Sports

While it was postponed for 18 days due to COVID-19 complications, the much-anticipated showdown between El Reno High School and eighth-ranked Santa Fe South delivered cliffhanger results.

El Reno, the fifth-ranked team in the same Class 5A poll, battled back from deficits in the first two games to sweep the St. Bernards 3-0 by scores of 27-25/25-22/25-17.

The Indians improve to 20-5 on the year for a fifth straight season to reach double-digit wins. However, it’s the first time EHS has hit the 20-win mark under head coach Kristen Koehler.

Learning a lesson from the previous day, El Reno High School’s softball team shut down a seventh-inning threat last week to close out the home portion of its schedule with a 5-3 win over the Oklahoma City Broncos.

The win over the home-school program lifted El Reno to 13-19 on the season and came 24 hours after the Indians squandered a four-run lead in the seventh inning of a 10-9 loss to Piedmont.

Three players have been key stats producers for the Indians over four games.

The COVID-19 pandemic has played havoc with most sports in Canadian County for the regular season, but the virus ended up dealing Union City High School’s softball team a crazy playoff scenario.

Just days after beating Fletcher to close the regular season, the Tigers were supposed to join the Wildcats in Ninnekah for the Class A, District 27 Championship.

However, the Owls were forced to back out due to the virus, leaving Union City and Fletcher playing a best of three series for a spot in the regional round of the postseason.

It was rough going for both Union City and Calumet high schools in the recent Class A fall baseball playoffs, with the two county schools combining for just one win and 18 total hits.

Union City, ranked 20th in the state in the final regular-season poll, was playing in the District 10 Championships at 10th-ranked Amber-Pocasset. The Tigers defeated Glencoe 10-0 in the opener but dropped back-to-back games to the host by scores of 3-1 and 11-0.

Ludy Griggs’ team ends the season with a 17-5 record.

The Hunter Showdown, a new stop on the Southern Drag Boat Association’s 2020 racing schedule, brought some interesting boats, paint schemes and speeds to Lake El Reno over the weekend. The SDBA event was the fourth stop on the 2020 tour but it was the first time the nationally-recognized racing series has held an event in El Reno.

Year in and year out, there are very few games in the District 5A-1 lineup each week without some sort of playoff implications.

However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the length of the district schedule as well as the 2020 season as a whole still remains up in the air.

“It’s about to get crazy,” said El Reno head coach Chuck Atchison, whose team travels to Lawton Friday night to take on MacArthur.

Two games last week in the District 5A-1 lineup were canceled due to COVID-19 as Duncan, Lawton MacArthur, Altus and Capitol Hill did not play.

El Reno High School’s volleyball team, ranked fifth in Class 5A, moved one victory away from reaching the 20-win plateau last week with a 3-2 win over Noble in Suburban Conference action.

The 25-15/20-25/25-14/21-25/15-12 win lifted the Indians to 19-5 on the season and 2-1 in the conference standings.

El Reno won this match at the net on offense with 47 kills, led by 16 from Kadin Patterson, followed by Bailey Denwalt with 10. Madison Nichols led those in single digits with six kills, while Avery Peffer posted five.