Irish vs. Sallisaw (Last Year Rewind)...

By Robert Przybylo
BPrzybylo@opubco.com

Bishop McGuinness (9-2) vs. Sallisaw (10-1)
When: 7:30 p.m. Friday
Where: Sallisaw (I’ll be there)

If this year’s game is half as good as last year’s second-round game between McGuinness and Sallisaw where the Irish won on a big TD reception by Gabe Ikard, I will be a content Boneman. Here’s to hoping I don’t get lost, but I probably will.

Ikard’s catch lifts McGuinness Irish in thriller over Sallisaw
By Charles Ward, Special Correspondent

Gabe Ikard is a really, really good tight end.

And maybe, as might be suspected of a Bishop McGuinness Fighting Irish, he was just a little bit lucky during the Irish’s 33-30 win over Sallisaw on Friday night in the second round of the Class 4A football playoffs.

Ikard found himself open with about half a minute remaining to play, only to watch a Ryan Randolph pass bounce off a defender — and into his hands.

One nifty move, a stiff arm and 75 yards later, Ikard found himself in the end zone with a touchdown to win the game and erase a furious, fantastic comeback by Sallisaw.

“It bounced, and I said, ‘Where’s the ball?’ ” Ikard said of the score. “I looked right up, and it was right in my hands, and all I had to do was run.”

Matt Oberste and Phillip Leffler almost wrote a different ending for the game, one that would have made the Sallisaw (10-2) faithful much happier. Leffler hauled in a 32-yard lob from Oberste in the corner of the end zone with 50 seconds remaining.