At midnight Saturday, Oklahoma high school football left the field and went straight to the coin toss.
Three teams - Liberty, Central Sallisaw and Gore - were locked in a three-way tie for third place in District A-II-3, and after every tiebreaker had been used up, the final call came down to a simultaneous flip outside Catfish Round Up, just off Interstate 40 at Exit 200 outside Seminole, east of Oklahoma City.
The result was as strange as it sounds. Central Sallisaw and Liberty both landed on tails.
Gore came up heads. That sent Central Sallisaw and Liberty into next week’s A-II playoffs and ended Gore’s season.
The flip was arranged after an email surfaced through T.J. Eckert, an anchor at Tulsa station KJRH, noting that the decision would be made at Catfish Round Up. Once the games were finalized Friday night, the coin toss was officially held and streamed live on the OSSAA’s Facebook page.
Each school’s head coach was there with OSSAA Associate Director Trinity Johnson. The coaches flipped coins at the same time, with each coin marked with the school’s primary color. The two coins that matched would advance, and the odd one out would be done for the year.
In Oklahoma, with the exception of Class 6AI and 6AII, only the top four teams from each district reach the postseason. When three teams are tied for third, one of them is going home.
This wasn’t the first time the state has had to settle things this way. In the email Eckert shared, the coin flip was described as the fourth time in more than 30 years that it had happened.
The setup had a little history to it, too. A similar late-night coin toss in Texas in 1988 involved Odessa Permian, Midland Lee and Midland High, and that scene later became part of Friday Night Lights, Buzz Bissinger’s 1989 book and the 2004 film based on it.
In that case, heads fell for Permian and Midland Lee, while Midland High got tails and was eliminated. The movie used Abilene Cooper instead of Midland High.
Texas saw another one last year, when Amarillo High, Lubbock High and Amarillo Caprock met at a convenience store in Plainview to decide the final playoff spot in 5A Division I. Amarillo High won that toss and advanced, even though the school had been forced to vacate six wins for using an ineligible player.
The Oklahoma tie was created by Friday night’s results. Liberty entered the night alone in third place, but fell 63-8 to Talihina, the defending A-II state champion, which finished 10-0. Regent Prep earned the No. 2 seed behind Talihina.
Central Sallisaw and Gore were tied for fourth before kickoff. Central beat Porter 52-14, while Gore rolled past Mounds 49-0. Those wins left the district with a three-way tie for third.
The first tiebreaker was head-to-head. Gore had beaten Central, lost to Liberty, and Liberty had lost to Central.
After that came point differential. Teams can gain or lose no more than 15 points in a single game.
Liberty entered with 30 points, but its loss to Talihina by at least 15 dropped it to 15. Central and Gore both started at zero and each earned 15 after winning by at least 15, leaving all three teams tied again.
That pushed the district all the way to the coin flip.
Because Central held the head-to-head win over Liberty, the Tigers got the No. 3 seed and will play at Woodland in next week’s opening round. Liberty, seeded fourth, will face Ketchum.
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