Senior defensive lineman enjoying being part of football ‘thieves’
During the Sallisaw Black Diamonds’ five-game winning streak, the defensive unit has been football ‘thieves’ for lack of a better term. The Black Diamonds got their 20th takeaway with Levi Scavo’s fumble recovery late in the fourth quarter of Friday night’s homecoming District 4A-4 win over Tulsa McLain at Perry F. Lattimore Stadium as well as blocked three punts. Senior defensive lineman Hunter Smith, who had one of the three punt blocks in Friday’s victory, has done his fair share in both aspects — blocking punts and getting takeaways.
“It’s very loose out there,” Smith said. “It’s really just fun. We’re all just having fun out there. It feels like playing little league football again where you’re just out there with all your friends. The coaches have a great defensive plan every week, and they always get us prepared for these games. They always put us in the right situations to succeed. That’s one of the main reasons we’re having this kind of success.”
The only blemish on the Sallisaw football record to this point is the seasonopening Zero Week road loss to Pryor in which the Black Diamonds lost 4522. Since then, the Black Diamonds currently are on a five-game winning streak, in hopes of making it six on Thursday night with the home district game against the Glenpool Warriors. Smith said that Zero Week loss to Pryor acted as a wake-up call for the Black Diamonds and helped them go on this current winning streak.
“Losing that (Pryor) game was hard, but it kind of woke us up a little bit,” he said. “Everyone put their heads down and started working a little harder every day.”
The fifth win in a row happened Friday night as the Black Diamonds celebrated homecoming with a 45-7 rout of Tulsa McLain, which made for a fun night for all.
“It was great,” Smith said about Friday night’s homecoming victory. “Sadly, we didn’t get to do it last year. It was a great feeling this year (to win on homecoming).”
The Glenpool Warriors will enter Sallisaw with a winless record on Thursday night, and it’s hard for Sallisaw fans to not look ahead to next week’s road game against rival Poteau. However, Smith said there’s only one team the Black Diamonds are focusing on — the Warriors.
“We’re only thinking about the Warriors right now,” he said. “It’s one week at a time. (Sallisaw) Coach (Brandon) Tyler always says you have to win one game at a time to get anywhere, so right now we’re focused on Glenpool.”
Smith, being a twosport athlete as he plays football and wrestles, has aspirations to be a college athlete, but for right now he is just dealing with the business at hand — which right now is helping the Black Diamonds on the gridiron.
“There always is, but right now I’m playing high school football,” the Salisaw senior defensive lineman said. “I’m just focused on that right now. I’m having fun.”
