#4 Bartlesville dominates #5 Sandites on all fronts
/By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief
The #4 Bartlesville Bruins improved to 4-0, 1-0 Friday night in a 24-7 defeat of the Charles Page High School Sandites in a home district opener.
The Bruins have one of the best offenses in the state this year and the Sandites have one of the best defenses so it was expected to be a great matchup. Nobody expected the home team to take a 17-0 lead and utterly dominate the Sandites on both sides of the ball.
Sand Springs was held to a mere 7 first downs and 117 total yards, a far cry from the offensive beatdowns they put on Enid and Tulsa Hale.
Senior Runningback Jerron Hilger scored the first touchdown for the Bruins on a 2 yard carry and Garrett Meidl scored the PAT.
A 70 yard drive by the home team ended with Meidl landing a 32 yard field goal with 7 minutes left in the half to expand the Bruin lead to 10-0.
Four plays later, Sandite kicker Kasey Bales’s punt was blocked by Senior Tristan Crowder and the Bruins got the ball back in the Sandite red zone. A 20 yard pass to AJ Parker from QB Colton Penrod and an accompanying Meidl PAT gave Bartlesville the 17-0 advantage.
The Sandites were unable to manage a first down on their next drive and punted it away, but got a second chance at getting points on the board when Gage Fain managed a fumble recovery. Bartlesville wouldn’t allow it, however, and Crowder was the defensive star again as he picked off a pass from Hunter Greathouse in the Bruin endzone to finish the half.
Crowder is currently fielding scholarship offers from four different Division 1 schools.
Greathouse finally managed to score for the Sandites deep into the third quarter on a 2 yard keeper, and Cade Loomen’s PAT brought the score to 17-7.
On Bartlesville’s next drive the Sandite offense came out strong and Delvin Jordan sacked Penrod for a loss of 5 to end the third period and it looked like the visitors might be starting to rally, but a 35 yard pass to AJ Parker from Penrod on the next play put an end to that hope as the Bruins punched in the final score 24-7.
Bartlesville hasn’t had a 4-0 start since 2012, and one of those was a loss on the field that was won by forfeit later on in the season. The last time the Bruins beat Sand Springs by such a large margin was a 48-16 home victory in 2010.
Sand Springs falls to 2-1, 0-1 for the season and will next take on Claremore for homecoming. The Red Zebras put up a surprising 27 points against Bixby this week. Last year the Sandites shut out Claremore 17-0 at their homecoming, and are 29-8 in the series.
Bartlesville will take on Bixby in the biggest district matchup of the season thus far, and after Bixby’s performance tonight against Claremore, the Bruins’ prospects look good.
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