MANNFORD — There are Friday nights when nothing works.
The offense sputters. The defense gets stuck on the field. It feels like the other team suddenly has 15 players. Now, the popcorn’s getting stale, the butter coagulates. Somewhere around halftime, the guy ringing the cowbell has disappeared.
Friday was one of those nights in Mannford.
Undefeated Sallisaw arrived and wasted approximately no time introducing itself, scoring 21 points in the first quarter on the way to a 42-0 win over the Pirates.
By halftime, it was 35-0. The math maths, five TDs in the first half The loss dropped Mannford to 3-2 overall and 0-2 in District 4A-4 after a season that started with three straight wins. Sallisaw improved to 5-0 overall and 2-0 in district play.
This one was never particularly interested in suspense.
Sallisaw quarterback Kase Adams completed 14 of 17 passes for 156 yards and a touchdown and added 36 yards and another score on the ground. He completed better than 82 percent of his throws without an interception, which is the sort of efficiency that makes defensive coordinators stare silently at film Sunday afternoon morning while their pizza goes cold.
Running back K. Hill added two rushing touchdowns, while B. Nickell caught five passes for 63 yards and a score.
And because apparently Sallisaw’s special teams felt its offense needed a break, freshman K. Johnson returned a kickoff 97 yards for another touchdown.
Sallisaw finished with 258 yards of offense — 180 passing and 78 rushing — while spreading the scoring among five players. The Black Diamonds scored three touchdowns in the first quarter, two more in the second and another in the third before finally allowing the scoreboard operator a little fourth quarter peace and quiet.
Mannford, meanwhile, found success moving the football on the ground but couldn't punch it in and turn it into points.
The Pirates were credited with 169 rushing yards, while quarterback Kayden Leslie was held without a completion in four attempts and threw an interception. Sophomore DJ Sanderson provided Mannford's biggest offensive spark, running six times for 68 yards — better than 11 yards per carry.
That's the particularly aggravating part of a night like Friday.
Mannford wasn't completely incapable of moving the football. The Pirates ran for nearly 170 yards. There were pieces there. They just never assembled into anything resembling a scoring drive.
It was like getting all the IKEA parts out of the box, finding the Allen wrench, but somehow ending up with a fertilizer spreader.
The shutout was Mannford's first of the season and came one week after a 37-6 loss at Poteau. Before district play began, the Pirates had looked considerably different.
Mannford opened the year by beating Catoosa 46-12, shutting out Cleveland 40-0 and defeating Bristow 39-27. Through those first three games, the Pirates averaged more than 41 points per game.
District football has since arrived with all the subtlety of a cinder block through a plate glass window.
Poteau and Sallisaw have outscored Mannford 79-6 in the Pirates' first two district games.
That doesn't erase the 3-0 start, but it does rather aggressively underline the difference between September and October football in District 4A-4.
Mannford still has weapons. Senior JJ Hindsman entered the week as the Pirates' leading rusher and remains one of the district's most productive players, while junior Lyndon Hamilton has been among Oklahoma's statistical leaders in tackles this season. The Pirates also came into the year with an experienced offensive line and a Wing-T offense that rushed for more than 3,000 yards last season.
None of that had weight Friday. Sallisaw took control immediately and never gave Mannford the opportunity to make the evening remotely interesting.
The post season is still within reach, but the Pirates have to do what football teams have been doing since somebody first invented organized competition… forget Friday… the sooner the better.
Mannford travels to Hilldale this week for another district game. The Hornets are 2-3 overall and, like Mannford, 0-2 in district play after losses to Ada and Stilwell.
So Friday in Muskogee isn't exactly a playoff game. But for two teams sitting at 0-2 in the district, it may feel like one. The first one to flinch might miss the post season.