Talihina wins thriller over Fairland

Talihina wins thriller by scoring in the last minute as the Golden Tigers edged Fairland, 47-46, in a Class A-II football semifinal at Beggs Friday night.

Talihina advances to the championship game at the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond at noon Thursday against Hominy, a 44-21 winner over Allen in the other semifinal game.

Pocola

Pocola was not quite as fortunate in a Class A-I semifinal, losing to Tonkawa in its semifinal game, 37-12.

The Indians finish 10-3, losing to a school they defeated in the first round of the playoffs last season.

After Fairland scored and completed a two-point conversion with under a minute left, Talihina answered on a 66-yard touchdown pass from Landen Griffith to Noah Lloyd for a touchdown and Kaden Cossey added the extra point as the Golden Tigers edged Fairland, 47-46.

The Tigers had taken the lead with under two minutes left on a touchdown score from Griffith to Jake Sherer. The PAT failed and Fairland responded with another touchdown to take the lead with under a minute left before Talihina answered.

Talihina opened the scoring in the first quarter on a scoring play from Griffith to Cy Ammons.

After a Fairland touchdown and PAT, Griffith scored on a rushing touchdown to give Talihina the lead. The Owls scored a touchdown and made the PAT to go head 14-12 late in the first quarter.

Fairland increased its lead to 21-12 midway through the second quarter before Gavin Brown scored on a rushing touchdown and Griffith scored on the two-point conversion to narrow the deficit to 21-20.

The Owls scored again with less than a minute remaining in the second quarter to lead, 28-20 at halftime.

Fairland added a field goal to increase its lead to 31-20. Talihina answered with a touchdown pass from Griffith to Noah Lloyd, but the two-point conversion failed, leaving Fairland added 31-26.

The Owls scored again to increase the lead to 38-26 before Brown scored and the two-point conversion was good from Griffith to Cy Ammons, setting the stage to the late dramatics.

Talihina improved to 13-0 and will try to capture the school’s second state championship after losing to Woodland in last year’s championship game.

The Tigers’ only state championship came in 1966.