By Buck Ringgold

Courtesy Southwest Times



SALLISAW — Sallisaw took advantage of a slew of Hilldale mistakes, including fumbles, a blocked punt and a pair of high snaps on punting attempts in rolling to 45-0 lead at halftime. Sallisaw coasted to a 48-7 win in its regular-season home finale.

The Black Diamonds (7-1, 4-1) also moved one step closer to securing a home game in the opening round of the playoffs next month. To do that, however, Sallisaw must win at Wagoner next week in a game that will determine the No. 2 seed in 4A-4 behind Broken Bow.

Sallisaw opened the scoring Friday when senior Carlos Nieto drilled a 35-yard field goal on its second series. That’s when the game turned bizarre.

The Hornets (1-7, 1-4) muffed the ensuing kickoff, and Sallisaw’s Chase Hunt made the recovery at the Hilldale 15. Two plays later, running back Ryon Mefford plunged in from 2 yards out and stayed on the field and helped clear the way for quarterback Matt Oberste to take it into the end zone on a swinging-gate formation, building an 11-0 advantage for the Diamonds.

Things got worse for the Hornets in the second quarter, beginning with a blocked punt, which was recovered by Sallisaw’s Trevor Fitzsimmons at the Hilldale 18.

On Hilldale’s next series, the Hornets attempted another punt, but the snap went over Dotson’s head. Dotson landed on the ball at his own 8, and Sallisaw scored again on the next play on a run from tailback Matt Mitchell.

“We couldn’t afford to make those mistakes we made early and our kicking game just fell apart,” Hilldale coach Don Hendrix said. “You can’t afford to give short fields to a team like Sallisaw.”

Even a good punt from the Hornets led to more misfortune. Levi Hamlin released a quick kick that went to the Sallisaw 20, but Diamond senior David Hadley returned it 60 yards to the Hilldale 20, resulting in another Diamond touchdown.

“I told our guys we were defeating the whole purpose there,” Hendrix said. “We couldn’t punt the ball right at them, and to someone who’s one of the best players they’ve got. That didn’t make a whole lot of sense, either.”

Then, Hilldale was attempting to run out the clock to end the first half but fumbled it to Sallisaw at the Hornet 34 with nine seconds left. On the last play before intermission, Oberste fired a pass in the end zone to an open Phillip Lefler, extending Sallisaw’s lead to 45-0.

Hilldale finally got on the board on what appeared to be another special-teams miscue. Down 48-0 in the third, the Hornets attempted to execute another quick kick, but it deflected off a Hilldale player at the line. Mills, however, came up with the ball and swept around the right side for 23 yards and a first down at the Hornet 48.