Black Diamonds’ season comes to an end with playoff loss to Grove

GROVE — For each of the last two seasons, the Sallisaw Black Diamonds football team made the Class 4A state quarterfinals. Unfortunately, this season came to a screeching halt after the opening round of the playoffs.

The Black Diamonds saw six of their offensive possessions end by being stopped on fourth down as the Grove Ridgerunners, who fell 27-26 to the Black Diamonds in overtime in last year’s opening-round overtime thriller at Perry F. Lattimore Stadium as Grove went for the win in OT but was stopped on the two-point conversion at the 1-yard line, avenged that playoff defeat with a 3514 win over the Black Diamonds in last Friday night’s Class 4A playoff opener at Grove Ridgerunner Stadium.

The Ridgerunners (10-1) will travel to meet the top-ranked Tuttle Tigers (100), who routed Clinton 51-6 last Friday night at home, in the Class 4A state quarterfinals at 7 p.m. this Friday.

The Black Diamonds ended the season at 7-4.

“I’m proud of our kids,” Sallisaw coach Brandon Tyler said. “Last week (on Nov. 7), we played for a district championship, and now we’re putting up our pads. It’s a bad feeling, but it takes nothing away from these guys. After going 0-10 (in 2022), they went 7-5 (in 2023), 9-3 (in 2024) and 7-4 (this year). This senior class laid the foundation for us. We’re going to be able to rebound, get bigger and stronger next year and come back and be ready to go.”

After the Black Diamonds were forced to punt on the game’s opening possession, the Ridgerunners went 66 yards with the final 16 yards coming on quarterback Colby Watson’s touchdown pass to wide receiver Isaac Sheffield with 5:24 left in the first quarter. Dylan Allsup’s extra point gave Grove a 7-0 lead after a period.

The Black Diamonds tried to answer as they started at their own 10-yard line after a holding penalty on the ensuing kickoff return.

Sallisaw drove as deep as the Grove 15-yard line thanks to three big pass plays from quarterback Kase Adams — a 48-yarder to Brodi Nickell, a 15-yarder to Kenyan Hill and a big pass play to Caden Blount.

Unfortunately, the Black Diamonds could not get any deeper and were stopped for the first time on downs at that point, with the Ridgerunners taking over at their own 15-yard line with 10:31 left before halftime.

The Ridgerunners went 85 yards and struck paydirt once more as running back Gavin Wyatt took it in from two yards out. Allsup’s PAT doubled Grove’s advantage to 14-0 with 5:55 remaining in the first half.

The Black Diamonds took possession at their own 33-yard line off the ensuing kickoff. Aided by a 25-yard pass from Adams to Tae Muskrat-Flynn, they got down to the Grove 34, but again were stopped on downs.

The Ridgerunners went 66 yards and found the end zone for the third consecutive time as Watson found wide receiver Bradee Rutherford on a 48-yard TD pass with 1:11 left in the first half. Allsup’s extra point gave Grove a 21-0 halftime lead.

The Ridgerunners tried an onside kick, but Sallisaw’s Drew Simpson recovered the ball at the Sallisaw 34-yard line.

Thanks to a 14-yard pass from Adams to Hill, the Black Diamonds drove as deep as the Grove 21, but they were stopped for the third straight drive on fourth down at that point with 29 seconds remaining before halftime. Grove did one kneel down to end the first half.

It looked like things might finally go Sallisaw’s way to begin the second half.

Hill’s interception of Watson’s pass set up shop for the Black Diamonds at their own 34-yard line with 10:55 left in the third quarter.

Thanks to a 15-yard pass in the drive from Adams to Blount, the Black Diamonds drove as deep as the Grove 36-yard line, only to be stopped on downs for the fourth time with 7:35 remaining in the period.

Grove looked to have taken advantage of the defensive stop as Watson hit Rutherford on what looked to be a 56-yard touchdown pass, but it was negated by a holding penalty.

Instead of ending the drive with a score, the Ridgerunners had to punt, but Sallisaw defensive lineman Hunter Smith blocked the punt, with Logan Bethel scooping up the pigskin and running 25 yards for Sallisaw’s first TD. Ethan Girdner hit the extra point to cut Sallisaw’s deficit to 21-7 with 5:45 remaining in the quarter.

Grove answered right back, taking the ensuing possession 62 yards, with the final 52 yards coming on Watson’s 52-yard touchdown scamper with 4:21 left in the period. Allsup’s PAT put Grove ahead 28-7 after three quarters.

The Sallisaw defense stopped Grove on its next possession as Bethel recovered a fumble at the Sallisaw 43-yard line with 11:25 left to play in the game.

Thanks to a 13-yard run by Jackson Harris and a 36-yard pass from Adams to Gunner Griffey, the Black Diamonds went 57 yards with Adams scoring on a 13-yard touchdown run. Girdner’s PAT cut the Grove lead to 28-14 with 10:06 remaining in the game.

After stopping Grove once more, the Black Diamonds took over possession at their own 24-yard line with 7:20 left in the game.

The Black Diamonds gambled on fourth down from their own 28-yard line but were stopped, with the Ridgerunners taking over at that spot with 6:04 remaining to play in the game.

The Ridgerunners all but sealed the deal as their 28yard drive was capped by Watson’s 6-yard TD run with 3:19 remaining to play. Allsup hit the extra point.

Thanks to Hill’s 18-yard kickoff return, the Black Diamonds began their next drive at their own 41-yard line with 3:13 left to play. Aided by a pass interference penalty on Grove, the Black Diamonds got as deep as the Grove 22. However, for the sixth time in the game, the Black Diamonds were stopped on downs with 1:03 remaining in the game. Grove then did a couple of victoryformation plays to end the night.

“It seemed like when we got a little momentum going, we’d take three steps forward and one step back,” Tyler said. “Grove defensively gave our offensive line problems. We had a game plan going in, but we just didn’t handle them up front like we thought we would be able to. Hats off to them, they played a very outstanding ball game up front. They limited our running game. When you hang your hat on your running game (and Grove stopped it), they forced us to start passing.”