Seminole, Oklahoma: Midnight Coin Flip at a Catfish Restaurant Decides Two Playoff Spots

Three Oklahoma high school football coaches stood in the cold parking lot of a catfish restaurant at midnight and let a coin decide their seasons.

Gore coach Nathan McCurley, Sallisaw Central coach Jeremy Thompson and Liberty coach Nate Green drove to Seminole after their regular season finales on Friday, November 6, and met at Catfish Round Up at Exit 200 off Interstate 40, east of Oklahoma City. Their teams had finished in a three-way tie for third place in District A-II-3, and every tiebreaker on the list had failed to split them.

One flip settled it

With Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association associate director Trinity Johnson running the toss, each coach flipped a special coin marked with his school colors at the same time. Central Sallisaw and Liberty landed tails. Gore landed heads, the odd coin out, and the Pirates' season ended in the parking lot.

Only two of the three teams could advance. Outside Classes 6AI and 6AII, the top four teams in each Oklahoma district reach the playoffs, and Talihina and Regent Prep had already taken the top two spots in the district. The flip was streamed live on the OSSAA Facebook page.

How the tie happened

All three teams finished 6-4. Liberty entered Friday night alone in third place but lost 63-8 to Talihina, the defending Class A-II state champion, which finished the regular season 10-0. Central Sallisaw beat Porter 52-14, and Gore beat Mounds 49-0.

Head-to-head results could not separate them, because the three had beaten each other in a circle: Gore beat Central Sallisaw, Central Sallisaw beat Liberty, and Liberty beat Gore. Point differential came next, with a maximum of 15 points gained or lost in one game. Liberty dropped from 30 points to 15 in the Talihina loss, while Central Sallisaw and Gore each gained 15 in their wins, leaving all three tied at 15.

Fourth flip in more than 30 years

The OSSAA said a coin flip has been needed only four times in more than 30 years to settle a playoff tiebreaker. The scene had a famous echo from Texas, where Odessa Permian, Midland Lee and Midland High met for a midnight coin toss in 1988, a moment later told in the book and film Friday Night Lights.

Central Sallisaw took the No. 3 seed on its head-to-head win over Liberty and plays at Woodland in the first round next week. Liberty took the No. 4 seed and plays at Ketchum. Gore's season is over at 6-4, decided by a coin in a restaurant parking lot.