Sallisaw soccer trio, coach named to All-State Team
Three Sallisaw High School soccer players and their coach will get to be a part of one more high school set of matches.
Lady Diamonds player Kyra Taylor was named to the East Girls All-State Team, while Brian Castor and Wyatt Allen made the East Boys All-State Team — which will be coached by All-State Coach, Sallisaw’s Sinue Rodriguez.
Taylor’s All-State match will be at 11 a.m. June 7 in Bristow, followed at 1 p.m. by the Boys All-State Soccer Match for Castor, Allen and the Sallisaw coaches.
“It makes me pretty proud of them,” Rodriguez said about the honors coming to Taylor, Castor and Allen. “Those three were the main ones who started with the program (when it was created for the 2022 season). I’m very proud of them. They’ve been amazing for this program. They’ve set a huge foundation, and have set the bar pretty high for this program. They represent what this program is really all about — its resilience, working hard and not giving up. They’ve worked hard. It speaks highly of our program.”
Rodriguez was not only pleased with being named the All-State East Boys Team coach, but he also was pleased that his two assistants will be able to join him on the sideline for the All-State Boys Soccer Match.
“I’m just going to represent the (Class) 4A boys,” Rodriguez said. “I’m not going to be doing it by myself. I’m going to have my assistants with me as well — Kiah Smith and Andrew Miller — so that’s a huge honor. We’re very grateful to be able to represent Sallisaw. We’re very grateful that we’re going to be able to coach Wyatt and Brian one last time. We’re going to try to do our best. It shows what we’re doing and acknowledges where we are (in these programs). The acknowledgement makes us feel that what we’re doing (in these programs) is worth it.”
Four players — Laynie Gerred, Jocelyn Rivera and Makenna Bormann for the Lady Diamonds, and Josh Taylor for the Black Diamonds — were named as All-State alternates, meaning they could be named to the East All-State Teams should someone currently on the girls or boys All-State rosters not be able to play in the game.
