Sports

So just how big was El Reno High School’s five-point win over Ardmore last week as far as the playoff picture for District 5A-1?

Once thought out of the playoff hunt after a 39-point loss to Elgin to open league play, El Reno has won two of the four games since to climb into a three-way tie for fourth place.

The top four teams in each district earn postseason passes, with El Reno sitting at 2-2 along with Noble and Duncan. The Indians own the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Bears and will host the Demons Oct. 28.

Slower times and a stout field greeted El Reno High School runners at the 2022 Suburban Conference Cross Country Championships.

El Reno was unable to field a full team for either the boys or girls divisions, with only six varsity runners taking to the course at Carl Albert High School in Midwest City.

The Indians did have two runners in the boys and girls junior varsity races.

The varsity boys were led by Matthew Tofpi with a time of 20 minutes and 28.01 seconds over the 5-kilometer (3.1-mile) course, earning him a 31st-place finish.

ARDMORE – The third time really is the charm.

After losing two games earlier this year in the final minute, El Reno High School’s football team came up with a fourth-down stop with 32 seconds left to help preserve a 20-15 win over Ardmore.

With its first road victory of the season, El Reno moved to 2-5 overall and 2-2 in the District 5A-1 standings.

“This was a very close game and we had to win this in order to have any shot at the playoffs. I think we all (defense) took it to heart after a tough third period and we had to bounce back from that.

Even the sidelines reporter, far right, was shocked that Oklahoma State’s Bryson Green was able to make this catch against Texas Tech last week in the Cowboys 41-31 win over the Red Raiders.
 

OKLAHOMA CITY – Unforced errors in three critical areas came back to haunt El Reno High School’s volleyball team in a 3-0 loss to No.16 Santa Fe South in the semifinals of the Class 5A Region 1 Championships.

The 25-21/25-12/25-11 loss to the St. Bernards ended El Reno’s season with an 11-17 record and extended the school’s longest hiatus away from the state tournament in any sport.

El Reno had made the regional finals the past two seasons but the Indians have not qualified for state since their lone appearance in 1993.

EDMOND – The strong hitting that carried Calumet High School to the 2022 Class B Fall State Baseball Championships left the Chieftains when it was needed the most.

Calumet defeated fifth-ranked Boswell 5-4 in the state quarterfinals, but fell in the semifinals to eventual state champion Fort Cobb/Broxton by a 12-2 margin.

It was Calumet’s second trip to state in school history, the first coming in 1975. The loss to the Mustangs, the 13th-ranked foe faced in the final 17 games of the fall campaign, ended the Chieftains season with a 26-5 record.

The 1-5 Indians were back on the road Friday night at Ardmore in a key District 5A-1 battle for playoff aspirations.

With four games left in the regular season, El Reno is 1-2 in district games and tied with Duncan and Noble for fourth place, while Ardmore is tied for fifth.

El Reno’s junior high football teams played their final home games of the 2022 season last week against Noble in Suburban Conference action.

The seventh-grade team improved to 2-4 on the season with a 36-0 shutout of the Bears after getting a pair of 30-yard touchdown runs from Leo Willis in the first period
and a 4-yard touchdown from Brent Parker before half.

Playing through 41-degree temperatures and wind speeds in double digits, Redlands Community College’s golf team wrapped up its fall slate with a fourth-place finish at the 2022 NJCAA Women’s National Preview.

Playing the Buffalo Dunes Golf Course in Garden City, Kan., the Cougars posted a 36-hole total of 616 (303/313) to beat Iowa Western (637) and Coffeyville (875) community colleges.

Redlands was eight strokes out of third but well off the winning pace of 586 by Odessa College, Texas.

Redlands Community College’s soccer team ended a tough four-match stretch over seven days with a 3-0 loss to undefeated and league-leading Seminole State College, ranked third in the nation.

The loss gave SSC the season sweep over the Cougars but the match was scoreless at half and showed marked improvement for Redlands – which lost to the Trojans 9-0 less than a month earlier.

It was just the sixth time in 13 matches for SSC to be held to under five goals.