A strange thing happened to Rick Comer on the way to a coaches meeting at Renton High School Monday night: He realized he didn’t need to be there.

“I almost walked into a coaches meeting that wasn’t even for our season,” the Renton boys basketball coach said. “It feels odd to not still be discussing basketball. Very odd.”

Comer should be excused; the offseason hasn’t come this early for the Indians since 2002. The early part of every March for the past six years has been spent poring over scouting reports and preparing a strategy for the 3A state tournament.

The six-year run is the longest in Renton High’s history (the Indians made the 4A tournament five times in a row from 1963-1967) and it ends after one of the most promising Indian regular seasons in recent history.

Renton swept the Seamount with a perfect 16-0 record and only picked up one loss in the regular season, a 58-57 contest to Bellevue (now 22-1 and heading to state) in early December.

But close losses and tough draws derailed the Indians’ train to state.

Renton fell to Enumclaw 55-49 in overtime in the Seamount/SPSL playoffs, giving the Indians the second seed to the bi-district tournament. That put Renton in line to play rival Foster in the first round in a winner-to-state game.

Renton beat Foster by three points in regulation and by six in overtime in the regular season. And as it often is, the third time was the charm for Foster, which topped Renton 55-54 in the playoffs.

The loss put Renton in a tough spot. The Indians needed to win at least two more games for a state berth. The first was against Columbia River.

Comer shook hands with Columbia River coach David Long before the game and both understood what the upcoming game meant. Both teams were in a tough place that neither expected to be in a few weeks before.

“We both laid eggs earlier in games,” Comer said. “We shouldn’t have been playiang each other at that particular joint.”

But that is exactly where the Indians and Chieftains were Feb. 28 at Mount Rainier High School. Battling in the second round of the bi-district tournament in loser-out game.

Columbia River led by one after the first quarter, four at the half and blew the game open with a 16-6 advantage in the third quarter. Renton couldn’t recover in the fourth.

“It was a great season and a tough ending… Every year there are good teams that don’t get to make it,” he said. “It’s an honor and a privilege to play at state and we didn’t get it done this year.”