No. 4 Black Diamonds pin losses on No. 3 Cushing, No. 8 Poteau in home opener
Lady Diamonds make Lady Pirates walk the plank in home-opening dual
The home opener ended up being a late night at the office for the Sallisaw Black Diamonds wrestling team, but it also ended up time well spent.
The Black Diamonds, ranked fourth in Class 4A, pinned a 33-31 loss on No. 3 Cushing to end the night after opening the triangular with a 54-21 victory over No. 8 Poteau on Thursday night at Paul Post Fieldhouse.
“Those are programs that have been well established,” Sallisaw boys coach Mark Smith said. “That’s what we’re trying to get to. Those were big wins for us for sure. It was a nice way to enter the Christmas break.”
The night, while not as long as the gentlemen, was still a profitable one for the 11th-ranked Sallisaw Lady Diamonds, who handled the 13th-ranked Lady Pirates 54-27.
In the finale of the night for the Black Diamonds (2-0) against Cushing, Sallisaw got pinfall wins over the Tigers from Cason Craft (106 pounds, 2:50), Mattix Casebolt (120, 29 seconds) and Caden Pollard (190, 1:16). In fact, it was Pollard’s pinfall victory which pretty much sealed the deal.
“Caden’s pin kind of really sparked us off,” Smith said. “If you look at it off the one tournament we were in against Cushing, they were favored in that match. That was a big win for Caden.”
Sallisaw got three wins by decision — Dawson Glover (138 pounds, 4-3), Brody Mills (157, 12-6) and Bodie Adams (165, 8-3). Cole Mayfield won by forfeit at 150 pounds.
In the victory over rival Poteau, the Black Diamonds got seven pinfall wins over the Pirates, one each for Casebolt, Mayfield, Mills, Adams, Hunter Smith (175 pounds), Jastin Lindsey (215) and Noah Flores (heavyweight). Morgan Duke (113) and Mason Duke (132) each won by decision, while Craft won by forfeit.
In the Sallisaw girls’ win over Poteau, the Lady Diamonds (1-0) won three matches by pinfall victories by Mattie Schuh (105 pounds), Kadence Martinez (120), Bailie Hanshew (130) and Mikaylynn Gaghins (145). The Lady Diamonds ended the dual with four straight forfeit victories — one apiece Emilie Robbins (155), Abigail Gardenhire (170), Hannah Lightfoot (190) and Jamie Martin (heavyweight). Kasey Adame also won her 121-pound match by forfeit.
“The girls are certainly putting in the work, and we are seeing some improvements,” Sallisaw girls assistant coach LuWella Harris said. “We still have some weaknesses — like tying up on the head — but we are working on fixing some of those things in practice.”
The Sallisaw Black Diamonds junior high team also pinned a loss on Poteau, beating the Pirates 42-30.
Four Black Diamonds JH wrestlers won their matches by pinfall — Lakota Paniagua (106 pounds), Briar James (132), Anthony Adame (170) and Billy Oliver (195). Mylz Oft (80) and Garrett Rivera (86) each won by forfeit, while Tyler File (140) and Talon Flynn (155) each won by decision.
The Lady Diamonds JH team suffered an 18-0 loss to Poteau.
The Black Diamonds will be idle until participating in the Cushing Tournament, which will take place at 9 a.m. Jan. 5-6.
“We’ll go into training now,” Smith said. “We’ve got two weeks during Christmas break where it doesn’t stop for us. For wrestlers, we’re in the middle of our season during Christmas. So, we’re going to keep working out and training. Everybody goes home (for Christmas), and they do fun things. We have to get in the wrestling room and work. (The second half of the season) is probably the most important part of our season. It’s just getting better — and for us, that’s during Christmas time.
The Lady Diamonds, who did not participate in last weekend’s Fayetteville (Ark.) Battle for the Bling Tournament, will return to action in the McLoud Dual Tournament, which will take place at 10:30 a.m. Jan. 19-20.
