Senior lineman happy to get season-opening win

Last Friday night, the Sallisaw Black Diamonds did something that had not been done since senior offensive lineman Cooper Carter was an eighthgrader — win the season opener, which the Black Diamonds did by a score of 31-14 over the Pryor Tigers.

“It felt amazing,” Carter said. “It really felt awesome. We’ve been working hard all summer long. I felt like we really put the work in to go 1-0 last week. It felt so awesome. I never really got to have a 1-0 start. Last year, it was close versus Stigler (losing 3534 in the 2023 season opener). This year, I thought we came out with a point to prove, and we went 1-0.”

Then to cap off the happy night, the Black Diamonds and the cheerleaders raced down in front of the band bleachers to celebrate when the band played the fight song. That feeling may have been one of the best feelings the senior offensive lineman has ever experienced.

“It was one of the best feelings,” Carter said. “You just won a hardfought fourth-quarter game, and you go down there (in front of the band bleachers) and celebrate with all your classmates. It’s one of the best feelings in the world.”

However, the celebration was short because when the weekend came, it was time for the Black Diamonds to focus on this week’s opponent, the Stigler Panthers — who has had the Black Diamonds’ number over the last few years. Carter said a win over the Panthers would be special.

“It would mean almost anything right now because we haven’t beaten Stigler since I was playing in middle school, maybe even elementary school,” he said. “I think (a win) would mean a lot to this town, this program and to everybody if we beat Stigler and go 2-0.”

This season is a bittersweet one for Carter, since it’s his final season on the gridiron as a Black Diamond.

“The pros of it is to live every moment, to just make sure you can say you left it all on the field, and we played everything for the Sallisaw Black Diamonds,” Carter said. “The cons of it is I only have one more go-round. I have only 10 guaranteed games, even less than that now. An injury could happen — or anything could happen — and I’m not guaranteed (anything). It’s kind of sad, but the last home opener (vs. Pryor) we put on a good show for the crowd. I feel really confident about that.”