Sports

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.

After dropping back-to-back games to frontrunner Carl Albert, El Reno High School’s softball team looks to have wrapped up third place in the District 5A-1 standings with a 15-5 win over Duncan.

El Reno closed out league play with an 8-6 record after the win over the Demons and improved to 12-18 on the season. The Indians lost games to the Titans by scores of 17-0 and 17-3.

Nearly a year removed from blowing a 20-point halftime lead in a shootout loss to the Noble, El Reno High School's football team found itself in an eerily similar situation Friday night.

El Reno held a 27-0 lead over the Bears at the half and opened the third period with the ball, close to the same scenario as the 2019 meeting.

“That was too eerie and I told the kids in the lockerroom not to forget what happened last year. We needed to stop that trend,” said El Reno head coach Chuck Atchison.

His team listened.

El Reno High School’s softball team snapped its four-game losing streak last week by stringing together three straight road wins in District 5A-1 play.

“We decided to come out and play this week. We want to be playing our best softball at the end of the season and I’m proud of the girls for sticking with the process and playing hard.

“Now they are seeing that hard work come to fruition,” said El Reno head coach Kylee Webb.

El Reno improved to 11-16 on the season with a 13-4 win over Lawton MacArthur to split the season series with the Highlanders.

El Reno High School’s cross country team had one of its better showings of the fall recently, taking part in the 2020 Turkey Creek Classic hosted by Hennessey.

Held at Turkey Creek Golf Course, the girls team was represented by Kaylee Pawnee, who ran the 3,200-meter course in a time of 19 minutes and 51 seconds to take 81st overall.

The El Reno boys team took part in the 5-kilometer, 3.1 mile course, led by a 32nd-place effort by Jacob Long with a time of 20:01.

El Reno, ranked No.5 in Class 5A, was scheduled to play at Noble Thursday after having its match with Harding Charter Prep canceled.

CALUMET - Two teams trending in the right direction before the start of the district round of the fall playoffs collided last week as Calumet High School’s baseball team defeated Union City 6-3 in the Canadian County Bedlam Series.

Calumet, the winner of four of its last six games, improved to 11-9 on the season. The Chieftains were coming off a runner-up finish in the recent Hammon tournament.

Ripping off 36 hits within a 24-hour period, Calumet High School’s softball team closed out the regular season last week with three straight wins to snap the Chieftains six-game losing streak.

Calumet improved to 13-11 on the season with a doubleheader sweep of Verden by scores of 12-11 and 10-3. A day later the Chieftains downed Okeene 10-2.

The barrage of hits was led by Abby Nitzel with two doubles and six hits total. Sisters McKinley and Presley Stilley had five hits each, with McKinley getting a double and Presley a triple.

Starting Friday night there will be 32 schools in Class 5A, including El Reno High School’s football team, all with the same record and goal in mind – getting to the playoffs.

Win-loss records to this point are tossed out the window as the start of district play begins and each squad is 0-0.

“It doesn't matter if you are 3-0 or 1-2 like we are, at the end of the day it’s a new season. We now have new chances and new opportunities and everything from here on counts,” said El Reno head coach Chuck Atchison.