For the past 12 months, Sallisaw had looked forward to a rematch with the team that knocked them out of the 2008 playoffs.

The Black Diamonds finally got another shot at Bishop McGuinness on Friday and they took advantage of the opportunity by posting a 20-14 win over the third-ranked Irish.

The Class 4A second-round playoff victory moved Sallisaw (11-1) into the semifinals, while McGuinness closed with a record of 9-3.

Sallisaw head coach Craig Benson was thrilled to see his team rise to the occasion against a team that had played in the state finals the past three years.

“There’s a lot of gratification in a lot of areas. We have a lot of respect for that team and that staff at McGuinness and how they do things,” said Benson, who felt the home field advantage at Perry F. Lattimore Stadium was a key.

“Ever since we walked off the field last year, we had positioned ourselves for two home playoff games. If you look back the last five years, the home team is 18-2. We knew in order for us to get where we are, it was important for us to be at home,” said Benson.

The Diamonds gave their home crowd something to cheer about when they took the opening kickoff and marched down the field in 14 plays.

Matt Oberste kick-started the drive with a 36-yard gain on a quarterback keeper. His 20-yard pass to Trey Wiley moved the ball to the Irish 25 and Jeromy Davenport eventually got the touchdown with a 1-yard run. Phillip Lefler kicked the extra point and Sallisaw led 7-0 midway through the first quarter.

McGuinness answered with a touchdown drive of its own as running back LaRone Richardson led the Irish down the field. Richardson took a pitch from quarterback Camden Tharp and ran 11 yards for the touchdown. Evan Taylor‘s kick knotted the score at 7-7 with 2:36 left in the opening quarter.

Davenport scored his second touchdown of the night with an 18-yard run early in the second quarter as Sallisaw regained the lead. The 77-yard drive was highlighted by Oberste’s completions of 25 yards to Wiley and 24 yards to Chase Hunt.

Sallisaw’s defense began to assert itself after that, holding McGuinness scoreless on its next eight possession. The Diamonds made a fourth-down stop on one drive and forced the Irish to punt six times.

Aaron Fullbright returned one of those punts to the McGuinness 38 to set up the Diamonds’ third scoring drive of the first half. Oberste and Wiley connected for gains of 17 and 6 yards before Oberste ran the ball down to the Irish 3. On first-and-goal, he passed to Andrew Miller for the TD. Lefler added the extra point kick to put Sallisaw up 20-7 with 1:00 left in the second quarter.

The Diamonds were unable to build on to their advantage in the second half, but Lefler’s punting kept McGuinness pinned inside its own territory.

“We had some chances in the third quarter that we didn’t take advantage of. But as good as our defense was playing, we didn’t need to do anything stupid. We were playing the field position game. We had them down on the 17 once, the 11 once and inside the 5 once,” said Benson.

The Irish finally put together a scoring drive in the fourth quarter with a 62-yard drive. Richardson picked up the majority of the yardage before Tharp faked a pitch and ran 3 yards to the end zone on an option play. Taylor’s kick pulled the visitors within 20-14 with 3:16 remaining in the contest.

After the ensuing kickoff, the Diamonds were facing a third-and-9 play from their own 11-yard line when McGuinness used it s final time-out to stop the clock with 2:13 to go.

However, the Irish hopes of getting the ball back were dashed when Oberste rolled to his left, tucked the ball away and rambled for 14 yards and a critical first down.

“They called their last time-out and I told the kids we had to have nine yards to put this thing on ice,” said Benson. “We had a run-pass option and spread the field. Matt looked it over, found the crease and was gone for the first down. We got another first down after that and it was over.”

Oberste finished with 88 yards rushing on 22 carries and he also completed 13 of 27 passes for 156 yards. Davenport picked up 39 yards rushing in addition to his two touchdowns and a 9-yard reception.

Wiley was Sallisaw’s top receiver with seven catches for 102 yards. Hunt caught two for 35 yards and Miller had three receptions for 10 yards and a touchdown.

McGuinness was led offensively by Richardson, who rushed for a game-high 152 yards on 35 carries. Tharp completed 8 of 14 passes for 44 yards for the Irish.

McGuinness had scored at least 34 points in each of its previous four games, but found the end zone just twice against an inspired Sallisaw defense.

“This has been a defense that has played big in every big ballgame we’ve been in,” said Benson. “There have been spots in the year where we thought maybe they didn’t play that good, but at crunch time they’ve played really good. Go back through the year and they’ve rose up to make stops when we needed them to.”

Defensive lineman Zack Wooten was Sallisaw’s top tackler with nine stops, including five unassisted. Hayden Spencer had seven tackles, two of which were behind the line of scrimmage. Russell Kennedy, Cody Hale and Hunt all had six tackles, while Dakota Petree and Damon Lynch made five apiece. Jake Fitzsimmons and Wiley both had four tackles.