Sand Springs Football Preview: Undefeated Sandites Travel to Muskogee Friday

The Class 6A-II No. 5 ranked Charles Page High School varsity football team 4-0, 1-0) will travel to unranked Muskogee (1-3, 1-0) Friday as they look for their first 5-0 start since 2012. The game will be Muskogee’s Homecoming.

The Sandites and Roughers will kick off at 7:00 p.m. in the Indian Bowl, located at 402 North S Street, Muskogee, OK 74403 on the campus of Alice Robertson Junior High. The visitors’ side is located on North Utah Street. General admission tickets are $5.00 for adults and $3.00 for students. Masks will be required in common areas.

Sand Springs

The Sandites are in their second year under Head Coach Bobby Klinck, who holds an all-time coaching record of 24-17. While Sand Springs was a perennial playoff contender from 2012 to 2017, they hit a rough patch of three losing seasons before Klinck’s arrival spurred them from 2-8 in 2019 to 7-5 last year.

Sand Springs has emerged undefeated through the first four games of the year. In the season opener they beat archrival Sapulpa 53-26, then they easily handled Bishop Kelley 34-13. Against defending Arkansas 4A State Champion Shiloh Christian they had to come from behind in a 40-33 shootout. In the district opener against Ponca City they won 30-13 in a gritty defensive battle.

Players to Watch

Ty Pennington (Sr. QB) is 65-100-973-1 passing with 11 touchdowns and is 54-176 rushing with two touchdowns.

Blake Jones (Sr. RB) is 83-608 rushing with seven touchdowns.

Brody Rutledge (Jr. WR) is 1-2-23-0 passing with 1 touchdown and 16-283 receiving with three touchdowns.

Keaton Campbell (Sr. WR) is 17-185 receiving with three touchdowns and averages 23 yards per kick return.

Jacob Blevins (Sr. WR) is 22-359 receiving with three touchdowns and averages 19 yards per kick return.

Landon Hendricks (Sr. DE) has 26 tackles, eight for loss, three sacks, one fumble recovery, four pass breakups, one blocked kick, two forced fumbles, and one safety.

Brooks Dudley (Sr. LB) has 34 tackles, 2.5 for loss, 1.5 sacks

Gabe Brown (Sr. LB) has has 24 tackles, three for loss, 1.5 sacks

Drake Fain (Sr. LB) has 32 tackles, one for loss, two fumble recoveries, and one recovery for a touchdown.

Logan Wolfe (Jr. K) is 15-of-18 on PATs and 2-of-2 on field goals with a long of 34 yards.

Muskogee

The Roughers are in their first season under Head Coach Travis Hill, who holds a 139-37 record in his career. Coincidentally, both Hill and Klinck were head coaches at East Central High School in Tulsa. Before taking over at Muskogee, he was already on the staff as Defensive Coordinator. Hill and Klinck have been assistant coaches at both Muskogee, and Broken Arrow. Sandite Offensive Line Coach Jason Medrano is also a former Muskogee assistant.

Muskogee, like Sand Springs two seasons ago, is trying to snap out of a recent funk following a long period of success. They went 0-7 last year and lost ten straight games before snapping the streak against Putnam City West last week. Putnam West is on their own streak of 28 losses in a row.

The Roughers went 8-3 in 2019, 6-5 in 2018, 5-5 in 2017, and 9-2 in 2016.

The History

Last season the Sandites rolled to a 45-14 Homecoming victory. The defense forced two turnovers and only allowed two scores on ten Rougher possessions.

In 2019 it was the Roughers who dominated in a 54-6 rout to improve to 5-0. The Roughers took a 47-0 lead before sending in the backups in the most lopsided game in the history of the series. 

Ty Pennington was 13-23-107-0 with one touchdown in 2019 and 20-32-251-0 with two touchdowns in 2020, plus another 64 yards and two touchdowns on the ground. Blake Jones was 16-80 rushing in 2019 and 13-104 for one touchdown in 2020. Ryan Shoemaker also had a big game last year with 104 receiving yards and a score.

Muskogee leads the all-time series 23-7 and has won three of the past four, but after snapping Muskogee’s 20-0 start in the series, the Sandites have won seven of the last ten meetings.

Muskogee has shut out the Sandites three times, and the Sandites have shut out the Roughers once. Muskogee’s biggest win was 54-6 in 2019, Sand Springs’s biggest win was 45-14 in 2020. The highest scoring game was a 57-21 Muskogee win in 2006.

1953: Muskogee 20-0.
1954: Muskogee 40-12.
1955: Muskogee 24-6.
1956: Muskogee 7-0.
1957: Muskogee 34-6.
1958: Muskogee 12-0.
1959: Muskogee 40-14.
1960: Muskogee 14-5.
1961: Muskogee 38-6.
1994: Muskogee 20-14 (OT).
1995: Muskogee 28-6.
2002: Muskogee 38-12 (A).
2003: Muskogee 37-14 (H).
2004: Muskogee 27-6 (Homecoming).
2005: Muskogee 47-25 (A).
2006: Muskogee 57-21 (H).
2007: Muskogee 49-21 (A).
2008: Muskogee 39-37 (H).
2009: Muskogee 37-29 (A).
2010: Muskogee 44-14 (A).
2011: Sand Springs 7-3 (H).
2012: Sand Springs 40-28 (A).
2013: Sand Springs 39-14 (H).
2014: Sand Springs 13-0 (A).
2015: Sand Springs 34-10 (H).
2016: Sand Springs 26-25 (A).
2017: Muskogee 40-34 (Homecoming).
2018: Muskogee 45-27 (H).
2019: Muskogee 54-6 (A).
2020: Sand Springs 45-14 (Homecoming).

Things to do in Muskogee

Honor Heights Park
1400 Honor Heights Drive
Muskogee, OK 74401

Three Rivers Museum
220 Elgin Street
Muskogee, OK 74401

Five Civilized Tribes Museum
1101 Honor Heights Drive
Muskogee, OK 74401

Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame
401 South 3rd Street
Muskogee, OK 74401

War Memorial Park
3500 Batfish Road
Muskogee, OK 74403

Thomas Foreman Historic Home
1419 West Okmulgee Avenue
Muskogee, OK 74401