the play was called back thanks to a clipping penalty against the Cats after the kick. The continued Snohomish drive resulted in the Panthers’ third touchdown of the game.It was a big play because they were ahead by those two touchdowns because of those two short drives, said Ward. The referee made a really strange call. We should have been penalized but the ball shouldn’t have been taken away. Numerous touchbacks, thanks to a gusting wind and sloppy play on special teams, pinned Oak Harbor’s offense deep in their own territory during the first quarter. Because they won the toss they ended up with the wind behind them, said Ward. It played a big part on field position.Although the Wildcats’ defense played well, tremendous field position for Snohomish made it difficult for the defense to stop the Panthers in first quarter. A fumble on the opening possession for Oak Harbor led to Snohomish’s first touchdown drive, only eight yards. On the Wildcats’ second punt attempt of the game, Ward called Riepma’s number to run the ball. The fake punt gave the WIldcats their biggest gain of the first half, 21 yards, but the drive was eventually snuffed out by Snohomish’s defense. The Cats would turn the game around in the second half as the teams’ offense got on track behind the running of Tony Hall and the arm of quarterback Tom McMickle. We made a lot of mistakes in the first half, said McMickle. Coach asked us whoever made a mistake raise their hand. We had about 25 guys raise their hand. At half time we talked how our plays were working and we were getting better and stronger as the first half progressed, said Ward. We didn’t revise too much because it was mental.A 25 yard touchdown pass from McMickle to Adam Diaz put Oak Harbors’ first points on the board in the third quarter as the Cats crawled back within 20. A seven yard touchdown run by Hall gave the Wildcats 13 consecutive points and pulled the team within two scores.We made made a lot less mistakes [in the second half], said McMickle.I think our guys started playing with more confidence, said Ward. I think that Snohomish was surprised and they started to question each other. A failed onside kick, a stalled drive and turnover on downs sealed Oak Harbors’ fate in the final minutes of the fourth. If we would have made no mistakes we would have been right up there with them, said McMickle.Oak Harbors’ final game will be at home against Kamiak (6-1, 7-1) on Friday at 7 p.m. Last year we played them tough, said Ward. We think it is going to be a close game. “