Elgin routs Sallisaw, reaches state semifinals

ELGIN—It is hard not to be captivated watching Elgin’s powerful offensive line blow defenders off the line of scrimmage, however, Friday it was one of the little guys, 5-6, 135-pound Brice Martin, who came up with a critical interception right before halftime to give the Owls a big spark that set the wheels in motion for a 49-6 victory over Sallisaw in a Class 4A quarterfinal contest.

The No. 1-ranked Owls were nursing a tense 14-6 lead late in the second quarter when the Black Diamonds tried to go deep but Martin got a great break on the ball, made the interception and returned the ball to the Sallisaw 28-yard line.

Elgin quarterback Tres Lorah hit tight end Adam Eaton in the left flat and he took the ball to the 16 before being shoved out of bounds with a first down. From there it was Ritson Meyer time as the powerful junior back broke a couple of tackles and bulled his way to the 2-yard-line.

He got those two yards on the next play and Adan Delgado booted the first of seven perfect PAT kicks and it was 21-6 at halftime and the Owls were on their way to the big playoff win.

“That Brice Martin interception right before halftime was huge,” Elgin head coach Chalmer Wyatt said. “He gets the interception and gives us great field position and we punch it in. Being up 21-6 is a lot better than 14-6. We had a few mistakes in the first half but we did a good job at halftime of making a few adjustments and then went out and kept the pressure on in the third quarter.

“We gave Tres (quarterback Lorah) good protection and he started making some good throws. I think he was a little nervous early when he missed a few throws he usually makes. But we just kept putting the pressure on them and made the most of our chances on offense.”

The win pushes the Owls to 12-0 on the season and into the semifinals in two weeks at a time and place that the OSSAA will announce this weekend. The opponent will be Wagoner which blanked Clinton, 29-0, in another quarterfinal game Friday at Wagoner.

The game had a weird start with the Owls fumbling the ball away on the opening kickoff only to see Sallisaw give it right back with a fumble of its own.

Elgin settled down and moved 92 yards to score on its first offensive possession, taking 13 plays to cover that distance, the final three on a short run by Meyer. Delgado kicked the PAT.

The visitors took the ensuing kickoff at their own 34 and used 12 plays to score on a 14-yard passing play. The snap on the PAT attempt was bad and it wound up being blocked for a 7-6 Elgin lead.

Elgin also got hands on a Sallisaw punt just minutes later and that gave the Owls a short 33-yard field and they proceeded to score on the sixth play of the drive, a 3-yard Meyer TD run.

That set the stage for Martin’s big interception and the 21-6 halftime lead.

Elgin’s defense was in command from that point as Martin got his second interception on Sallisaw’s first possession of the third quarter, however, the Owls gave the ball right back on another fumble. It didn’t matter as on the second Sallisaw play, Josh Adesola  timed his break on the ball to perfection, getting an interception to set up another TD drive.

This drive covered 46 yards and the payoff came on a perfectly-executed bootleg pass from Lorah to Kason Meyer.

“That was one of the plays we felt was open when we were discussing our offense at halftime,” Elgin offensive coordinator Adam Castro said after the win. “Tres threw that ball perfectly and we had great protection.”

After that the Owls were near perfect. They had a 73-yard TD drive late in the third quarter with R. Meyer breaking several tackles on a 47-yard touchdown run to boost the lead to 35-6.

Sallisaw picked up one first down on its next series but eventually was forced to punt. This time the Owls moved 71 yards to score on just three plays, the payoff coming when Lorah fired a perfect strike to sophomore Cordae Richie who caught the pass in stride and completed the 60-yard dandy.

The defense tacked on the final score as Brody Morrison picked off a Sallisaw pass and returned it 60 yards for the final TD of the game.

Now the Owls get to do something the program has never done and that’s practice on Thanksgiving day and prepare for the program’s first semifinal contest.

“Our defense really played well with guys like Shay (Spencer) and Phillip Pebeahsy really having some big hits,” Wyatt said. “We will probably practice in the mornings and also take a step back and look at what we might need to work on. We had some things happen tonight that we don’t usually do like a bad snap on a punt and the turnovers. But these guys just keep making big plays and they always play with a lot of emotion.”