Sandite Football hosts Choctaw Friday in pivotal district matchup

If you can only make it to one Sand Springs football game this season, this Friday is the one you don’t want to miss. No. 4 Charles Page High School (5-2, 2-2) hosts No. 2 Choctaw (5-2, 3-1) Friday at 7:00 p.m. at Memorial Stadium, and the outcome could be the difference between fourth and second place in the district.

If Sand Springs beats Choctaw, it’ll force a three-way tie for second place behind Bixby. In such an event, at the end of the season, it’ll come down to district point differential to settle things between the Sandites, Yellowjackets, and Booker T. Washington Hornets. That’s a difference between a first-round playoff game against the District 1 Champions, and a home game against the No. 3 team in District 1.

The Game

Tickets for the game are $7 for adults, $5 for students, and $10 for reserved seating. Memorial Stadium is located at 600 N. Adams Road on the campus of CPHS.

Sand Springs

The Sandites are in their second year under Head Coach Bobby Klinck, who holds an all-time coaching record of 25-19. 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.

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 district action they have won 30-13 against Ponca City and 48-34 against Muskogee before falling 37-32 to Booker T. Washington and 58-14 to Bixby.

“We’re going to reset this,” said Klinck after Friday’s loss. “We’re going to give the kids some time, we’ll see them on Sunday. Let them kind of recover. Then we’re going to get right back at it. We’ll put it to bed, make corrections, and then we’ll come up with a brand new game plan and we’re gonna see what happens.”

“It’ll be a measuring stick for our program to see how we respond to something like this” said Klinck.

Players to Watch

Ty Pennington (Sr. QB) is 109-175-1535-1 passing with 17 touchdowns, and is 90-335 rushing with six TDs. He has over 5,000 passing yards in his career and holds the school record.

Blake Jones (Sr. RB) is 108-746 rushing with seven touchdowns but was injured against Booker T. Washington and his status is unknown going into Friday’s game.

Brody Rutledge (Jr. WR) is 2-3-49-0 passing with two touchdowns and 26-413 receiving with three TDs.

Keaton Campbell (Sr. WR) is 29-373 receiving with six touchdowns and averages 22.8 yards per kick return.

Jacob Blevins (Jr. WR) is 36-528 receiving with five TDs and averages 19 yards per kick return.

Ryan Shoemaker (Sr. TE) is 14-153 receiving with four TDs.

Jabe Schlehuber averages 38.9 yards per kick return with a school record-setting 99-yard TD.

Landon Hendricks (Sr. DE) has 46 tackles, 14 for loss, 7 sacks, 5 pass breakups, 1 fumble recovery, 4 forced fumbles, a safety, and a blocked PAT.

Brooks Dudley (Sr. LB) has 60 tackles, 3.5 for loss, and 1.5 sacks.

Gabe Brown has 38 tackles, 4 for loss, 2.5 sacks, 1 pass breakup, and a 75-yard scoop and score.

Conner Light has 45 tackles, 4 for loss, 1 pass breakup, and 1 forced fumble.

Drake Fain has 62 tackles, 1 for loss, 1 pass breakup, two fumble recoveries, and a 13-yard scoop and score.

Ryder Barnes has 34 tackles, 0.5 for loss, two interceptions, 4 pass breakups, and 1 fumble recovery.

Logan Wolfe (Jr. K) is 24-of-29 on PATs and 2-of-2 on field goals with a long of 34 yards.

Choctaw

The Yellowjackets are in their fifth season under Head Coach Jake Corbin, who holds an all-time coaching record of 37-30 and a record of 27-18 at Choctaw. He previously went 2-7 at Sapulpa and 6-5 at Del City in one-year stints.

Choctaw has put together back-to-back winning seasons with playoff appearances, and made it as far as the State finals last year. Coming into the season, the Yellowjackets were considered by many to be the biggest threat to Bixby’s reign after close losses of 24-13 in last year’s regular season and 17-14 in the championship.

Choctaw started strong with wins of 66-0 and 63-6 against Beacon Hill (1-5), and Springdale (1-6), but they suffered their first loss 36-29 at Dallas Jesuit (6-1). They got back on track with a huge 29-20 win over Booker T. Washington (6-1), then earned a 36-0 shutout against Ponca City (3-4). The much-anticipated rematch with Bixby was nothing like anyone expected, however, as the Spartans decimated the Yellowjackets 70-7 on statewide television. Choctaw got back on track with a 49-32 win at Muskogee (2-5) last week.

Players to Watch

Three-star senior DL DeSean Brown (6’3”, 230) has offers from over a dozen D1 programs, including Oregon, Michigan, Nebraska, Indiana, Missouri, and most of the Big 12. The 247 Sports Crystal Ball projects him as a likely Oklahoma State commit.

Three-star senior IOL Cade McConnell (6’5”, 290) is committed to Texas Christian University.

Junior quarterback Steele Wasel has passed for over 1,000 yards and 17 TDs this year, including a 6-9-124-0, 2 TD performance against Muskogee last week. He recently received an offer from Virginia Tech.

Junior running back La’Trell Ray put up 207 yards and two touchdowns against Muskogee last week.

The Series

The Yellowjackets lead the all-time series 5-2 and have won the last three consecutive meetings. Choctaw’s biggest win was a 37-0 shutout in 2000, while the Sandites’ biggest win was 29-6 in 2001.

The home team has only failed to win one time in the history of the series, a 21-20 Yellowjacket upset in 2017 at Memorial Stadium.

Coach Corbin is 2-1 against the Sandites in his career, losing his one Highway 97 Rivalry game, but winning both meetings as the Choctaw lead man.

1992: Choctaw 21-14 (A).
1993: Sand Springs 31-18 (H).
2000: Choctaw 37-0 (A).
2001: Sand Springs 29-6 (H).
2016: Choctaw 45-41 (A).
2017: Choctaw 21-20 (H).
2020: Choctaw 34-9 (A).