FORT GIBSON — Coming into Friday night’s district clash, both Poteau and Fort Gibson were fighting for the playoffs.

The Tigers had a small sliver of hope to get there, but the offense was stagnant for most of the night as Fort Gibson would lose another close game, 21-14 at Leo Donahue Tiger Stadium.

The loss knocks the Tigers out and more than likely secures the Pirates a spot, Fort Gibson coach D.J. Howell said. Howell thought his squad had a good game plan going in but were unable to get the win.

“We’ve just got to play better; you can try to diagram it all you want,” the first-year coach said. “But the bottom line is, we’ve got to make more plays then what we have.”

Poteau got the ball to start the game and marched down the field behind two longs passes from Garrett Klutts. A 1-yard score from tailback Nick Donathan gave the Pirates an early lead.

After sacking Klutts inside his own 10-yard line, Fort Gibson took advantage of great field position at the Pirates 33. Tailback Gannon Whiteley capped the drive from a yard out to tie at 7 with 5:38 remaining in the first quarter.

Both offenses would struggle to get anything going for the rest of the half and entered halftime knotted up at 7-7.

Just like the first half, the Pirates would score on their first possession to start the third quarter on a Donathan eight-yard run to lead 14-7.

Later in the period, Klutts found Donathan downfield for a 42-yard touchdown pass and gave Poteau a 21-7 cushion.

The Tigers were unable to get anything going offensively as they were forced to punt on five of their six possessions in the second half, but still found a way to claw back into the game.

With Poteau driving and trying to run as much as they could, Klutts dropped back on a third and eight and threw a dart right into Whiteley's hands to give the Tigers some life in the fourth quarter.

Fort Gibson got the ball on the 20. It took two plays for Tiger quarterback Drew Arnold to hit receiver Lane Dortch for a 10-yard score to inch closer 21-14.

After a failed onside attempt, Fort Gibson had one more opportunity to get the ball back as the Pirates faced a third and 5. But Poteau picked up the first down, effectively ending the Tigers’ playoff hopes.

Howell, who's only missed the playoffs once in his 14 years in football, said that he's going to have a long offseason to figure out how to get his Tigers over the hump next season.

“There's lot of things we need to get better at; it's hard on you when you pour a lot into it and don't come out with wins,” the FGHS coach said.