The Holdenville Wolverines have been good the past few years. One of the consequences of becoming one of the elite teams in your class involves scheduling. The teams who have been on the schedule for years seem to shy away from scheduling the tough teams in their class. Holdenville has reached that level and it’s going to show on the 2026 schedule. The Wolverines open the season during zero week at Vian. The Vian Wolverines made it to the state finals last year where they were defeated by Adair 34-29. Holdenville traveled to Adair in the quarter-finals and Adair won 20 -14. Adair finished the season with a 12-2 record. Holdenville posted a 10-2 record. The game will be played during “Zero Week”. “ Zero Week” is a week earlier than the traditional opening week. It was formulated to allow for easier scheduling. Playing during zero week leaves a week open - without a game- in midseason.

The Oklahoma Secondary School Activity Association has set aside June 27-July 5 as the traditional mid-summer break. All member schools have to play by the following rules: No Coach Contact: Coaches and Sponsors may not have contact with secondary-level enrolled or pre-enrolled students for coaching, teaching, training or instruction for OSSAA-

The OSSAA has adopted a Extreme Heat Policy and all schools are required to follow the Extreme Heat Guide Lines EXTREME HEAT POLICY The OSSAA recognizes that exertional heat related illness is the leading cause of preventable death in high school students participating in activities. The Board adopted the following policies: • All athletic coaches are required to view A Guide to Heat Acclimatization and Heat Illness Prevention at www.NFHSLearn.

The Wolverine football program saw steady improvement during Butch Rawls tenure as the Holdenville High School Head Coach. Rawls had put in the time as an understudy to his predecessor, Scott Turner, and when it was his turn to take over the reins of the program he didn’t disappoint.

The Wolverine Summer Pride program is thriving! There are more athletes attending the strength and conditioning sessions than ever before and that should translate into an excellent 2026-2027 sports season. Coach Barker’s guys are filling the weight room every time the doors open and there were 45 girls that attended the first summer pride session. The athletes are putting in the work and things are shaping up for a productive sports season.( Is that a pun?)

Barker Optimistic After Spring Drills Holdenville Head Football Coach, David Barker, expressed his enthusiasm after putting the 2026 Wolverines through a series of Spring drills. The Wolverines finished their spring workouts with a team camp at Dibble and according to the folks who were there, Holdenville was the best team on the field.

Transfer Rule Explained OSSAA Executive Director, David Jackson, send out the following email to all the state’s high schools in an effort to explain the new transfer legislation that was signed into law by Governor Stitt. Dear Administrators, As the Governor signed HB 2153 into law, it was reported that by repealing the section of law that requires a sit-out period for transfer students, the one year sit out period was eliminated.

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The Holdenville Wolverines traveled to Cashion last weekend for the regional track meet and two Wolverines placed high enough to qualify for state. KylieRae Leftwich threw the discus 108 feet and three inches and that was good enough to place third in the 3A Girls Division. Chris Palomera threw the discus 118 feet and 8 inches. Palomera’s throw put him in third place in the 3 A Boys competition. Both Leftwich and Palomera have qualified to throw at the State Meet In Catoosa on Friday.