No. 8 Sand Springs looks to win sixth-straight over No. 14 Ponca City Wildcats
/TE Dash Fleischman posts a block for former QB Hunter Greathouse in a 56-35 win over Ponca City last season. (Photo: Morgan Miller).
The No. 8 ranked Charles Page High School Sandites (3-2, 1-0) are headed to No. 14 Ponca City this Friday to take on the Po-Hi Wildcats (1-4, 1-0). Both teams are coming off wins, and both need to win this game to have a good shot at the playoffs.
Both Sand Springs and Ponca are coming off wins...
Ponca City started districts last weekend with their first win of the season. While Sand Springs came out on top of a 26-21 non-district thriller in Yukon (2-3), the Wildcats were winning a 14-12 upset against Bartlesville (0-5, 0-2).
Junior quarterback Caden Pennington had his best passing percentage of the season, completing six of seven throws for 58 yards. For the first time this year he didn't have an interception. He also carried eight times for 33 yards with one touchdown and a two-point conversion. Payton Scott bore most of the workload per usual, running the ball 33 times for 185 yards and three touchdowns to surpass the 1,000 yard mark for the season.
The special teams struggled, giving up two blocked point-after kicks and a blocked field goal, but the defense was sturdy and paved the way for victory with a fumble recovery and two goal-line stands as time ran out.
SEE RELATED: Defense paves the way to 26-21 victory at Yukon.
Ponca City came into their matchup with Bartlesville as the sixteen-point underdogs and the bottom ranked team in Class 6A-II. Surprising everybody, they held a 14-0 lead going into the fourth quarter. The Bruins battled back with two touchdowns, but missed an extra point and failed a two-point conversion.
Ponca was equally reliant on their defense for the win, recovering two fumbles and an interception in the third quarter, one of which led to their second touchdown.
Double-threat quarterback Justin Andrews passed 8-18-138-0 with one touchdown and ran the ball 25 times for 125 yards and the other touchdown.
Sand Springs has won its last five encounters with Ponca...
The Sandites have won their last five encounters with the Wildcats, all by healthy margins. Last season the Sandites won 56-35 and the last time the Wildcats won was 35-31 in 2011 when the Sandites went 3-7. The Sandites are 9-1 against Ponca in the decade that Dustin Kinard has led the program.
Josh Allen is in his sixth year at Ponca City and has yet to notch a win against the Sandites. Kinard is 58-56 with his program while Allen is 11-43 in Ponca. However, the Wildcats' win against Bartlesville was also their first in six years against the Bruins.
Sand Springs has a 24-18-1 record against the Wildcats overall. Sand Springs High School was 1-1-1 against Ponca City, and the Sandites are 23-17 since the town desegregated and build Charles Page.
Sand Springs has two five-win streaks against the Wildcats, but Ponca has the longest win streak at six-straight from 2000-2005 when the Sandites went a cumulative 13-47. Ponca's biggest win was 48-2 in 2003 and they have shut out the Sandites only once, 41-0 in 2004. The Sandites have shut out the Wildcats four times and their biggest win was 57-7 in 2013.
The two teams first met in 1952 in the Class A Playoffs. The Sandites were 8-1-1 under Head Coach Cecil Hankins going into the Thanksgiving Day Regional and were defeated 27-9. Ponca went on to get trounced 41-7 by the eventual State Champions from Ada in the Area playoff. In 1953 the two teams tied 7-7 and in 1954 quarterback Jerry Adair led the Sandites back from a 20-0 deficit to a 21-20 victory.
The two teams met again in 1961 and the Wildcats prevailed 35-6 over Travis Rhodes's Sandites. They didn't meet again until 1978 and they have played all 39 seasons since then. Sandite Pride has picked the Sandites as a 20-point favorite over Ponca.
Looking past Ponca...
The Sandites are halfway through the regular season, but just getting started in the most important stretch. With Sapulpa out of the way, the Sandites will likely only need two more wins to make the playoffs. If they play to the standard they've set in the past three games, they should get those wins against Ponca City and Bartlesville. Nothing is ever certain, however, and an off night with too many mistakes could easily put the underdogs ahead.
Two games that don't have a clear favorite are home games against Muskogee (2-3, 1-1) and Bixby (2-3, 1-0). Neither team is playing to the level they did last year, but both have coaches with State Championship wins on their resume. Bixby had a rough 2-3 start last year too, but still pulled together during Districts and ended up with a third-straight gold ball. Muskogee had their best season in a decade at 9-2 before falling in the semifinals.
Sand Springs beat Muskogee last year, but like Muskogee and Bixby, they had an experienced senior-laden team last year. The Sandites lost two games to Bixby last year, once on the road and once in the playoffs. The year before that they lost to Bixby in the State Title game, but shut the Spartans out 20-0 in the last home game of the season.
Likely the most difficult opponent the Sandites will face in their district is No. 1 Booker T. Washington (4-1, 1-0). In 2015 the Sandites split games with Booker T., losing in the regular season but winning in the playoffs. Last season the Sandites lost a close 17-12 regular season home game.
Sand Springs Individual Statistics 2017
Passing
25-57-297-4 Pennington, 2 TD
Receiving
4-96 Scott, 1 TD
9-67 Millican
2-47 Fleischman, 1 TD
3-37 K. Adcock
1-23 McCallie
4-21 King
1-4 Mock
1-2 Bratcher
Rushing
159-1074 Scott, 14 TD
17-175 Nortey, 1 TD
4-16 Edwards
4-14 McCallie
1-8 Mackey
23-5 Pennington, 1 TD
Tackles
46 Cramer
35 Edwards
32 Fleischman
18 Fain
17 Lyons
17 Mackey
12 Denton
12 Haley
10 Bratcher
9 Askew
9 Finch
6 L. Adcock
4 Moyer
3 Cartwright
3 Tarver
2 Wright
1 Britton
1 Mallory
1 McCallie
1 Mock
1 Evans
Tackles-For-Loss
5-21 Edwards
4-18 Lyons
4-9 Fain
3-18 Fleischman
3-11 Finch
2-10 Bratcher
2-6 Cramer
1-4 Askew
1-3 Moyer
Sacks
3-17 Lyons
2-18 Edwards
1-12 Fleischman
1-6 Finch
1-3 Fain
1-3 Bratcher
Forced Fumbles
1 K. Adcock
1 Denton
1 Lyons
1 Mackey
Fumble Recoveries
1-24 Mackey
1-2 Edwards
1 Askew
Interceptions
2-11 Askew
1-6 Cramer
1 Lyons
Breakups
3 Cramer
2 Lyons
2 Mackey
1 Bratcher
1 Shipman
1 Haley
Punts-AVG
16-36 Smith
Kicks-AVG
22-35 Weiser
1-51 Smith
Kick Return
5-118 Denton
3-91 Scott
2-30 Bratcher
1-28 Millican
1-14 Mackey
2-9 K. Adcock
PAT
13/16 Weiser
Field Goals
1/2 Weiser
Sand Springs vs. Ponca City
2016: Sandites 56-35 (H)
2015: Sandites 44-21 (H)
2014: Sandites 31-7 (A)
2013: Sandites 57-7 (H)
2012: Sandites 47-17 (A)
2011: Wildcats 35-31 (A)
2010: Sandites 35-21 (H)
2009: Sandites 31-10 (H)
2008: Sandites 45-42 (A)
2007: Sandites 21-19 (H)
2006: Sandites 21-0 (A)
2005: Wildcats 38-12 (H)
2004: Wildcats 41-0 (A)
2003: Wildcats 48-2 (A)
2002: Wildcats 41-22 (H)
2001: Wildcats 42-14 (A)
2000: Wildcats 28-10 (H)
1999: Sandites 26-0 (H)
1998: Sandites 19-7
1997: Sandites 20-6
1996: Sandites 35-16
1995: Wildcats 17-14
1994: Wildcats 30-14
1993: Wildcats 14-7
1992: Sandites 17-10
1991: Wildcats 21-13
1990: Sandites 28-0
1989: Sandites 22-15
1988: Sandites 20-0
1987: Sandites 14-13
1986: Wildcats 26-10
1985: Wildcats 14-13
1984: Wildcats 28-14
1983: Sandites 13-2
1982: Wildcats 28-12
1981: Sandites 31-24 *3OT
1980: Sandites 17-13
1979: Wildcats 30-9
1978: Sandites 25-18
1961: Wildcats 35-6 (H)
1954: Sandites 21-20
1953: Tied 7-7
1952: Wildcats 27-9 *Playoffs
