Sallisaw scores 1 varsity, 3 JV TDs in Grove scrimmage; season opener vs. Stigler moved to 8 p.m. Friday

The Sallisaw Black Diamonds had a pretty good outing for their one and lone preseason scrimmage Friday night against Grove.

The varsity scored one touchdown, a 35-yard strike from Brock Streun to Cole Mayfield.

The junior varsity had three TDs — two touchdown passes from Brodi Nickel, one to Hunter Smith and one to Tae Muskrat-Flynn. Nickel used his own feet to score the third TD.

Brandon Tyler

“I thought we saw a lot of good things,” first-year Sallisaw coach Brandon Tyler said. “We have a lot of things to correct still. We have to correct some of our mistakes this week in practice. Every mistake we made is correctable. That’s the good thing about it. Our effort was good. The kids rallied to the ball on defense. Our offensive line blocked well. I was very pleased with that. There’s just a few things we have to work on this week to get ready for Stigler.”

Tyler said the Black Diamonds have shown improvement from practice No. 1 on Aug. 7 until now.

“It was another time to go get better,” he said. “I felt like our kids did a good job responding. It was a two-hour bus ride up there. The effort was there. I thought we played pretty hard. We just have to shore up a few things on both sides of the ball. If we do that, we’ll be in good shape.”

The combined freshmen/junior high squad also hit paydirt on two occasions.

The season opener Friday night against the Stigler Panthers at Perry F. Lattimore Stadium has been pushed back from its original 7 p.m. start to 8 p.m. to combat the heat.