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.