Senior quarterback John Hekker and his Bothell Cougars have their sight set on a state championship.

Box Score:

Bothell: 14 14 14 0 - 42
Oak Harbor: 7 0 0 7 - 14

A game that was supposed to be a nail biter turned in to a route by Bothell as the Cougars cruised to a 42-14 victory over defending 4A champion Oak Harbor. Before the game started, Bothell's cheerleaders chanted BOTHELL! as the student section promptly responded POWER! Oak Harbor certainly got a taste of that Cougar power Friday night in front of a very lively crowd at Pop Keeney Stadium.

"It was quite an atmosphere here," said Oak Harbor head coach Dave Ward of the Bothell crowd. "[It was] a real home field advantage and they took full advantage of it."

Bothell struck first and struck often. The Cougars' first score came by way of junior running back Patrick Ottorbech, who took a pitch 15 yards for pay dirt. Bothell worked like a well oiled machine on it's opening possession, driving 80 yards in 10 plays. Ottorbech finished the game with 137 yards and three touchdowns on 12 carries, all in the first half.

"We didn't need him to," said Bothell head coach Tom Bainter when asked why Ottorbech didn't play in the second half. "We tried to rest him there at the end. We'll need him next week."

After being forced to a three-and-out, the Wildcats caught a break when Bothell senior running back Cory Burk muffed a punt return. Oak Harbor recovered the ball and took over on Bothell's 16-yard line. Two plays later, senior running back Chris Valencia punched in a 16-yard run. A converted extra point knotted the score at 7-7 with 6:08 left in the first quarter.

Oak Harbor's celebration would be short lived. On the third play of the ensuing drive, senior quarterback John Hekker found a streaking Perry Conricode for a 48-yard bomb. The junior wide receiver finished the game with five receptions for 116 and two touchdowns.

Burk redeemed himself on Oak Harbor's ensuing possession. On the second play of the drive, the ball slipped out of the hands of junior running back Stephen Lewis. Burk quickly recovered to give the Cougars the ball at their own 42-yard line. However, on Bothell's first play of the drive, Hekker pitched the ball to Ottorbech, who threw an interception to Wildcat senior safety Jordan Young

"Dang it, [we were] a little short on that," said Bainter with a chuckle. "If you see me in that set again, somebody yell at me and tell me 'don't run that'."

After forcing Oak Harbor to another three-and-out, Bothell worked like a machine yet again, covering 54 yards with seven plays. The drive was capped off by another Ottorbech run, this time a 10-yard scamper to put the Cougars up by two touchdowns. Though Ottorbech's cutting was sharp and stiff arm lethal, he was quick to place all of the credit on Bothell's offensive line.

"[It was] just my linemen blocking for me," said Ottorbech. "I couldn't have done that without them."

Although Bothell was up 21-7, it was an interception by junior Kurt Stottlemeyer that may have put the game away for good. Oak Harbor had put together it's first strong drive, covering 45 yards on 12 plays before the interception. The Cougars turned around and strung together an 8-play, 89-yard drive that was capped off by a 36-yard Ottorbech run, his third touchdown of the first half.

Bothell's next score came with just over three minutes left in the third quarter when senior running back Jonathan Kirchner walked in from four yards out. The extra point would stretch the lead to 35-7. Kirchner joined Ottorbech in the 100 yard club, gaining 104 yards and one touchdown on 14 carries.

"We're very fortunate to have the tandem of Ottorbech and Kirchner together, working hard the whole game," said Hekker. "Our offensive line blocked their butts off - everybody doing their job."

Kirchner has slowly adapted to the role of thunder opposite Ottorbech's lightening.

"I'm really adopting the role of the power back and Patrick is the quick back - I like that," said Kirchner. "I like when he gets a long run and I like when I get a short run but I earn it - I like that. I like hitting a couple of guys in the lane."

To add insult to injury, Oak Harbor fumbled the ensuing kickoff and Bothell recovered at the Wildcats' 24-yard line. It took the Cougars one play and one play only to find the end zone. Hekker connected with Conricode on a perfectly thrown corner route for a 24-yard touchdown.

"[It was a] perfect pass," said Conricode. "Johnny laid it in right there for me and I just caught it."

Hekker, who finished the game with 10-of-11 passing for 159 yards and two touchdowns, was surprised at the game's outcome.

"I thought it was going to be a down to the wire fight, getting nitty and gritty down in overtime maybe. This is just amazing. This is above and beyond what I thought was going to happen," said Hekker. "We all just executed the game plan to a T. The scout team and everybody worked hard all week, grilling us and making sure we were tightening up our game and we did. We got ready for this week and it showed."

Despite missing junior Trey Burwick, Bothell didn't skip a beat.

"Coach Bainter said nobody has to be a super hero here. Everybody has to pick it up a little bit and it will cover for the athleticism that was put up by that one player [Burwick]," said Hekker. "Everybody else did a great job. It's just playoff football. Everybody has to step up a little bit and we're all doing that right now."

Oak Harbor's final score came on a 4-yard Valencia run early in the fourth quarter. But the score was too little and way too late.

Bothell's defense played stout, allowing the high powered Wildcat offense to only 189 yards of total offense and 10 first downs.

"Our defense has been lock down. They've been doing amazing," said Hekker. "They're executing at a really high level and that's what we need to be efficient."

Ward gave praise to Bothell following the game.

"They were as fast as we've seen. They really fly around and do a nice job. Plus they can run that power game - they do a nice job running the ball right at you," said Ward. "With their quarterback having a big game like he did, they just kept moving the chains. They're really balanced and their defense did a nice job of taking away some things that we like to do."


Scoring Summary:

First Quarter

Both - Ottorbech 15 run (Hekker kick)

OH - Valencia 16 run (Mike Johnston kick)

Both - Conricode 48 pass from Hekker (Hekker kick)

Second Quarter

Both - Ottorbech 10 run (Hekker kick)

Both - Ottorbech 36 run (Hekker kick)

Third Quarter

Both - Kirchner 4 run (Hekker kick)

Both - Conricode 24 pass from Hekker (Hekker kick)

Fourth Quarter

OH - Valencia 4 run (Johnston kick)


Stats:

Rushing:

Both - Ottorbech, 12-137, 3-TD's; Kirchner, 14-104, 1-TD; Jake Munro, 5-25; Jacob Arzola, 5-22; James Korn 3-(negative 3); Casey McDaniel, 2-7; Colby Burk, 1-12

Passing:

Both - Hekker, 10-11, 159-yds, 2-TD's, 1-Int; Ottorbech 0-1 0-yds, 1-Int

Receiving:

Both - Conricode, 5-116-yds, 2-TD's; Cory Burk, 2-18; Ben Moschel 2-17; Evan Hudson, 1-8