Sallisaw ends 3-game homestand with District 4A-4 opener against Hilldale

For the third straight game, the Sallisaw Black Diamonds will get to play on the turf at Perry F. Lattimore Stadium as they will begin District 4A-4 play with a home contest against the Hilldale Hornets at 7 tonight.

“It’s always good to play at home,” Sallisaw coach Brandon Tyler said. “We’ve gone to Hilldale (in Muskogee) in each of the last two years because of the way the realignment worked out. This will be the first time in three years since I’ve been here we’ll get to play them at home.”

The Black Diamonds (2-1) won their first two home games — 27-0 over Stigler in the home opener Sept. 5 and last week’s 57-19 victory over Eufaula. The Eufaula game came after the Black Diamonds had their bye week as they did not play on Sept. 19. Early on in last week’s game, the rustiness from not playing a game for two weeks might have been evident. Tyler said that cannot happen tonight.

“We just didn’t come out with any energy and emotion like we had hoped,” he said about the Eufaula game. “We had been off a week. It just took us a while to get caught back up into game speed. Once we got going, we had seven takeaways (and 12 over the last two games), and we turned most of them into points — so that’s good. Those (takeaways) are great because it gave us a short field. Our defense did a good job. We gave up a couple of bubble screens (pass plays) there. We had a missed tackle and some alignment issues. Once we got that lined out, we started playing a lot better. I was proud of our kids and their effort. We just have to come out with a little bit more urgency, especially this week and here on out. We can’t afford to go down 21-0 like we were last year to them (Hilldale). We were lucky enough to come back (and win 40-34 in overtime on Sept. 27 in Muskogee). I think our kids are excited about (tonight’s game) and will be ready to go.”

The Hornets (1-2) are coming in on just the opposite of that of the Black Diamonds. Hilldale, which opened the season with a 44-21 home-opening win over Tulsa Edison on Sept. 5, has lost two straight games — 3728 to the archrival Fort Gibson Tigers on Sept. 12 and 39-33 last week at home. However, Tyler is quick to point out the Hornets have a potent 1-2-3 punch.

“Hilldale is a good team,” Tyler said. “I know they’re 1-2 right now. Offensively, they’re putting a lot of points on the board. They’re very dangerous offensively. Wide receiver Brady Scott and their quarterback and running back No. 15 (Bryce Chartney) are three-year starters. They’ve rebuilt the offensive line a little bit from last year. The guys they have now are getting the job done and do a very good job up front. I’ve known (Hilldale) Coach (David) Blevins for a long time. He and his staff do a great job. They get their kids in the right positions. They have them playing hard. We definitely have our hands full (tonight).”

Depending upon which Class 4A high school football poll a person examines, it will show that half of the teams in District 4A-4 are in the top 10, making the district a mighty tough one through which to navigate wins.

“You look at this district from top to bottom, and I think it’s the strongest district in Class 4A,” Tyler said. “It’s definitely a tough (district), and you have to win your home games. We have to win this one and start off 1-0 in district play. If you lose and fall to 0-1, you put yourself behind the 8-ball already. This is a very important ball game this week. It’s got a lot of magnitude to it. We have to come out and be ready to go (tonight), and try to come out on top.”

The Black Diamonds will need to play a solid game in all three phases to give them the best chance to not only run their winning streak to three games but to open district play in a four-way tie at the top with a 1-0 record.

“Defensively, we definitely have to shut down the Scott kid,” Tyler said. “Their offense revolves around him. They have a good running back, No. 15 (Chartney), as well. He’s done a very good job of running the football. They’re a scary combo back there. When they put the Scott kid at receiver, they like to throw (the ball) to him and get him out in space. We will need to rally and tackle. We have to get to him. We need to create turnovers. We’ve done a nice job of doing that the last two games against Stigler (five takeaways) and Eufaula (seven takeaways). We just have to control the clock. I think our offense can be our best defense this week. We need to try to keep our defense off the field as much as possible. We need to string long drives together — six- to seven-minute drives, hopefully. We would like to control the ball and the clock. We need to be solid in the kicking game. We gave up the opening kickoff (against Pryor in the season opener Aug. 29) for a touchdown. It was 7-0 before we ever got sat down. We can’t do that. We have to play a clean game. Hopefully, it will turn out in our favor.”

The Black Diamonds are expected to be at full strength tonight.

“We’re healthy,” Tyler said. “We’re battling a little bit of sickness. I don’t know what’s going around, but we’ve had kids sick this week. That’s about the only drawback we’ve had here in the last week. Other than that, our health is good. I think everybody will be at 100 percent (tonight). We’re ready to go.”