OKLAHOMA CITY - Close games have been rare for Sallisaw, but the Black Diamonds crammed a full season’s worth of drama into less than two minutes in their second-round Class 4A playoff game on Friday night.

Sallisaw rallied from a big deficit in the fourth quarter—scoring twice in the final 1:16 to grab the lead—but Bishop McGuinness hit a 74-yard pass play with 30 seconds left to snatch a wild 33-30 win over the Diamonds.

The crowd at Clement E. Pribil stadium saw a valiant comeback by the Diamonds thwarted when Gabe Ikard grabbed a deflected pass from Ryan Randolph and raced to the end zone for the winning score.

The Irish improved to 10-2 with the victory and kept their hopes of a third-consecutive state title alive. McGuinness will play Grove in the semifinals on Saturday. Sallisaw finished its season with a record of 10-2. Those 10 wins were claimed by an average 32.4 points, but Friday’s game was much closer thanks to the fourth quarter rally.

Randolph’s eight-yard run put McGuinness up 26-10 late in the third quarter, but the Diamonds began to fight back in the fourth period.

Sallisaw took the ensuing kickoff and marched 63 yards, scoring on Matt Mitchell’s nine yard run. Oberste ran for the two-point conversion to pull the Diamonds within 26-18 with 8:58 remaining. Kyle Underwood had several key plays on the drive, including runs of 10 and 17 yards.

McGuinness came up with a Sallisaw turnover later in the period and moved to the Diamonds’ 22 with just over three minutes remaining. However, Oberste intercepted a pass in the end zone to stop the threat and keep Sallisaw’s hopes alive.

The junior then directed a 10-play, 80-yard touchdown drive. Oberste completed passes of 10 and 15 yards to David Hadley and ran for gains of 13 and 12 yards before scoring on a two-yard run with 1:16 left. Sallisaw went for two, but Mitchell was stopped short of the end zone and the Diamonds trailed 26-24.

Phillip Lefler got the ball right back for Sallisaw, recovering an onside kick at the McGuinness 44. A penalty backed Sallisaw up the 49, but Oberste moved the chains with a 17-yard scamper. On the next play, he found Lefler wide open in the corner of the end zone and the junior receiver caught a 32-yard TD pass to put Sallisaw up 30-26 with just 50 seconds left in the game. The two-point conversion pass was intercepted.

After Carlos Nieto’s kickoff, the Irish took possession at their own 17 with 49 seconds to go. Randolph completed a short pass on first down. On second-and-one from the 26, Randolph’s pass bounced off a Sallisaw defender and into the arms of Ikard, who was well-covered on the play. The McGuinness tight end went the rest of the way to the end zone for the winning score. Drew Tonseth added the extra point for McGuinness and the Irish led 33-30 with :30 left.

Sallisaw had 379 yards of offense in the game. Oberste did most of the damage with 12 carries for 85 yards, plus another 177 yards on 10-of-25 passing. Mitchell ran 19 times for 74 yards and Underwood picked up 42 yards on six attempts.

Hadley led Sallisaw’s receivers with four catches for 69 yards. Trey Wiley caught two for 19, Andrew Miller two for eight yards, Lefler one for 32 and Mitchell one for four yards.

Irish quarterback Randolph completed 7-of-9 passes for 164 yards and three touchdowns. Ikard had three receptions for 134 yards and scored the game’s first touchdown on a 40-yard pass from Randolph in the first quarter.

Sallisaw responded with a big play of its own, tying the game on a 52-yard hook and lateral. Wiley caught a seven-yard pass from Oberste and flipped it to Mitchell, who went the remaining 45 yards to the end zone. Nieto’s point-after kick tied the game at 7-7 with 3:02 left in the first quarter.

McGuinness running back Larone Richardson scored on a 53-yard run late in the period and Randolph threw a 27-yard TD pass to Brett Patterson as the Irish built a 19-7 lead in the second quarter.

The Diamonds closed the half with a 56-yard drive capped by Nieto’s 27-yard field goal with 12 seconds left.