SMQ: Irish vs. Sallisaw…
By Robert Przybylo
BPrzybylo@opubco.com
From talking to Matt Oberste following the game, the Collinsville last-second victory was almost as instrumental in beating Bishop McGuinness as anything else.
Sallisaw was battle-tested in a tough district and Oberste was hungry. Well, the whole team was hungry, but especially Oberste because of his late-season injury.
Sallisaw 20, Bishop McGuinness 14 – Final
The Black Diamonds got off to a fantastic start. Jeremy Davenport didn’t end up with that many yards, but he did find the end zone twice.
As much as I was impressed with Oberste (and I was), nobody impressed me more than Trey Wiley. Oberste is so good because he can just throw it up to Wiley, and Wiley will make a play.
Wiley had seven receptions for 102 yards and set the single-season school record in the process for yards in a single season. Wiley has the height (6-3), but he’s not very big (listed at 175). I tend to not care about that at all. If you pass the Boneman’s eye test, that’s good enough for me.
It was basically Wiley on one side against LaRone Richardson on the other. Wow. A huge game by the Irish junior RB. He was dominant. I had seen him against Weatherford where the Eagles just keyed in on him the entire game, so it was good to see just what Richardson is all about.
After looking like a track meet, it really settled down into a defensive struggle. The Irish made great second-half adjustments after being down 20-7. Sallisaw never gave Camden Tharp any time at all during the game to find an open receiver.
The big run by Oberste clinched the game or else we might have have seen another dramatic finish like last year’s battle.
Sallisaw takes on Star Spencer on Saturday at Sapulpa. Fellow chum Ryan Aber will be there.
Here’s a link to Saturday’s story on the game.
It was a weird season for McGuinness. In the early part, I was thinking it was going to be a 7-3, 6-4 season. But after stellar showings in all the top games, viewed them as favorites.
Injuries definitely hurt this team. The defense is going to take a big hit, but the offense should be even more explosive this next season.
The Irish finish 9-3 with a one-point loss at Bishop Kelley and Weatherford to go with the six-point loss Friday night.
Coach Kenny Young got the most out of his talent this season and this may have been his best coaching job yet. The talent wasn’t supposed to be there, but the Irish made it work.
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Sallisaw’s defense was extremely good and in excellent condition to last that deep into the 4th quarter before starting to weaken. Sallisaw success can be attributed specifically to their d-line because their performance suppressed the McGuinness passing game and shut down two 4th down and short attempts. Then Oberste for his ability to keep plays alive. This was the first game since the 2008 championship game for the Irish that a single player not being on the field made the difference. Against Glenpool, it was Jay Lester out with a ACL injury that severely weakened the run defense. For this Sallisaw game, it was the absence of Sam Crabtree with the broken collarbone. Ever since Weatherford leading up to Friday night, Crabtree’s absence wasn’t much of a factor because of quality depth in mutiple positions for McGuinness. However, with the caliber in which Sallisaw is playing at, his skill at d-back and receiver was noticably missing. Crabtree in the game and Wiley doesn’t deliver the numbers, and there are at least two Sallisaw “3rd and longs” that are not completed. In the receiver role, Crabtree forces a change in defensive scemes that opens up others as well as himself..not to mention LaRone isn’t on the field as much on the defensive side. When the Sallisaw coach called McGuinness on Wednesday to see if Crabtree was going to be playing, I believe it tells the story of the missing piece to McGuinness’quarter file game.