“It was a long week,” Oak Harbor High School football coach Jay Turner said in regard to his team’s messy loss to Monroe in the season opener. The next few days, however,  should skip right by for Turner as his Wildcats rebounded for a 42-23 win at Ferndale Friday, Sept. 12.

“It is a testament to the kids and the assistant coaches,” Turner said. “They did not let last week’s game define their season.”

Things did not look good for Oak Harbor after last week’s mistake-filled loss and with the prospect of going on the road to face Ferndale, one of the state’s most successful 3A programs.

But, while the week dragged on and ate at Turner, the players’ “attitudes were awesome” as they prepared for the Golden Eagles, he said.

That showed as Oak Harbor committed no turnovers and only two penalties.

The Wildcats also won in the battle of X’s and O’s. Down 16-14 at halftime, Oak Harbor schemed some key changes at the break and dominated the second half.

“We made some halftime adjustments, and the kids responded,” Turner said, “It was a big turnaround.”

Those adjustments were evident early in the third quarter.

Ferndale was forced to punt, something it didn’t do the entire first half, after it opened the second half with a three-and-out. In particular, Oak Harbor figured out how to slow down Ferndale fullback Marcus Nightingale, who blitzed the Wildcats for 142 yards in the first half.

Nightingale finished with 204 yards on 28 carries. Thirty of his 62 second-half yards came on one carry late in the fourth quarter after the game was decided.

Oak Harbor’s offensive adjustments were also evident early. After the Ferndale punt, the Wildcats covered 64 yards in four plays (all over 10 yards a pop) to score. Dejon Devroe covered the final 23 yards and Mark Johnston kicked the point after. That gave Oak Harbor the lead for good, 21-16.

Again, Ferndale punted, and, again, Oak Harbor scored. This time it went 72 yards in five plays.

Zach Jones slalomed through the Golden Eagles for a 48-yard scoring run set up by a 21-yard quick-out  from Clay Doughty to Dyllan Harris. That pushed the lead to 28-16 with 5:14 left in the third quarter.

Ferndale followed with its one long drive of the second half and trimmed the gap to 28-23 late in the third period.

Once again, Oak Harbor countered., going 56 yards in two minutes. Devroe broke off a 23-yard run during the drive, and Doughty finished it by hitting Harris for a 13-yard TD pass.

Devroe scored again from 13-yards out with 1:17 in the game. Johnston finished the scoring by hitting his sixth-straight PAT.

Oak Harbor offset Nightingale’s big game with the duo of Devroe and Princeton Lollar. Devroe ended with 116 yards on 16 carries and two touchdowns.

Lollar, a 6-foot, 220-pound sophomore, rammed his way for 147 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries, many moving the chains to keep drives alive.

Doughty completed seven of 16 passes for 121 yards for two touchdowns with no interceptions. Harris caught four passes, two for scores, for 80 yards.

Ferndale quarterback Kyle Schemstad was 7-for-16 for 59 yards and was intercepted by Harris and David Ray.

In all, Oak Harbor compiled 459 yards to the Golden Eagles’ 336.

Ferndale scored in its first possession of the game, and Oak Harbor came right back when Doughty hit Harris in stride with a 42-yard scoring strike.

The Wildcats’ one big mistake came in its next possession when a bad snap on a punt resulted in a safety, giving Ferndale a 9-7 lead.

The Oak Harbor defense stopped Ferndale on downs at the Oak Harbor 19 after the free kick, minimizing the damage.

From there, the Wildcats traveled 80 yards and went ahead on Lollar’s two-yard run. The drive was highlighted by a 30-yard run from Doughty, who was flushed from the pocket on a third-and-seven. Devroe added an 18-yard run and Lollar a 21-yard romp during the march.

Ferndale went up 16-14 just before halftime, helped by an Oak Harbor holding penalty after it appeared the Wildcats stopped the Golden Eagles on a fourth-down play.

Oak Harbor (1-1) now has a bye week before heading to Everett (0-2) for the first conference game at 5 p.m. Sept. 26. The Wildcats were supposed to play a Canadian team next Friday, but the club backed out of the game and Oak Harbor was unable to fill the slot.

(The statistics in this story are unofficial.)