CPHS Football: Caden Pennington commits to Northeastern State University

/

Charles Page High School senior quarterback Caden Pennington recently announced his intentions to play collegiate football at Northeastern State University. Pennington was a two-year starter on the varsity team, leading the Sandites to an 8-13 record and one playoff appearance.

Pennington played one game as a freshman and made five appearances as a sophomore, all in relief of Hunter Greathouse. He earned the starting spot in 2017.

As a junior Pennington was 49-111-596-7 passing with five touchdowns, and 76-162 rushing with one score. His best performances were 6-12-145-1 with one touchdown against Putnam City West, and 9-21-151-0 with three touchdowns against Muskogee.

This past season Pennington became one of the best dual-threat QBs in the division with an 86-152-1168-6 passing performance and 149-729 running game. He scored fourteen touchdowns by air and thirteen on his feet.

Pennington put up triple-digit offensive performances in every game and scored in nine out of ten outings. His career-best passing performance was against Mansfield Summit when he threw 14-20-196-0 with two touchdowns. He also threw three touchdown passes against both Putnam City and Bartlesville.

His career-best performance came against Sapulpa when he scored seven total touchdowns. He was 8-9-123-0 passing for one score and 28-212 rushing for six touchdowns. He threw a career-long pass of sixty yards against Muskogee and had a career-long run of 61 yards against Sapulpa.

Altogether, Pennington was 138-268-1768-14 passing with nineteen career touchdowns, and 231-736 rushing with fourteen touchdowns and three two-point conversions, scoring 204 total points. He also had six punts for an average of 37 yards.

Northeastern State is an NCAA Division II program competing in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association. The team holds twenty-one conference championships and has made four NAIA Championship appearances with two national titles, most recently in 1994.

The RiverHawks went 0-11 last season and haven’t had a winning season since 2011. J.J. Eckert will be taking over the program in 2019, following a twelve-year stent at Kilgore College in Texas. Eckert amassed a 72-53 record with the Rangers, including three Southwest Junior College Football Conference Championships, two NJCAA Region 14 Championships, and five bowl game appearances. He is an NSU-alumni and quarterbacked the RiverHawks to NAIA title games in 1994 and 1995.

Sand Springs has sent several student athletes to the Northeastern State football program in recent years.

  • Isaiah Silversmith played nineteen games at NSU from 2015-2017, recording 29 tackles and one tackle for loss.

  • Terrance Dixon played 26 games from 2012-2014. He carried 219 times for 678 yards and eleven touchdowns, and had 48 receptions for 445 yards and a score. He also had two kick returns for 21 yards apiece.

  • Johnny Deaton quarterbacked the RiverHawks for ten games in 2012. He passed 152-318-1861-12 for ten touchdowns and carried 38 times for 115 yards and two scores.

  • Spencer Haff played tight end for NSU in 2013.

  • Shane Devers played three games in 2012, recording two receptions for fifteen yards and one tackle.