Plenty of pleasantries with prominent figures of Oak Harbor High School’s football past were exchanged before and after the game with Sedro-Woolley Friday, Sept. 14. During the game, not so much.

Oak Harbor ripped the Cubs 40-7 in a non-league contest at Wildcat Memorial Stadium

Current Sedro-Woolley coach Dave Ward led Oak Harbor for 17 years and guided the Wildcats to the school’s only team-sport state championship in 2006. On his Sedro-Woolley staff are two former players and key figures from the title game, quarterback Marshall Lobbestael and center Mundo Corrales.

After leaving Oak Harbor, Ward found more success at Archbishop Murphy and Sedro-Woolley, reaching the state semifinals five times and taking home the crown with Sedro-Woolley in 2014.

This Friday night, however, it was all Wildcats.

The game was close for the first quarter and half. Sedro-Woolley scored its only touchdown with 4:26 left in the second quarter, making it 14-7. From there, the Wildcats rattled off 26 straight points to win going away.

Oak Harbor was tough on both sides of the ball.

Three different backs rushed for over 100 yards as the Wildcats piled up 459 yards on the ground. Caleb Fitzgerald completed five of eight passes for 43 more yards.

On defense, Oak Harbor limited the Cubs to 74 rushing yards on 23 attempts. Carter Trammell connected on 11 of 18 passes for 142 yards.

The Wildcat defense came up with two big stops in the contest.

First, on first-and-goal at the Oak Harbor 4 in the third quarter, Dorian Hardin picked off a Trammell pass to end the threat.

Then, early in the fourth quarter, the Cubs had a first-and-goal at the Wildcat 1, but Oak Harbor stuffed the Cubs on four straight runs and took over possession.

In another big defensive play, Calvin Whelpley sacked Trammell, causing a fumble recovered by Nate Nunez.

Oak Harbor coach Jay Turner attributed the Wildcats’ success to controlling the line of scrimmage.

He also noted several offensive adjustments his team made early in the game. The Wildcats had trouble running in the first quarter, then coaches Mike Fisher and Peter Esvelt made several changes and the players executed the adjustments, Turner said. That led to the dominant ground game.

Caden Leckelt (141 yards on 20 carries), Hardin (122/12), Landon Cantrell (103/7) and Aaron Martinez (70/15) paced the attack.

Hardin also caught three passes for 29 yards.

Leckelt scored twice, Martinez and Jake Mitten ran for touchdowns, and Fitzgerald threw to Taylor Rummel for six. Mitten kicked four extra points.

Oak Harbor (1-0, 3-0) returns to league play when it goes to Stanwood (0-2, 0-3) at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 21.

Landon Cantrell races up field for the Wildcats. Cantrell finished with 103 yards rushing. (Photo by John Fisken)

Caleb Fitzgerald looks for an open receiver in Friday’s win. (Photo by John Fisken)

Caden Leckelt looks for some running room on the way to a game-high 141 rushing yards. (Photo by John Fisken)

Aaron Martinez picks up some yards for Oak Harbor. (Photo by John Fisken)