Sallisaw season ends with best effort coming up short

SALLISAW HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL

The Black Diamonds’ season ended at home this year with a heartbreaking, two-point deficit of 26-24 where they displayed one of their best efforts against the visiting Madill Wildcats last Thursday.

Sallisaw head coach Mark Hutson saved the best for the last game of the year, as the seniors played some of the best football that he’d seen all season.

“Without question, that was our best game overall all season, because the offense, defense and special teams played as a unit,” Hutson said.

The game started with Madill recovering an onside kick that the Wildcats were able to convert into a touchdown. But the Wildcats ignited the Black Diamonds soon afterwards by committing a personal foul by pushing Broque Oft into Sallisaw’s bench where a dust up occurred that was over as quickly as it began.

“The way the youngsters competed was outstanding. We had a personal foul when a guy knocked into our bench to start the game, and got some excitement going there. It was exciting to see, because during the course of the year, we did not handle adversity. During this game, we did handle it when things didn’t go right, and we were down 20-3. We came back and made it 24-20 late in the fourth quarter, so that was encouraging.”

The players and the fans were fired up and into the game in a way that was absent during the rest of the season, and it showed on the field.

“It was exciting to see the players not quit and stay in the game by encouraging each other. It just made the energy and enthusiasm great for the coaching staff and as a team for the last ballgame of the year.”

The seniors played their last game as a Black Diamond, and left their mark on the underclassmen, many of whom had their best game of the season Thursday.

“It was Senior Night, and I thought Sim Kilpatrick had an outstanding game for us,” Hutson remembered. “He was able to catch the ball. He had a big play with a 20-yard reception, he had a big interception on defense and then we used him in the backfield where he ran for almost 50 yards, not to mention a kickoff return for over 80 yards. It was the first time probably all year that he’s been totally healthy, and it showed.”

“Kiowa Coffman is a graduating senior that led us in tackles again. He had 17 tackles in the game, he was just everywhere. He didn’t start until the Stilwell game, and he wound up with over 100 tackles and a great year for us.”

The Black Diamonds’ defense was on point with Coffman leading the way with 17 tackles, and he hurried the quarterback, which led to Kilpatrick’s interception, followed by Cole Stephens and Braxton Lamb with eight tackles each, Patrick Mills with seven tackles, Parker Pratt with six tackles and Kilpatrick’s effort that included five tackles, an interception, a broken up pass play and a blocked extra point.

Sallisaw’s special teams were led by Oft with two kickoff returns for 61 yards, two fake punt runs of 15 yards each and three punts averaging 33 yards, with Kilpatrick running 77 yards on one punt return and Christian Taylor going 3-for-3 on extra points and 1-for-2 on field goal attempts, making a 28-yarder while missing a 34-yard attempt.

The offense was led by quarterback Jackson Harris, who went 10-of-20 for a total of 71 yards and a touchdown through the air, as well as nine carries for 42 yards and no interceptions or turnovers as well. The leading receiver was Lamb with three receptions for 21 yards, followed by Kilpatrick with a lone catch for 20 yards, Max Stamp with two snags for 14 yards, Oft with an eightyard touchdown reception and Stephens with a catch for five yards. Oft was the leading rusher with eight carries for 48 yards, followed by Kilpatrick with five carries for 45 yards and a touchdown, Stephens with eight carries for 14 yards and a touchdown, Caleb Cowen with three carries for 10 yards and Charlie Martin with one carry for three yards.

The focus now shifts to next year, and the team’s goals for the offseason are focused on building stamina, strength and leadership as they enter the spring camp.

“Some things that we talked about is that we have to get bigger, we need to put some weight on and have to get stronger during the offseason lifting program. We have to really amp that up,” Hutson said. “We’ll have to do some things in the summer and this spring that are competitions, like the tug-owar, tire flip to the obstacle course with teams. We’re going to have to work to exhaustion and to failure, and see who responds to that constantly.”

The team will be working to find and cultivate natural leaders and the skills needed to take the place of the leaders that are graduating this year.

“We’ll be encouraging and trying to develop leaders, and then encourage and develop followers of the right leaders. Those are things that we’ve identified for the offseason, and these youngsters, a lot of them, are going to play other sports. When we do get them back, we need to focus on nutrition and getting bigger and stronger in the weight room,” Hutson said.