The Sallisaw Black Diamonds (3-0) earned a tough road-win over the Eufaula Ironheads 27-14 Friday night at Eufaulas Paul Bell Stadium. It was the first homecoming loss in nearly a decade for the Ironheads.
Eufaula Homecoming King Carson Luna kissed the Queen Amberly Adcock in a pregame ceremony.
It was a physical battle from the start with questionable officiating and penalties that turned the tide of the game.
Sallisaw scored the games first two touchdowns and led 13-0 with 4:02 remaining in the first half when Eufaula (1-2) found their way in the end zone.
The Ironhead defense was stout and aggressive as Carson Luna, Day Day Shine, Blayden Neill, Aaron Spoehr, Luke Hodgins and Simeon Hill made big hits and played a good game. The Ironheads had two touchdowns called back. One was in the second quarter when Maddox Bridges took a hand off from quarterback Ledger Folsom and sprinted his way down the sideline for a score. A holding penalty negated the play. The second touchdown called back was a great reception by Bridges who clearly was in the end zone when he caught the football. However, officials called the play out of bounds and took the score away from the Ironheads.
Sallisaw rushed for 216 yards on 26 carries and threw the football 6 of 12 for 61 yards. Both teams turned the football over with Sallisaw committing two and Eufaula one.
Eufaula trailed 13-7 at the halftime break. The Black Diamonds continued to run the football and control the clock in the third quarter as they scored twice to extend the lead 27-7.
The fourth quarter took a turn for the worse as Sallisaw’s Brody Nickell suffered an injury that required the ambulance to take him off the field.
“He sustained three broken ribs and a bruised lung and back,” Sallisaw head coach Brandon Tyler said on Saturday.
Eufaula players took a knee and prayed for Nickell.
“That was a class act,” Tyler said.
Eufaula would score again to cut the lead 2714 to end the game.
Ironhead quarterback Ledger Folsom was 10 of 22 for 99 yards and two interceptions and ran the ball 18 times for 105 yards. Running back Peter Lee had 19 carries for 76 yards and caught three passes for 39 yards.
Eufaula’s offense ended with 403 total offensive yards while Sallisaw had 342 yards Both teams combined for 23 penalties (Eufaula 14 for 120 yards and Sallisaw had 9 for 85 yards).
The Ironheads will now host Muldrow Sept. 27 at 7 p.m.
