Sallisaw, Gore open season with wins

The 2024 high school football season got underway last week with three teams playing Zero Week games.

The Sallisaw Black Diamonds and the Gore Pirates were victorious over Pryor and Wilburton, respectively.

However, the Gary Hixon era at Gans was spoiled by the host Keota Lions.

The Grizzlies, along with the other five schools — Muldrow, Roland, Central, Vian and Webbers Falls — will try to get first wins this week.

Unfortunately, the best we can do this week is 7-1 since “The Battle of 64” took place Thursday night at Muldrow’s Marty Rogers Field — meaning only the host Muldrow Bulldogs or the visiting Roland Rangers will win, since both cannot win at the same time.

The Warriors played Thursday night at home vs. Quinton.

The Grizzlies tried Thursday night to get their new coach his first win as well as their first win this season Thursday night at Gans.

The other squads will open their season tonight — the Tigers and the Wolverines.

NO QR CODE FOR OSU HELMETS

Last week, the NCAA blocked the Oklahoma State Cowboys from adding a QR code sticker to their football helmets because the NCAA interprets the QR code stickers as advertising and/ or commercial marks, which are not permitted.

The Pokes were planning on having them on their helmets so fans could get a link to the “general team fund” for every student-athlete on the roster.

“We disagree with the interpretation of the rule but will abide by it and work with the appropriate groups to lead on the needed change,” OSU Athletic Director Chad Weiberg said. “Our people came up with an innovative concept to raise the NIL (name, image and likeness) value of our student-athletes, but, ultimately, it just serves as the latest example of how college sports are evolving at a faster pace than the rule book.”

At OSU football coach Mike Gundy’s postgame press conference after the Cowboys opened the 2024 season with a 44-20 win over the two-time Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) national champion South Dakota State Jackrabbits on Saturday afternoon at Boone Pickens Stadium, the veteran coach spoke to the media about this situation.

“It was either Tuesday or Wednesday (of last week), they called me and said the NCAA had met, and that it (QR code sticker) was a uniform violation,” Gundy said. “They thought it was a uniform violation because it has a social media handle to it, which in my opinion is not. It was punishable with players being suspended if we put the QR codes on the helmets. Now, I read the rule. I think it’s judgmental, based on if it ever went to a court of law. All we were doing was to maximize our players’ opportunities across the world who don’t have a chance to be involved if they aren’t local. We had it everywhere. It’s in restaurants. It’s all over campus. There is a link on social media, but that’s not on the QR code. Thursday night (Aug. 29), the guy who watches it for us, he was texting me, and people were sending money to it in Edmond at some bar. We made several thousand dollars. I don’t know who it was, but somebody was lighting it up on Thursday night.”

WHY DID YOU DO IT, DISNEY?

I didn’t notice this until I heard about it because I spent Labor Day Weekend in my hometown of Enid to celebrate my mom’s 98th birthday, but if any of you were trying to watch college football on any of the ESPN networks, and you have DirecTV, you got a big-time shock.

All of the ESPN networks were blocked out because Disney said the contract ended with DirecTV, so until the new contract is reached, you all won’t be able to watch college football on the ESPN networks.

Fortunately, we have the local ABC networks not affected by this, as well as networks such as Fox, the CW, the Big 10 Network and the ACC Network to provide college football for us.

100-YARD RUSHERS

Jackson Harris, Sallisaw — 178 yards.

100-YARD PASSERS

Jackson Harris, Sallisaw — 127 yards.

SCORING 12 OR MORE POINTS

Jackson Harris, Sallisaw — 12 points.

DEFENSIVE HONOR ROLL

Cole Mayfield, Sallisaw — 12 tackles, six solo, two pass deflections and an interception.

Austin File, Sallisaw — Eight tackles and a quarterback hurry.

Caden Cowan, Sallisaw — Seven tackles, one solo.

Jace Holman, Sallisaw — Six tackles, two solo.

Tae Muskrat-Flynn, Sallisaw — Five tackles, two solo, two pass deflections, an INT.

Kenyan Hill, Sallisaw — Four tackles, one solo, a fumble recovery and a pass deflection.

Cooper Jackson, Sallisaw — Three tackles and two QB hurries.

Hunter Smith, Sallisaw — Three tackles and two QB hurries.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Gore’s individual statistics were not available at press time. If they are made available, they will be added in their respective category in the online version of this story.