Roland Wins First Playoff Game Since 1978

A lot has happened since 1978. There have been nine Presidential Elections and 15 different teams to win the Super Bowl. 18 different schools have won a College National Championship. One thing that hadn`t happened was the Roland Rangers winning a playoff game, until last Friday night.

“For the town and for the school, it was real important,” said quarterback Brooks Robertson. “It’s been 35 years since we’ve won a playoff game, so to get that I feel like it was super important for the school and the town as a whole.”

Roland had the second longest active streak in the state of Oklahoma without winning a postseason game, but things finally went the Rangers way.

 “It’s been 35 years since we’ve won a playoff game,” said head coach Jeff Streun. “We’ve been trying to get over the hump since I’ve been here, 11 years. We had lots of opportunities but this is the first time we got to get it done.”

Late surges have been nothing new for this Roland team. Roland needed a late burst to get by Heavener in week five and again in week eight against Spiro.

“I know that we are always a fourth quarter team,” said lineman Dalton O’Kelley. “We are always able to come out of in hole we are in. I saw that everybody was down but once we started scoring, we picked it up and we were ready to go.”

Roland’s nine wins is the most since the school won 10, all during the regular season in 2000. A lot of that credit can go to Robertson. The senior has accounted for more than 2,600 yards and 39 touchdowns. His numbers speak for themselves but it was his ability to handle the pressure that sparked the win.

“I got a little bit nervous,” said Robertson. “I’m not going to lie, I did. But we’ve kind of been a comeback team all year and we knew that they didn’t play real well all year in the second half. Being a comeback team and doing it before, I knew we had it in us.”

Roland will go for its second-straight playoff win Friday night at Claremore Sequoyah.