Sallisaw in battle of district’s bottom two teams

The Sallisaw Black Diamonds are on the road today to play the winless Fort Gibson Tigers to see who will remain without a win at the end.

The District 4A-4 rankings make this game a “battle for the bottom” of the district.

Sallisaw head coach Mark Hutson has dealt with injuries this season, including seven who missed out last week versus Poteau, but some of those players might get released in time to play tonight.

“Fort Gibson and us have identical records, and you can look at our common opponents and compare scores,” Hutson said. “The thing with Fort Gibson is, offensively, they have been scoring points. Their quarterback, Cole Mahaney, has been out the last couple of games, but he may be back in time for this game. Mahaney‚s a really good athlete. From the tapes, you can see that he‚s an excellent passer, and he can run well.

“Their defense has been giving up some points, but they have been playing with a pretty explosive offense.”

Fort Gibson‚s offense has been led by quarterback Parker Lockhart after four-year starter Mahaney was hurt during his fourth start of the season. Lockhart‚s completion rate is just under 50%, with an average of 83 passing yards per game.

Lockhart‚s favorite target is Hunter Branch, who‚s averaging 73.5 yards per game, followed by Cade Waggle, averaging 48 yards, and Jaiden Johnson, averaging 33 yards a game so far this year.

The Tigers‚ leading rushers are Landon Nail, with almost 44 yards per game; Kaydan Hunt, with nearly 17 yards; and Cole Mahaney, averaging almost 16 yards a game this season. Fort Gibson defense‚s leading tackler is John Lewis, with almost 10 tackles a game; Conner Welch, with just over eight tackles; and Chase Brown, averaging almost seven tackles per game. The Black Diamonds have had their share of injuries this year, with seven players out by the end of the game last Friday, including Jackson Harris and Cooper Jackson, the starting and backup quarterbacks, respectively. “Jackson Harris left the game with an injury, so we‚ll have to see what his status is for Friday. Cooper Jackson, who‚s been playing well for us and running the wildcat, he left the game also. We‚ll have to evaluate each player this week to see how they are.”

“Hopefully, with seven starters out, we‚ll be able to get some of them back before Friday.”

Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.