At Saturday at midnight, three Oklahoma high school football teams learned their postseason fate the old-fashioned way: a coin toss outside a restaurant near Exit 200 on Interstate 40.
The unusual finish came after Liberty, Central Sallisaw and Gore finished in a three-way tie in District A-II-3, leaving the Oklahoma high school football playoffs to be decided after all tiebreakers were exhausted. With only the top four teams from each district advancing in the state’s playoff system, the tie had real consequences. Two teams moved on to the A-II playoffs, while one season ended on a random draw.
The coin flip officially took place on Friday night after the games were finalized, but the result did not become clear until midnight Saturday. OSSAA Associate Director Trinity Johnson met with the three head coaches and oversaw the process, helping settle a situation that had no more regular-season math left to solve.
How the decision was made
The setup was simple, even if the stakes were not. Liberty, Central Sallisaw and Gore were locked in a three-way tie for third place in District A-II-3, and the playoff picture could not be settled by the usual methods. In a district where the top four teams qualify, that meant a coin flip was needed to determine which two teams would continue into the A-II playoffs and which team would be left out.
That is the kind of finish high school football rarely offers, especially with a postseason berth on the line. The final call turned on a coin instead of another quarter, another tiebreaker or another scoreline.
The reaction
One of the first public signs that the tiebreaker was coming was a brief message from T.J. Eckert: “Just got this email. Hell yes. Let’s all meet at the Catfish Round Up. #OKPreps”
It was a fitting response to a night that moved quickly from Friday night results to a midnight resolution. For Liberty, Central Sallisaw and Gore, the outcome was more than a quirky story. It decided who gets another week of football and who starts looking ahead to next season.
In a playoff system built to reward consistency, District A-II-3 still ended with one of the most unpredictable conclusions possible. After every standard tiebreaker was used, the coin flip became the final answer.
