By Glen Miller/Staff Writer

Having emerged from the first five games of the District 5A-2 playoff chase with only two losses, El Reno High School’s football team stands in good position to end a five- year hiatus from the postseason.

“It’s far from being over, but we are winning and that is the good thing,” El Reno head coach Dal Nichols said.

El Reno’s last playoff appearance came in 2000 after finishing second in the district race to Carl Albert on tiebreaker points.

The Indians went on to post 11 wins that season and reach the 5A semifinals before bowing out to Ada by a 7-6 score.

Since then the Indians have won only 10 district games over five years and no more than three in any given season.

That, however, could change this season as El Reno is 3-2 in the league standings with two games to play.

“We need to win out and that’s the way we are approaching it,” Nichols said.

“We want to control our own destiny and not have to rely on other things to happen. If we win out we are in third place no matter what.”

In a crazy playoff picture that has four teams battling for the final two playoff spots, El Reno is currently tied for third with Woodward.

According to Oklahoma Secondary Schools Activities Association rules, two-way ties are settled by head-to-head results and not tiebreaker points.

El Reno defeated Woodward last week 7-6 and currently has a minus 9 tiebreaker points to a positive 21 for the Boomers.

“We’re winning but not winning by enough points to get a safety net to work with,” Nichols said. “We scored one point against Woodward and five against Noble and that sort of put is in a bind.”

Everyone is chasing Carl Albert and Guthrie, who lead the district with 5-0 records and deadlocked in the tiebreaker points with a positive 75. Those two teams play Friday night in Guthrie. El Reno’s two losses have been to those frontrunners.

Noble and Southeast are nipping at El Reno’s heels with 2-3 records, but the Indians hold the head-to-head advantage on the Bears. Noble is even in tiebreaker points, while Southeast has a minus 12 points. Both Harrah and John Marshall are out of the postseason picture at 0-5, but could play the spolier. Harrah hosts Southeast in week 10 and El Reno travels to John Marshall for a Thursday night finale.

However, before that happens, Southeast visits El Reno Friday night in a key game for both schools.

“We started trying to figure things out and how it all could happen,” Nichols said. “Southeast thinks they need to win out to make the playoffs, and they have Harrah the final week, so they believe this game with us is for all the marbles.”

If the Vikings, a 36-18 winner over John Marshall Thursday night, should beat El Reno then it becomes a four-way tie for third and fourth place – that is if Noble prevails over Woodward. A Boomers win, coupled with an EHS loss, drops the Indians into fifth place behind WHS and Southeast.

Then it becomes a must-win for El Reno at John Marshall and then a 24-hour waiting game to see if Guthrie can beat Woodward and Carl Albert prevail over Noble.

“If it comes down to a tie it goes to points and then it becomes a chess match from there,” Nichols said. “We’ve got three points on Southeast right now, so we could still lose by less than three points and still make it.”

Nichols said he hopes his players can see they are still in the thick of the playoff hunt and not hanging on to outside hopes as in seasons past.

“We talked about this going into the Harrah game that we needed to win and get our 15 points as well,” Nichols said. “We played pretty well and I hope that will spark us.”

Nichols said the points system for tiebreakers dies affect how he and his staff approach a game.

“It changes the game to an extent. It forces you to go out and try and hammer things in and get a big enough lead that you can shigft into cruise control,” Nichols said. “You don’t pull your starters as quickly so that you can cover your tail.”

RELATED STORY: El Reno uncorks offense on Harrah