Sand Springs takes down Sapulpa 20-14 in Highway 97 Rivalry alumni game

By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

The Sand Springs Sandites have claimed the lead in the Highway 97 Rivalry Alumni series. The third annual alumni football game was held Saturday night at Charles Page High School Memorial Stadium in Sand Springs and the home team won it for the second year in a row.

Sandite quarterback Cody Hale returned to the turf for the first time since graduating in 2014. The Seminole State pitcher had a hard time connecting with his receivers, but managed a beautiful 21-yard touchdown pass to Cody Hilderbrandt to get Sand Springs on the board moments before the end of the first half.

The Hale-Hilderbrandt combo is a duo Sand Springs will remember for years to come as Hale holds the single-season passing touchdown record for Sand Springs and Hilderbrandt holds the single-season receiving touchdown record for Sand Springs.

Sapulpa was first to draw blood with an eighteen-yard touchdown pass by J.R. Romine. Romine had a huge impact on Sapulpa’s 2014 victory and was unable to participate in last year’s 35-0 shutout by the Sandites.

Sapulpa maintained their 7-0 lead right up until the final seconds of the first half when Hale found Hilderbrandt in the back corner of the endzone with 1.4 seconds remaining. A quick hand-off to Znick Ferrell for a two-point conversion gave Sand Springs the lead at half time.

It didn’t take long for the Sandites to find the end-zone again in the second half.

Sapulpa got the ball to start the half, but a tackle for loss by Travis Tanner pushed them back two yards, followed by a false start and an incomplete pass. At third and seventeen Tanner, Pedro Negron, and Austin Perry combined to sack Romine and force a punt.

Terrance Dixon, a three-year starter for Northeastern State University, picked up thirteen yards, Ferrell grabbed seventeen, and Hale sent a pass to Michael Brown to park the Sandite Offense at the five yard line. After two failed attempts, the Sandites finally scored on a hand-off to the Class of 2015’s Davey Thayer. A conversion attempt was unsuccessful, but the Sandites led 14-7.

Sapulpa didn’t take long to retaliate with a 1-yard run from Jason Broom to tie things up, but Sand Springs reclaimed the lead with 17 seconds left as Ferrell punched in a 1-yard touchdown. A conversion pass attempt to Negron fell flat, but it wouldn’t matter.

On the first play of Sapulpa’s corresponding drive, Romine threw an interception into the waiting arms of Ryan Freeman with 4.5 seconds left to put the game away for the Sandites.

Click here to see the full gallery.

Sand Springs:
Davey Thayer (2015)
Lane Freeman (2011)
Znick Ferrell (2009)
Travis Millikin (2014)
Ryan Umbarger (2009)
Cody Hale (2014)
Terrance Dixon (2010)
Keith Hooks (1999)
Ben Riggs (2007)
Justin Caywood
Matt Bettinger (2009)
Nathan Spencer (2009)
Mitchell Brown (2003)
Ryan Freeman (2008)
Michael Brown
Marc Brown (1999)
Keyandre Rose
Austin Ryan (2007)
Pedro Negron (1999)
Shay Kelley (2008)
Kyron Hill (2006)
Rodney Zickefoose
Deandre Smith
Luke Davis (2007)
Austin Perry (2009)
Matt Tucker (2006)
Kenny Tucker
Heath Sutherland (1998)
Levi Wilson (2012)
Kyle Riggs (2008)
Danae Wilson (2007)
Bryan Benton
Travis Tanner (1994)
Cody Hilderbrandt (2013)
Nick Millikin (2011)
Gabe Chronister

Sapulpa:
Paul Littlebear (2011)
Darien Inks (2013)
Michael Cashon (2006)
Cory Mondier (2014)
Tommy Murray (2012)
JR Romine (1998)
Caleb Meacham (2002)
Rob Gowdy (2012)
Lance Simmers (2011)
Jason Broom (1998)
Travis Munger (2011)
Josh Littlebear (2012)
Josh Hardee (2005)
Corbin Steeples (2013)
Sean Proctor (2005)
Julian Roland (2014)
Kiah Smith (1998)
John Tinsley (1999)
Brandon Hardee (2013)
Randall Hardee (2004)
Keiron Peacock (1988)
Zac Williams (1999)
Mike Taylor (2002)
Mark Wheaton (1999)
Chris Playford (1998)
Cliff Owens (2005)
Yancey Phillips (2007)
Casey Smith (2002) 
JT Rains (2014)
Trevor Toliver (2011)
John Blackburn (1998)

Sand Springs at Enid: Week 2 Pre-game

Friday, September 11th, the 1-0 Charles Page High School Sandites will travel to Enid to take on the 0-1 Plainsmen in the second game of the season. 

CPHS annihilated the 5A Nathan Hale Rangers at the Eastside Sports Complex in their season opener 61-8, while Enid was handily defeated 41-14 at Ponca City.

Both teams are led by inexperienced Quarterbacks. Sand Springs junior Hunter Greathouse got his first varsity start against Hale and threw for two touchdowns before the JV squad went in at the second half. Enid’s Tanner Lingenfelter, a senior, started against Ponca and was replaced late in the second quarter by junior Colton Troxell. Troxell went 5-of-15 passing for 105 yards and two touchdowns, and led his team in rushing with 45 yards. Lingenfelter is now listed as WR in the current roster from Enid so it’s unclear who will get the start this Friday.

Dustin Kinard is in his ninth year as the Sand Springs Head Coach and has a record of 41-45 with four trips to the playoffs. If the Sandites perform as well this season as they have the past three seasons, he can expect to claim a winning record this year. His win over Hale helped him move up a rung on the Sand Springs ladder, surpassing Gary Quimby in win percentage.

Steve Hayes is in his first year at Enid, but was Head Coach at Texas’s Trinity Christian Academy for 11 years where he amassed an 88-49 record that included 11-straight playoff appearances and 4 state final games.

Sand Springs has an 11-14 record against Enid.

The series began in 1978 when AD James was Head Coach in Sand Springs. The Plainsmen won the first three installments, 7-6 in Enid, 13-12 in SS, and 20-14 in Enid. Quimby took over in 1980 and the Sandites won the fourth installment 21-7 at home under QB Eric Haines.

By their next meeting in ‘88, LD Baines was the man in charge in SS and Blair Culley was QB. The Sandites won 40-16 at home, but were not so fortunate the next two years. With Brett Pennington at QB, the Sandites lost 10-9 on the road, then 17-3 at home in ‘89-90. ‘90 was a big year for CPHS as they defeated both Union and Jenks in a playoff run before losing to Putnam City North in the semi-finals.

Enid won 24-14 in 1991 and 35-6 in ‘94 before SS finally scored the first shutout of the series, 20-0 in ‘95 with QB Dustin Morrow. The Plainsmen were shutout again in ‘96 by Keith Hooks, 21-0, then were defeated 30-22 in the famed ‘97 season when CPHS went 12-1 before losing by three points to Yukon in the semi-finals.

SS won the next two games before entering their dark days in 2000. The Plainsmen won 21-6, 45-29, 40-7, and 34-6 before a 4-year hiatus in the series.

The next time the Plainsmen met the Sandites was 2008—their first game against Dustin Kinard. They beat the Minutemen 38-23, 28-14, and 44-29 before the Sandites finally turned it around with QB Darrack Harger in 2011. Harger threw 14-of-27 for 272 yards and two touchdowns in a 59-13 beat-down.

From there it’s been all Sandite wins. 2012 was the best year for the Sandites since ‘97 and the Enid game was a big one. Cody Hildebrant became the highest-scoring receiver in school history with 11 touchdowns, and QB Cody Hale broke the single-season passing record with over 2,200 yards and tied the school record of passing touchdowns with 21. The Sandites won 35-21.

2013 saw the Sandites beat the Plainsmen 21-16 to place second in district and secure their first home playoff game since ‘97—which they went on to lose to Westmoore 31-10.

Last year the Sandites narrowly held off a two-point-conversion with a minute to play that would have tied the game, and won 16-14.  Charles Page went on to finish the season 8-4 and win their first playoff game since ‘97.

Enid’s longest winning streak against SS is 7 games, opposed to 5 by SS. CPHS has won the last 4 matchups.

Kick-off is at 7PM in Enid, so come support your Sandites on their path to state!