— GORE – The District A-6 opener between the Gore Pirates and the Sallisaw Central Tigers did not turn out the way the Pirates wanted as the visiting and previously winless Tigers stunned the Pirates 41-22 at Cawhorn Stadium.  

The Pirates received the opening kick and on their first play from scrimmage quarterback Robert Clark’s pass was picked off by Tigers; Tanner Poindexter who returned the ball to the Gore 12-yard line.  Less than two minutes later Gore (2-2, 0-1) found itself in a 7-0 hole.

The Pirate offense could not get any momentum going in the first half.  

“Playing with some injuries and without some key players it’s disappointing, and we had too many busted assignments,”  said Gore head coach Lee Blankenship.  The Pirates had five possessions in the first half and could only muster 74 yards of offense.

Central would build its lead to 21-0 on sound ball control offense with touchdown drives of 78 yards 89 yards.  The second strike would end on a 14-yard scamper by quarterback Aaron Busch and the third TD on a 35-yard toss from Busch to Tyler McElyea.

Gore tried to build momentum before halftime when Wade Shanks returned a kickoff 99 yards for a TD.  The two-point conversion was added by Logan Ohl and it was 21-8 at the break.

The Pirates would make a game of it in the second half.  Clark would find Jacob Johnson on a 10- yard touchdown toss and the two-point conversion brought the Pirates within seven.  The Tigers answered back with an 8-yard scamper by Busch to extend their lead to 14.

With 2.1 seconds left in the third quarter, Pirate running back Ben Smith scampered 34 yards for a touchdown to bring Gore within six at 28-22.

That’s as close as the Pirates could get though. Sallisaw Central (1-3, 1-0) would add two more scores on runs by Jason Noel and Busch to put the game away.  

“Central Sallisaw had a good game plan and their kids came to play,” added Blankenship.

Gore returns to action next Friday, playing host to Canadian.

Longtime area coach Ben Baker was honored before the game by the Pirates.  Baker, who has some health issues, was the first-ever coach at Gore and also coached at Muskogee and Hilldale.