McCoy passed for 239 yards to offset another big night by Sallisaw tailback Bubba Philpot, who ran for 346 yards on 35 carries. However, the Diamonds could not overcome losing three fumbles.
"We turned it over too many times, I'll tell you that," said Sallisaw head coach Virgil Terry. "We turned it over for their first touchdown and another time when we were going in for a touchdown. We wasted a couple of other opportunities and you can't do that when you play good football teams."
Poteau took a 7-0 lead after recovering a Sallisaw fumble at the Diamonds' 40-yard line on the second-play of the game. Tim Branch got the touchdown on a six-yard run and Zach Sconyers booted the extra point with 10:04 left in the first quarter.
Sallisaw responded by driving 72 yards down to the Pirates' eight, but Poteau's Stephen Jones recovered a fumble to keep the Diamonds out of the end zone.
Seven plays later, Sallisaw linebacker Jordan Simonds returned the favor and pounced on a Poteau fumble at the Diamonds' four-yard line to stop the Pirates shy of the end zone.
Philpot broke loose for a 75-yard gain moments later and that set up Kyle Stewart's two-yard touchdown run. Phillip Lefler's extra-point kick knotted the score at 7-7 with :01 left in the first quarter.
Sallisaw took its only lead of the night with an 18-yard touchdown run by Philpot with 8:23 to go in the half. Lefler's kick made it 14-7 after the six-play, 59-yard drive.
Sconyers kicked a 25-yard field goal later in the second quarter and the Pirates took advantage of another Sallisaw fumble to regain the lead. After recovering the ball at their own 27, the Pirates went 73 yards in five plays to grab a 17-14 lead. The scoring play was a 10-yard pass from Brandan Minks to Clinton Reeves with six seconds left before the break.
Poteau took the opening kickoff of the third quarter and put together another scoring drive to go up 24-14. McCoy capped the 77-yard drive with a 19-yard touchdown pass to Reeves with 9:34 left in the period.
Poteau led 27-14 entering the fourth quarter after Sconyers kicked his second field goal of the night with 39 seconds left in the third.
Sallisaw mounted a comeback and pulled within 27-21 following a three-yard touchdown run by Philpot. Lefler kicked the point-after with 10:23 left in the game.
The Diamond defense forced Poteau to punt and Sallisaw got the ball back at its own 22-yard line with 7:11 left. Sallisaw picked up three first downs and had the ball at the Poteau 36 before the Pirate defense came up with a fourth-down stop with just under three minutes remaining. Poteau proceeded to run out the clock.
The loss dropped to Sallisaw to 5-2 overall and 2-2 in District 4A-4. Poteau moved to 4-3 overall and 3-1 in the league.
"Poteau is a good football team," said Terry. "I think their nine seniors on offense made a tremendous difference. Their quarterback had a great night. We probably got as much pressure on him as anyone else, but he's a senior and he still came through. He completed several passes that we had covered, but they just had a great throw and a great catch."
McCoy finished the game 15-of-28 for 239 yards. Adam Roll had six catches for 56 yards, Reeves four for 84 and Justin Lum four for 101. Poteau's leading rusher was Branch with 169 yards on 22 carries.
Sallisaw piled up 413 yards rushing. In addition to Philpot's 346, fullback Joseph Branham ran six times for 34 yards and Kyle stewart gained 48 yards on six carries.
Quarterback Jacob Bartel completed 3-of-7 passes for 33 yards. Randy Tonch
