Sand Springs Weekly Sports Roundup: Baseball Starts Season With Wins

This story was originally written for the Sand Springs Leader.

Baseball

The Sandite baseball team is off to a strong start on the season, winning its first two games 11-0 against Shawnee and 9-2 against Yukon. 

Jabe Schlehuber and Kayden Campbell combined for eight strikeouts in a no-hitter against the Wolves in Friday’s season-opener. Dom Ornelas went three-for-three at the plate with a double and a home run for 5 RBI.

Schlehuber went four-for-four at the plate on Saturday with two doubles and a homer, and Ornelas and Keaton Campbell also hit home runs.

Boys Basketball

The Sandites wrapped up a 5-18 season with a 69-54 loss at Putnam City West in the Regional playoffs. Cale Askew scored 14 points, Ethan Oakley scored 12, and JD Dickson added 10.

Soccer

The Lady Sandite soccer team won its opening week of matches, coming back from a 2-0 halftime deficit to beat NOAH 4-3 on Tuesday before routing Coweta 5-1 on Thursday.

Karsen Lynch scored two goals, and Lauren Foster and Lainey Stanfill also scored against NOAH. Ava Watts posted a hat trick against Coweta and Stanfill scored twice. Christina Thompson got the wins at goalie.

The boys are still looking for their first win of the Brent Lollis era, falling 4-2 to NOAH and 2-0 to Coweta.

Golf

The boys golf team placed sixth at the Olive Wildcats Golf Classic in Sapulpa. Mason Ward shot 81 to tie for tenth, Seth Benton shot 87, Drew Paden 93, Zack Downey 93, Hunter Brenner 99, Sidney Horton 101, Jacob Halpain 116. Madison Chambers shot 114 as the lone Lady Sandite.

Tennis

The boys tennis team placed 16th at the Jenks tournament led by Connor Shipman with a 13th finish in #2 Singles.

Track and Field

The Sand Springs girls placed 10th and the boys took 15th at the season-opening Owasso Track Invitational.

Freshman star Lainey Stanfill placed fifth in the 100-meter dash with a time of 12.79 and was third in the 200 in 26.69. Jazmin Lopez paced fifth in the 800 in 2:33.38.

Bowling

The Sand Springs boys bowling team placed second at Regionals and third at State.

Girls Powerlifting

The girls powerlifting team placed second at the North Regional with Jaden Jordan winning squat, deadlift, and overall at heavyweight. Jordan squatted 335, deadlifted 380, and benched 155 to qualify for State. Madison Thompson placed fourth at 198 and Mikah Hampton placed fifth at 108 to qualify. 

Sandite Basketball: Girls on a roll, boys not so much

This story was originally written for the Sand Springs Leader.

If this week’s scoreboard has been any indication of the weeks to come, the Sand Springs girls’ basketball team should be poised to make a deep playoff run.

The 6A-East No. 2 Sandites (19-3) never trailed once in their three games, rolling to dominant wins against No. 11 Owasso, No. 6 Broken Arrow, and No. 14 Bartlesville to wrap up the regular season.

“I think we’re playing better basketball,” head coach Josh Berry said after a 63-34 senior night win against the Bruins (4-18).

“I think we’ve still got a lot of things to clean up before the playoffs, but I like the direction that we’re going.”

The Sandites scored 23 points in a row in the first half and led 36-11 by halftime. The second string played most of the second half, and 10 different Sandites made their way into the scorebook.

“I like the way that everybody’s stepping up and playing different parts,” said Berry. “If we can do that, where we get different scoring, different rebounding, different assists from different people, then I think we’ve got a good chance.”

Sophomore Taiona Morris led the team for the first time this season with a career-high 16 points.

“She’s going to be special,” said Berry. “I think she gets more and more confidence every time we go out there.”

Eight Sandites combined for 17 steals in a stifling defensive effort led by Sakauri Wilson with 5 and Morris with 4. Layne Kirkendoll added 4 blocks.

“I thought we just needed to speed it up a little bit,” said Berry. “They did a good job of rotating and being there for the steals. We just caught them on that.”

Journey Armstead scored 22 points in a Monday night rout of Owasso (10-13), followed by Hailey Jackson with 19 points and 10 rebounds for her third double-double of the season, and Wilson with 11 points.

On Tuesday the Sandites bullied Broken Arrow 53-20, giving up only four points in each of the first three quarters while holding the Tigers (13-9) to their lowest scoring output since 2011.

Armstead and Jackson scored 13 points apiece in that game.

The Lady Sandites finished the season second in the Frontier Valley Conference, their best performance since winning the league in 2019.

The Sandites will return to action Thursday at 8:00 p.m. when they host No. 15 Muskogee (2-13) in the first game of the Regional tournament. 

The Sandites previously beat Muskogee 56-43, but Berry isn’t going to let his team overlook the Roughers.

“One game at a time,” said Berry. “It’s Muskogee. That’s the only thing we think about from here on out. We just take them one game at a time and don’t take anybody lightly.”

Boys Basketball

The No. 14 Sandites (5-17) are on a seven-game losing streak after falling 68-31 to Owasso, 55-37 to Broken Arrow, and 87-77 to Bartlesville.

Despite the loss, the Sandites actually played one of their best games of the season on Senior Night. Four Sandites scored double digits and three had double-doubles in their highest scoring output of the year.

Jason Clark and Ethan Oakley led the Sandites with 19 points apiece, and Oakley added 11 rebounds in his season-best performance. Cale Askew and JD Dickson both scored 14 points with 11 rebounds apiece. Askew’s performance was also a career best.

The boys will travel to No. 3 Putnam City West (17-5) Friday at 8:00 p.m. in the Regional playoffs.

Boys Basketball: Sandites get first conference win, 62-46 against Sapulpa

In a battle for last place in the Frontier Valley Conference, Sand Springs finally got a much-needed 62-46 win against Sapulpa, Friday night at the Ed Dubie Field House.

The 6A-East No. 14 Sandites (5-10 overall, 1-6 conference) out-shot and out-rebounded 5A-East No. 14 Sapulpa (4-12, 0-7) to win their third-straight Highway 97 Rivalry meeting.

“It feels good,” said Sand Springs head coach Eric Savage. “We’ve been close several times this year and we just haven’t been able to finish.”

“Sapulpa’s kind of having a year similar to ours, and we knew this was going to be two teams that were really hungry for a win. I thought from the tip we came out focused and executed, and really controlled the game.”

The Sandites took a 6-0 lead out of the gate and never trailed, though the score stayed close till midway through the fourth quarter.

“We had a few lapses in there and Sapulpa kept coming at us, but overall I thought they followed the game plan and we were able to keep them at bay,” said Savage.

Sand Springs took a 31-23 lead into the half and a 44-32 lead into the fourth quarter, with its biggest advantage being a 16-point lead early in the final stanza.

The visiting Chieftains then mounted a comeback attempt, scoring ten in a row, kicked off by a Gavin Read layup through contact. Read missed his and-one opportunity, but Kylen Edwards made the putback and drew a foul of his own, sinking the free throw.

Charles Hobbs scored on back-to-back possessions to cut the deficit to 48-42, but it was all Sand Springs from there. 

“We just had to keep attacking,” said Savage. “A couple of times we got slow and quit running. I tried to tell them, ‘we’re playing to win, we’re not playing not to lose.’ I thought we got a little tentative there with what to do with the ball.”

Edwards led all scorers with 20 points, but Jaymason Lindsey was the only other Chieftain in double digits with 12 points.

Jason Clark and JD Dickson led the Sandites with 12 points apiece, followed by Kooper Kelly with 10. Ethan Oakley, Cale Askew, and Costen Brockman added 8 points apiece, and Oakley had 15 rebounds.

“We’re making improvements,” said Savage. “It’s hard to see in our conference sometimes because of how top-heavy and good it is, but we’re making improvements, we’re shooting the ball better, we’re passing the ball better. We struggled early in the year when people would press us, and we’re doing a much better job of that.”

The Sandites will embark on another tough week on the road with a Tuesday game at No. 5 Union (8-8, 4-4) and a Friday battle at No. 6 Owasso (11-6, 6-2).

Sapulpa will host Bixby (6-10, 1-6) on Tuesday and Union on Friday. 

In junior varsity action the Sandites won 65-40 behind 17 points from Alijah Roper and 11 from Kade Holland.

CPHS 62 Sapulpa 46
1Q: CPHS 19-9.
2Q: Sapulpa 14-12.
3Q: CPHS 13-9.
4Q: CPHS 18-14.
Free Throws: CPHS 10-of-14, Sapulpa 10-of-14.
Field Goals: CPHS 22-of-39, Sapulpa 15-of-49.
Offensive Rebounds: CPHS 6, Sapulpa 5.
Defensive Rebounds: CPHS 27, Sapulpa 12.
Total Rebounds: CPHS 33, Sapulpa 17.
Steals: CPHS 8, Sapulpa 11.
Blocks: CPHS 2, Sapulpa 0.
Fouls: CPHS 17, Sapulpa 13.

Sand Springs (Unofficial) Stats

Scoring: Clark 12, Dickson 12, Kelly 10, Askew 8, Oakley 8, Brockman 8, Roper 4.
Offensive Rebounds: Askew 2, Clark 1, Kelly 1, Oakley 1, Roper 1.
Defensive Rebounds: Oakley 14, Kelly 4, Dickson 3, Brockman 3, Clark 2, Askew 1.
Total Rebounds: Oakley 15, Kelly 5, Clark 3, Askew 3, Dickson 3, Brockman 3, Roper 1.
Steals: Clark 4, Roper 2, Askew 1, Kelly 1.
Assists: Oakley 3, Kelly 2, Clark 1, Askew 1, Brockman 1.
Blocks: Kelly 1, Dickson 1.
Fouls: Oakley 4, Brockman 4, Askew 3, Kelly 3, Dickson 2, Roper 1.

Sapulpa Stats

Scoring: Edwards 20, Lindsey 12, Read 5, Hobbs 5, Lewis 2, Abbuge 2.
Fouls: Lindsey 3, Hobbs 3, Edwards 2, Abbuge 2, Willoby 1, Read 1, Lewis 1.

Sandite Boys place fourth at Port City Classic, beat Catoosa 47-44

The Sand Springs boys’ basketball team (4-9) snapped a three-game losing skid Thursday, taking down Catoosa 47-44 en route to a fourth place finish at the Port City Classic.

The Sandites fell 54-37 to 4A No. 2 Victory Christian (13-3) in the semifinals, however, and 47-46 to No. 19 Tahlequah (10-5) in the placement round. 

Jason Clark scored 15 and Ethan Oakley had 13 points to guide their team to its first win of 2022. 

Catoosa took a 32-31 lead into the fourth quarter, but freshman Kooper Kelly came alive and scored all seven of his points in that stanza, while Oakley and Clark went a perfect 6-for-6 at the free throw line in crunch time. 

Clark scored ten more on Friday, but was the only Sandite in double digits against the Conquerors, who went on to win the tournament.

Saturday’s game was a real heartbreaker, as the Sandites had it all but locked away late in the fourth quarter. 

With only 23.3 seconds remaining, Clark laid up on a steal for a 46-41 Sandite lead. 

The Tigers wouldn’t go down without a fight, however, and Braylon McDowell hit a three with nine second remaining, then Shaun Young sent Kelly to the line for a one-and-one.

After the freshman missed his free throw, Hayden Smith snagged the rebound and the Tigers took a timeout to dial up a three-point buzzer beater from Brycen Smith for the win.

Clark once again led the Sandites with 14 points in the loss.

Up next for the Sandites is a return to conference action with a Frontier Valley road game at Bixby (5-9, 0-5) on Tuesday. Both teams are still looking for their first conference win of the season.

1/20/2022 - CPHS 47 Catoosa 44
1Q: CPHS 11-7.
2Q: Catoosa 13-10.
3Q: Catoosa 12-10.
4Q: CPHS 16-12.
Free Throws: CPHS 10-of-17, Catoosa 19-of-26.
Penalties: CPHS 18, Catoosa, 16.

Scoring: (CPHS) Clark 16, Oakley 13, Kelly 7, Dickson 5, Askew 3, Jones 2, Brockman 1, Lair 1. (Catoosa) Brown 12, Miller 10, Lewallen 10, McCawley 6, Oxford 5, Hamilton 1.

1/21/2022 - VCS 54 CPHS 37
1Q: VCS 16-7.
2Q: CPHS 10-6.
3Q: VCS 20-10.
4Q: VCS 10-10.
Free Throws: VCS 14-of-18, CPHS 5-of-13.
Penalties: VCS 15, CPHS 16.

Scoring: (VCS) Udoumoh 15, Patton 11, Doctor 8, Granderson 8, Malhi 6, Banner 2, Convington 2, White 2. (CPHS) Clark 10, Brockman 9, Kelly 8, Askew 3, Foster 2, Dickson 2, Oakley 2, Hayes 1.

1/22/2022 - Tahlequah 47 CPHS 46
1Q: Tahlequah 10-8.
2Q: Tahlequah 11-11.
3Q: CPHS 12-11.
4Q: Tahlequah 15-15.
Free Throws: Tahlequah 3-of-7, CPHS 7-of-12.
Penalties: Tahlequah 12, CPHS 11.

Scoring: (Tahlequah) H. Smith 16, Joice 11, Young 9, Matlock 5, McDowell 3, B. Smith 3. (CPHS) Clark 14, Kelly 9, Askew 8, Oakley 8, Brockman 3, Johnson 3, Dickson 1.

Sand Springs Boys Drop Conference Opener to Owasso 47-44 in OT

Photo by Charity Wickett. Click here to view full photo gallery.

A version of this story was originally written for the Sand Springs Leader.

The Charles Page High School boys’ basketball team (2-1 overall, 0-1 conference) suffered their first loss of the season Tuesday, December 7th at the Ed Dubie Field House in a 47-44 overtime battle with No. 9 Owasso (3-1, 1-0). 

The No. 18 Sandites rallied from a 29-18 third-quarter deficit to take their only lead of the game at 37-36 late in the fourth quarter on a layup from Jason Clark.

Caleb Leslie’s fifth three-pointer of the night put the Rams back on top, but Ethan Oakley sank a pair of free throws with six seconds left to force the extra period. 

Caden Fry scored five straight points to start the four-minute overtime. A three from Kooper Kelly and a layup from Oakley kept the home team’s hopes alive, but EJ Lewis hit the back end of a one-and-one with six seconds remaining and Clark’s last-second three-point shot was no good.

“I’m proud of our heart and effort,” said head coach Eric Savage. “That’s got to be one thing we hang our hat on every night, and I thought they did that. It comes down to how well we execute at times.”

“Layups and free throws, it’s pretty basic. You make layups, you make your free throws, shoot a decent percentage, you win the game.” 

The Sandites were only 6-of-14 from the charity stripe and 10-of-26 from two-point range against the Rams.

JD Dickson led the home team with 15 points and four rebounds, followed by Ethan Oakley with 10 points and three boards. 

Sand Springs will take a week off to prepare for a conference road game at No. 4 Jenks (4-0, 1-0). The two teams split meetings last year, with Jenks winning a conference overtime game, but the Sandites got payback with an upset at Regionals. 

Jenks leads the series 8-7 in the Eric Savage era but the Sandites have won seven of the last nine. 

Scoring: (CPHS) Dickson 15, Oakley 10, Kelly 9, Clark 5, Askew 3, Brockman 1, Holland 1. (OHS) Leslie 15, Fry 10, Lewis 8, Clifton 5, Mann 4, Harbaugh 3, Manuel 2. 

Sand Springs won the junior varsity game 42-39 behind Collin Shope’s 18 points. Alijah Roper scored 8, Blake Johnson scored 6, and Michael Foster and Mark Lair scored 5 each.

Jason Clark and Ethan Oakley lead Sandites to come-from-behind 68-55 win over NOAH

View fullsize

Ethan Oakley wasn’t planning on playing basketball his senior year, but two weeks prior to the season tip-off he asked his team if they would take him back. The Sandites welcomed his return, and it paid off in the season opener Thursday night at SpiritLife Church. 

Oakley double-doubled with 11 points and 16 rebounds from the bench, while Jason Clark scored 19 points in Charles Page High School’s 68-55 win over Tulsa NOAH (1-2). 

“I put it up to the senior players whether they wanted to allow him back or not,” said ninth-year head coach Eric Savage. “I think they know what he can mean to this team. He demonstrated some of that tonight, so we’re glad to have him back for sure.”

The Sandites had to survive an early upset bid after falling behind 16 points in the first quarter. Clark took four fouls in the first quarter alone and spent half of the game on the bench, while his team of mostly first-year varsity players had to claw their way back into it.

“We’ve got a lot of guys who have been on varsity, but not a lot who have gotten a lot of minutes,” said Savage. “Jason Clark and Ethan Oakley have logged the most minutes the past few years as underclassmen but the rest of the guys haven’t.”

“They’re going to have to learn those roles a little bit. I think they were a little overhyped in the first half, but settled in in the second half, started rebounding better and executed better on the offensive end. We finally got Jason Clark going a little bit, and each of those seniors kind of stepped up and made plays there in the second half when we needed them to.”

Down 22-6, sophomore Alijah Roper hit a three-pointer to close out the first quarter and spark a Sandite resurgence. 

JD Dickson, a senior move-in from Jenks, tied the game up at 27-27 after scoring through a foul from Will Edwards and sinking the free throw, but the Jaguars found their feet again and rolled to a 39-28 halftime lead.

The second half was all Sandites as the visitors outscored their foes 20-10 in the third quarter and 20-8 in the fourth. Clark gave them their first lead with a layup at 44-43, but the Jags still led 57-52 early in the fourth. 

Then fouls caught up to the home team, which lost Sullivan Wagner, Jack Garner, and Connor Hislop. Dickson scored 16 points in his first game as a Sandite before fouling out, but the Sandites had the deeper bench and closed the game on a 19-point run. 

Cale Askew also had a big night for Sand Springs with 10 points and 8 rebounds.

This year's Sandites will look a bit different than the star-studded teams of the past. After graduating four of last year’s starting five, the team will turn to a much younger bench.

“I think it’s going to be a collective effort (this year),” said Savage. “I think this year’s team is a little bit different. We’re not going to just be able to rely on one guy and hope that he can carry us through, so we’re going to have to definitely play together and rely on each other.”

“I think Kooper Kelley, a freshman, is going to get better and better as the year goes. That was a huge three he hit there late in the fourth quarter after struggling. He’s got the ability, just had first game varsity jitters I think. He’ll grow up as the season goes, but we’re definitely expecting big things from him.”

“We’re going to have to develop a little depth off the bench. Kade Holland, we’re looking for him to be able to come in as well as Blake Johnson to come in and provide some significant minutes for us.”

This season will be a unique one for Coach Savage for another reason, in addition to the lack of star power. It’ll also be the first time since 2014 that he hasn’t had one of his sons on the team.

Colt Savage was a four-year starter from 2015 to 2018 and ranks as the number-two all-time leading scorer at Sand Springs. Cale Savage and Cason Savage were also multi-year starters and leading contributors to the school’s deep playoff success the last eight years.

“It’s a different feel for sure,” said Savage. “I definitely miss having them out there. They were kind of the second coach on the floor when I had one of them in the game. They knew what I wanted and knew what I expected, so somebody else is going to have to take on those roles.”

Sand Springs will need a new star or two to rise up if they want to keep alive one of the longest eras of success in school history. The Sandites have made it to the Area playoffs seven of the last eight years, including two Regional Championships from 2019 to 2020. 

“It’s going to be a tough year,” said Savage. “ We’re going to be hopefully competitive in every game, but the conference is really good. I think every team in the conference has at least one college player, if not more, that’s been offered or already committed. We don’t have that type of player this year, so for us to be able to compete with that, we don’t have much room for error. We’re going to have to be very disciplined and rely on each other.”

Sand Springs basketball will return to action Friday, December 3rd in a home rematch against NOAH.

CPHS 68 NOAH 57
1Q: NOAH 22-9.
2Q: CPHS 19-17.
3Q: CPHS 20-10.
4Q: CPHS 20-8.
Free Throws: CPHS 19-of-31, NOAH 8-of-13.
Field Goals: CPHS 21-of-58, NOAH 21-of-59.
Offensive Rebounds: CPHS 21, NOAH 8.
Defensive Rebounds: CPHS 25, NOAH 17.
Total Rebounds: CPHS 46, NOAH 25.
Steals: CPHS 10, NOAH 9.
Blocks: CPHS 2, NOAH 2.
Fouls: CPHS 20, NOAH 25.

Scoring: (CPHS) Clark 19, Dickson 16, Oakley 11, Askew 10, Kelly 5, Brockman 4, Roper 3. (NOAH) Bell 14, Wagner 12, I. Hislop 8, Hill 7, Edwards 6, Garner 5, C. Hislop 5.