The Oak Harbor High School football team’s 42-21 win over Shorecrest at Shoreline Stadium Friday, Oct. 14, not only put another notch in the Wildcats’ victory belt but also secured a home game in the first round of the playoffs.

The victory assured that the Wildcats can finish no lower than second in the Western Conference, and the top two seeds out of District 1 host games in the play-in round of the state tournament.

Oak Harbor, now 7-0 and ranked seventh in the state AP 3A poll, finishes up the regular season with teams at the two ends of the Wesco standings.

First up is a match with Wesco newcomer Marysville Getchell (0-7), which sits at the bottom of the standings and will visit Wildcat Memorial Stadium Friday, Oct. 21, at 7 p.m. as Oak Harbor’s homecoming foe.

Thursday, Oct. 27, Oak Harbor travels to Edmonds Stadium at 8 p.m. to challenge fifth-ranked and unbeaten Meadowdale.

The Wildcats’ win over Shorecrest Friday followed a similar pattern as the previous week’s win over Mount Vernon.

Oak Harbor fell behind earlier, led by only one at half and then dominated the final two periods.

Coach Jay Turner said, “We were a little flat the first half.”

For the first time this season, Oak Harbor did not have a scoring play of over 40 yards. The longest score was the final touchdown, a 23-yarder by Josiah Miller.

Peter Franssen’s 27-yard run was the biggest play of the game for the Wildcats.

Turner said, “Their DBs did a good job of tackling.”

The game, by Oak Harbor standards, was “slow and methodical,” Turner said.

That meant a great deal of Brent Ryan punishing the Scot defense between the tackles.

Ryan carried the ball an eye-popping 39 times for 213 yards and four touchdowns.

Miller added 148 yards and two scores on 17 carries, and Franssen finished with 71 yards on seven rushes. Oak Harbor battered its way to 486 rushing yards.

Quarterback Ian Kolste threw only six passes, connecting on three for 23 yards.

After Ryan scored on a two-yard run for the only points of the first quarter, Shorecrest quarterback Ted Hammond, who leads the league in passing, tossed scoring strikes of 45 and 18 yards to put the Scots up 13-7.

Ryan scored again on a one-yard run before the break, and Franssen’s PAT helped Oak Harbor lead 14-13 at the half.

Oak Harbor scored four more times — including a safety on a sack by Casey Ferguson — and led 42-13 before Hammond fired another TD pass late in the game.

Fourteen different Wildcats recorded tackles in the game, topped by Jon Lanningham with 11. Lanningham also harassed Hammond with three sacks.

Nick Ferrell added eight tackles, and Miller and Ferguson had five each.

Cody Hernkind recovered a fumble caused by Sheyenne Sams. Sams also got in on the offensive action with a 24-yard run on his only carry.