Amarillo makes Texas high school playoff from viral 'Friday Night Lights' coin flip

Contributing Writer
Amarillo makes Texas high school playoff from viral 'Friday Night Lights' coin flip image

Texas High School Football is held in such high prestige that it could only be placed alongside religion in terms of importance to those who call Texas home. For some, their entire lives lead up to playing Varsity Football in the Lone Star State, and on Saturday night, lives changed for two teams.

At the Toot'n Totum of Plainview, TX, two teams had their season come to an end in a parking lot, not on the field.

Lubbock High and Caprock both performed pretty poorly throughout the year, to the point where playoffs were never even in their sights. That was until Amarillo was forced to vacate six total wins because of an ineligible player.

Before the season began for Amarilo, they were told to complete a piece of required UIL documentation for a student-athlete. The problem? Amarilo played six total games with the ineligible player. It was a near-season-ending "unintentional, but ultimately consequential clerical oversight," as stated by Amarilo ISD in a statement.

Lubbock High sealed the three-way tie with a win over Lubbock Coronado. Despite Caprock's early-season victory over Lubbock High, all three teams tied in point differential.

In a three-way coin flip scenario, the way it's conducted is that a representative for each team will flip a coin at the same time as the others. Whichever coin lands and is the odd one out (such as one landing on tails while the other two land on heads) would be declared the winner and receive the final playoff spot.

This isn't the first time it's happened, either, as the scene from Friday Night Lights was originally based on a real-world scenario, in which Permian, Lee, and Midland High all flipped a coin for a playoff spot.

A truly heartbreaking way for a season and/or career to end for some players.

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Editorial Team