CPHS Football Preview: Sandites travel to No. 5 Choctaw Friday

The Class 6A-II No. 7 ranked Charles Page High School football team (4-3, 2-2) will look to get back to its winning ways Friday night on the road, but they won’t have an easy opponent. No. 5 Choctaw (4-3, 3-1) has proven they can play with the best this season, but they have also let lesser-ranked teams hang far closer than they should have. Sand Springs will look for the upset at 7:00 p.m. at 14300 Northeast 10th Street in Choctaw.

Sand Springs started the season 4-1 but they lost their last two games convincingly. After a shocking 49-0 shut out at No. 6 Booker T. Washington (5-2) they stepped up against No. 1 Bixby (6-0) and only lost 51-20. Granted, it was 51-6 until garbage time, but the Sandites amassed 149 yards in second half action, compared to only 57 in the entire game against the Hornets. The defense also performed admirably, only allowing scores on six of fourteen possessions, forcing three punts and two turnovers on downs with one interception.

The Sandites won 21-17 against 5A No. 7 Sapulpa (5-2) in the season opener, a team that has scored 60+ points in three different games this season. They led 5A No. 1 Bishop Kelley (6-0) till the final minute of game before dropping a 28-24 heartbreaker. They dealt Arkansas 4A No. 1 Shiloh Christian (4-1) their only loss of the season 27-26, then won 35-10 against No. 10 Ponca City (3-3) and 45-14 against Muskogee (0-6).

Junior quarterback Ty Pennington has completed 84 of 165 pass attempts this season for 1407 yards and ten touchdowns with only three interceptions. He also has 100 carries for 316 yards and eight more touchdowns. Blake Jones is the top running back with 59 carries for 300 yards and four touchdowns.

Keaton Campbell is 33-458 receiving with six touchdowns and averages 11 yards per kick return and 7.4 yards per punt return, and he has a forced fumble. Jamon Sisco is 19-455 receiving with three touchdowns and is 23-96 rushing. He also averages 22 yards per kick return with one touchdown, and has three blocked kicks. Jacob Blevins is 16-364 receiving with one TD. Ryan Shoemaker is 12-113 receiving.

Zach Heinen is 16-of-16 kicking PATs and is 1-of-2 on field goals with a long of 28. He also handles punting duty with an average of 32.6 yards. Greg Reed averages 48.4 yards per kick off.

Sango Whitehorn has 63 tackles, 13 tackles for loss, five sacks, and two blocked kicks. Drake Fain has 63 tackles, 6.5 tackles for loss, one sack, one forced fumble, and a 41-yard interception return. Landon Hendricks has 61 tackles, 16.5 tackles for loss, four sacks, and four fumble recoveries. Brooks Dudley has 53 tackles, four tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks, an interception, and one forced fumble.

Bryson Chase has a blocked kick, a forced fumble, and a fumble recovery. Brycen Peterman has two interceptions, a forced fumble, and two fumble recoveries. Lane Webster has 32 tackles on the season with 14 for loss and two sacks. Daren Hawkins has a fumble recovery and Micah Calico has an interception.

Choctaw has been somewhat inconsistent this season due to injuries and COVID-19. They lost their season opener 46-18 to unranked Springdale (2-5) and only won 28-10 against unranked Van Buren (3-4), but played a close game against Arkansas 6A No. 1 Greenwood (7-0) and only lost 23-12. They got a huge 26-22 win against Booker T. Washington, then only won 20-14 against Ponca City, a team that Sand Springs beat handily. They held Bixby to a season-low scoring output and only lost 24-13, but then only won 26-10 against Muskogee, who the Sandites dominated.

The Yellowjackets are in their fourth year under Head Coach Jake Corbin, who is 22-17 since arriving. He holds a 30-29 record as a head coach with a 6-5 stint at Del City in 2016 and a 2-7 stint at Sapulpa in 2015. He is 1-1 against Sand Springs as a head coach. His Sapulpa team lost 44-10 in 2015, but his Yellowjackets won 21-20 in 2017.

The Sandite offense ranks seventh in the division and Choctaw is ninth. The Sandite defense is eleventh and Choctaw’s is sixth.

The two schools have only met six times, and Choctaw leads the series 4-2. Choctaw won the first meeting 21-14 in 1992, but Sand Springs won 31-18 the next year. Choctaw’s biggest win was 37-0 in 2000, and Sand Springs’s biggest win was 29-6 in 2001. The highest-scoring game in the series was a 45-41 Choctaw win 2016, and the closest game was a 21-20 Choctaw win in 2017. Choctaw has never beaten a Sandite team with a winning record, but they’ve also never lost to Sand Springs at home.