Three Teams Deadlocked After Every Tiebreaker: A Midnight Coin Flip Decides Oklahoma Playoff Spots
SEMINOLE, Oklahoma — Just after midnight on November 7, three Oklahoma high school football teams had their playoff fates decided by a coin flip. Liberty, Central Sallisaw and Gore finished tied for third in District A-II-3, and after every tiebreaker in the book was exhausted, the three head coaches flipped coins simultaneously outside a restaurant near Exit 200 of Interstate 40 outside Seminole. Central Sallisaw's and Liberty's coins both landed tails while Gore's came up heads — Central Sallisaw and Liberty advance to next week's Class A-II playoffs, and Gore's season ended in this rarest of ways. Under Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association rules, only the top four teams in each district qualify outside Classes 6AI and 6AII, so a three-way tie for third guaranteed one team would be left out. Liberty, which had held sole possession of third, lost 63-8 to defending A-II champion Talihina on November 6; Central Sallisaw and Gore entered tied for fourth. By virtue of its head-to-head win over Liberty, Central Sallisaw takes the district's No. 3 seed and visits Woodland in the first round next week; Liberty is the No. 4 seed and faces Ketchum. OSSAA associate director Trinity Johnson was on hand to witness the flips.
Source: Sports Illustrated
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：橄榄球比赛抛硬币仪式（资料图）。美国陆军，公共领域。 / Photo: A football coin toss (file photo). U.S. Army, public domain.
