Sports

El Reno High School’s wrestling team passed its biggest classification test of the season last week, defeating fourth-ranked Guthrie Bluejays 51-27.

The Indians, who hold the top spot in the same Class 5A poll, earned their first win of the year against a team on the same classification and fourth against a top 15 squad in five tries.

Guthrie led only once with a 5-0 win over EHS’ Terry Guzman (106) before El Reno got a forfeit win at 113 pounds from Foxx Kurtz.

Kylar Kurtz (120) followed with a 1:06 fall over Allyn Orndoff.

For the fifth time in six years, Calumet High School’s boys basketball team returned from the Alex Longhorn Classic with the championship trophy after defeating Class A’s 15th-ranked Cyril 58-48.

Calumet, ranked seventh in Class B, improved to 14-1 on the year with its 12th straight win. The Chieftains defeated Riverside Indian School’s junior varsity (90-28) and Mountain View-Gotebo (74-34) to reach the finals.

Over the three-game set, Calumet scored 222 points, 74 per game, while allowing 110 total or 36.6 per outing.

The Three Rivers Conference Championship will remain in the hands of the Okarche High School’s girls basketball team for a fourth straight year following a 61-54 win over Oklahoma Bible Academy.

Okarche, on a four-game win streak, beat Crescent (67-29) and Cashion (54-29) to reach the title game. The Class A’s ninth-ranked Warriors are 11-4 on the season.

For the three games, Okarche had 182 points on offense, 60.6 per game, and allowed 112 points or 37 per outing.

CALUMET – Jacob Mayfield wanted his Calumet High School boys basketball team to work on perimeter shooting heading into the second half of the season.

“If we can get it going from the perimeter, we will be tough to beat,” said Mayfield.

Geary got a firsthand look at the Chieftains offense with that perimeter game clicking as Calumet knocked down 16 3-pointers en route to a 117-28 rout of the Bison in Washita Valley Conference action.

Calumet, ranked seventh in Class B, improved to 11-1 on the season with its ninth straight win.

CALUMET – Senior Allie Harris sparked three multi-point breakaways as Calumet High School’s girls basketball team greeted the 2023 portion of its schedule with a 68-24 win over Geary.

The win was the fourth in a row for the Chieftains, who improved to 8-4 on the season and 4-1 in the Washita Valley Conference standings.

Geary led the contest 10-6 before Harris sparked the first 11-0 break with two free throws at the 2:18 mark of the first period.

El Reno senior Emma Patswald (center with vest) recently signed an NJCAA letter of intent with Redlands Community College for shooting sports under head coach Shelby Skaggs.

Patswald has been a member of the El Reno shooting sports program for six years and the Canadian County 4-H Shotgun Team for five years.

After losing the opening weight, El Reno High School’s wrestling team reeled off 11 straight wins to help spark a 57-12 victory over Class 4A’s 11th-ranked Weatherford.

The Indians, the top-ranked team in Class 5A, improved to 4-1 on the season. The Eagles were the fourth top 15 opponent that El Reno has faced this season, posting a 3-1 record.

Okarche High School's boys basketball team tuned up for this weekend’s Three Rivers Conference Championship run with an 81-27 road win over Cordell.

The Warriors, ranked sixth in Class A, improved to 11-1 on the season with their 11th straight win.

Okarche’s offense exploded on the Blue Devils for 32 points in the first period before adding a pair of 20-point efforts over the next two periods for the 54-point blowout.

While giving players five days off before getting back to work in 2023 might seem a bold move to some critics, El Reno High School boys basketball coach Rodney Haydon has one simple response.

“The guys have earned it,” said Haydon.

Indeed, the Indians have earned some rest after posting their best season start since 2018 with a 6-1 record and a No.4 ranking in the last Class 5A poll before the holiday break.

However, the work did not end for El Reno with its 54-47 cross-county rivalry win over seventh-ranked Piedmont.

Jennifer Douglas has never mixed words when it comes to losing games.

“Of course I want to win. Of course I was mad we lost. I’m never OK with losing,” said Douglas.

However, the veteran El Reno High School girls basketball coach knows that her team can learn a lot from the back-to-back losses going into the holiday break.

“We lost to Choctaw, which is top four in Class 6A and to Piedmont, which was ranked 11th at the time in Class 5A, and we feel we should have been higher because we ranked them in the top six.