Black Diamonds blank Stilwell to clinch 3rd straight playoff berth, setting up district title showdown with Ada
STILWELL — After the Sallisaw Black Diamonds saw their six-game winning streak snapped the week before in the rain at Poteau, they bounced back big time last Thursday night as they totally dominated the host Stilwell Indians to the tune of a 42-0 road District 4A-4 victory at Stilwell’s James Brauley Memorial Athletic Park.
The Black Diamonds (7-2 overall, 5-1 in district play) clinched a playoff berth with the win for the third straight season, and the victory has now set up for the second straight year a district title showdown with the Ada Cougars (8-1, 5-1), which will take place at 7 p.m. Friday at Perry F. Lattimore Stadium for Sallisaw’s Senior Night. The Cougars routed Glenpool 42-6 on Senior Night last Friday night.
“Now all our goals are there — playing Ada for a district championship,” Sallisaw coach Brandon Tyler said. “That’s all you can ask for. I’m proud of our kids and coaches. We’re back to where we were a year ago. Obviously, we didn’t give our best performance there (at Ada) last year. We’ve got them at home this year. I think our kids will be more prepared. I think they’ll be ready to roll mentally.”
The Black Diamonds got the ball first as Hunter Smith recovered an attempted onside kick by the Indians (1-8, 0-6) at the Sallisaw 46.
The Black Diamonds capped the 54-yard drive with the first of four touchdown runs by Jackson Harris as he scored on a 3-yard run. Ethan Girdner’s extra point put Sallisaw ahead 7-0 with 8:09 left in the first quarter.
After stopping the Indians on their first possession, the Black Diamonds started their ensuing drive at their own 22yard line.
The 78-yard drive ended with Harris taking it in from a yard out with 2:21 remaining in the period. The Black Diamonds went for two points and were stopped, but they took a 13-0 lead into the second quarter.
After stopping the Indians again, the Black Diamonds got a 23-yard punt return by Brodi Nickell to set up the ensuing drive at the Stilwell 41.
For the third straight drive, the Black Diamonds ended it with a Harris TD run, another 3-yarder. Harris ran in the twopoint conversion for a 21-0 lead with 11:11 left before halftime.
The Indians went for it on fourth down but were stopped at their own 43-yard line with 9:02 remaining before halftime.
That was the first of six times on the night the Sallisaw defense stopped the Stilwell offense on downs.
The Black Diamonds took the Stilwell gift and went 57 yards to paydirt as quarterback Kase Adams scored on a 20-yard touchdown run. Girdner’s PAT upped Sallisaw’s advantage to 28-0 with 7:02 remaining before halftime.
After forcing another Stilwell punt, the Indians’ punter badly shanked his kick, which basically went directly left off his foot and went out of bounds at the Sallisaw 41-yard line with 3:04 left in the first half.
The Black Diamonds made it a perfect 5-for-5 on scoring drives as Adams scored his second TD of the game, taking it to the end zone from six yards out with 1:26 remaining in the first half. Girdner’s extra point increased the Sallisaw lead to 35-0 at halftime.
The second half was dominated by the Sallisaw defense, which stopped the Indians on fourth down on five drives.
“Stilwell has been averaging 30 points a ball game,” Tyler said. “They’ve been putting a lot of points on a lot of people. (Defensive coordinator) Coach (Richard) Pratt and our defensive staff, hats off to those guys for the shutout. It was a great win for us.”
The only score of the second half was Harris scoring his fourth touchdown of the night, taking it in on an 11-yard run. Girdner connected on the PAT.
The Sallisaw offense was stopped just four times, all coming in the second half. Once, the Black Diamonds had to punt. The second time, Stilwell cornerback Denver Bruner picked off a pass, and the offense was stopped on fourth down on the third time. The fourth time was when the Black Diamonds got into victory formation to end the game.
“It was a great team effort,” Tyler said. “I thought our kids played well from the opening kickoff. I thought we had a great week of practice. We had a great day (on Oct. 27). You were worried about coming off the loss to Poteau that we would be flat, but our kids responded well (against Stilwell). That says a lot about our senior class. Our kids prepared, came out and got after it. I’m proud of our community. Everybody showed up (in Stilwell) on a Thursday night. Proud of those guys making the trip up.”
