Sallisaw splits home regular-season openers with Grove

The Sallisaw High School soccer teams split their regular-season home openers with Grove on Tuesday at Perry F. Lattimore Stadium.

The Black Diamonds ended the night with a 5-1 win over the Ridgerunners, but the Lady Ridgerunners spoiled the opener for the Lady Diamonds as Grove left town with a 2-0 victory.

In the boys’ match, the Black Diamonds (4-1), winners of four straight matches since losing the season opener March 3 at Van Buren, Ark., broke the scoreless deadlock with a goal by Wes Rodriguez, thanks to an assist by Phillip Hennessee, to put Saliisaw ahead 1-0 with 27:51 left in the first half.

After the Ridgerunners (2-1) tied the contest at 1-all at the 15:54 mark, the Black Diamonds took the lead for good on Rodriguez’s second goal, with an assist from Cesar Morales, to put Sallisaw ahead 2-1 with 12:28 remaining before halftime.

Dylan Gallegos made it 3-1 with a goal at the 8:52 mark, thanks to an assist by Rodriguez.

The Ridgerunners were poised to cut their deficit to a goal with about 6:30 left before halftime. A initial shot caromed off the goal post right to another Grove player, who then shot the ball on goal. However, Sallisaw goalkeeper Asher Orendorff was Johnny on the spot for the save to preserve Sallisaw’s 3-1 halftime lead.

The Black Diamonds put away the game with two goals, the first coming from Sama Salinas from an assist by Ethan Girdner. The second goal was a solo goal by Girdner.

In the girls’ contest, the Lady Ridgerunners (3-0) scored the lone first-half goal for a 1-0 halftime lead.

The Lady Diamonds (2-3), who have lost three of their last four matches since opening the season with a road win over Van Buren, struggled to get the ball into Grove’s half of the field for most of the evening.

The Lady Ridgerunners put away the game with a goal with 2:12 left in the match.

After the Sallisaw teams faced Heavener on Thursday, they will be idle until after Spring Break when they will travel to meet the McAlester squads at 5 and 7 p.m. March 24 at Hook-Eales Stadium.