November 13, 2015

Sandite All-Stars: Your leaders in offense

November 13, 2015/ Scott Emigh

By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

It's been a tremendous season for the Sandites. While they're technically 5-4, on the field they're 7-2, not even including the Guthrie game that we were leading 18-7 when it was called off due to lightning. Two of our losses come from forfeitures (due to an ineligible player) that were actually wins of 61-8 and 33-7. So while the books say otherwise--we all know that realistically Sand Springs is 8-2, which (were it official) would make it our best record since 1997.

Not to mention we beat Booker T in total yardage of 232-217 and we're the only team to score first on them all season. We're also one of only two teams to lead them at any point all season. We also dealt Bixby their first shut out in seven years.

So who are the incredible players that have made all this impossible?

The following stats include both forfeitures and the Guthrie game. Whether officially recognized or not, they did happen.

Passing

The leader in passing is first-year starting junior quarterback Hunter Greathouse who has completed 71 of 140 for 1271 yards and 13 touchdowns, averaging 9 yards per pass attempt and 18 per completion. His season long is 70 yards against Guthrie, but has connected for huge throws in every game he's been in, including 63-yarders against Booker T and Bixby, and a 60 against Claremore. His best game this season was against Sapulpa when he threw 10-18-0-204 for 3 touchdowns. He is currently third in 6A-II.

Multi-purpose junior Kasey Bales also has a 37 yard pass against Enid and is 1 for 2 this season.
Freshman QB Caden Pennington connected on 1 of 2 passes at Hale for 8 yards.
Senior holder Jacob Taber has had to throw a couple of passes this season due to bad snaps and is 1 of 2 for 5 yards.

Receiving

Senior Trace Fleischman is the go-to-guy on receptions with 26 catches for 593 yards and 4 touchdowns. His longest reception of the season was 70 yards against Guthrie. He is the #4 receiver in class 6A-II.

Kasey Bales is the only Sandite with both passing and receiving yards this season. He has 17 catches for 265 yards and 3 touchdowns. His longest reception of the season was 63 yards against Bixby.

Sand Springs has several other talented receivers.

Lane Lettich 10-165 and 2 touchdowns, long 44.
Ty Fain 7-107 and 1 touchdown, long 37.
Payton Scott 2-74 and 1 touchdown, long 59.
Josh Taber 4-50 and 1 touchdown (on his first play of the season), long 27.
Jake Ward 4-34, long 13.
Dalton Honneycut 2-26, long 13.

Rushing

Senior Lane Lettich is the clear leader on the ground for Sand Springs. He currently has 172 carries for 813 yards, averaging 4.73. He has 13 touchdowns and a long of 29 yards against Muskogee. His best game of the season was against Sapulpa where he carried 23 times for 133 yards and two touchdowns, though he had three touchdowns against Hale as well as Claremore. Lettich is #7 in 6A-II at rushing.

Trailing Lettich is sophomore Payton Scott who will likely be the starting tailback next season. He sits at 93 carries for 705 yards and 7 touchdowns with a long of 45 against Ponca City. He averages 7.58 yards-per-carry and his season-best was a breakthrough 17-200 and 2 touchdowns against Ponca. Scott is #9 in 6A-II at rushing.

Lawton is the only other team with two players in the top-10 for rushing yards.

Other Sandites with rushing yards are

Trace Fleischman 16-86, long 31.
Ben Norte 14-79, long 36.
Hunter Greathouse 50-25 and 2 touchdowns, long 23.
Tony Chinchilla 2-21 and 1 touchdown, long 11.
Kasey Bales 3-9, long 16.
Jaxon Starling 1-1.

#3 Sand Springs (5-4, 5-2) will enter the playoffs for the fourth-consecutive season tonight at #8 Stillwater (5-5, 3-3) and is the favorite to win. Sand Springs's offense averages 3.5 touchdowns per game.

October 31, 2015

#3 Sandites fall 17-14 to #1 Booker T Washington after last-minute field goal

October 31, 2015/ Scott Emigh

By: Scott Emigh, Editor in Chief

#3 Sand Springs met with the #1 undefeated Booker T Washington Hornets Friday night and lost by a last-second field goal in a rainy knock-down drag-out at S.E. Williams Stadium.

The Sandites emerged to an early 14-0 lead in the first quarter, but then the Hornets dominated the second quarter to tie things up shortly before the half. The rest of the game was a slow mover with lots of defense and very few big plays, and the victor wasn’t decided till there was only 14 seconds left in the game.

Surprisingly enough, it was the Charles Page Sandites who dominated both sides of the ball, despite the loss. Sandite Payton Scott led both teams in rushing yardage with 10 carries for 163 yards, followed by Oklahoma State-commit Justice Hill of the Hornets with 139, and Sandite Lane Lettich with 104. Hill surpassed the 1500 season mark in tonight’s game, while the Sand Springs runningbacks are still shy of 1000, though they’ll likely pass it by the end of the post-season.

The defense excelled for both teams, though Booker T came up with the most tackles-for-loss, sacking Sandite quarterback Hunter Greathouse 4 times for 25 yards. Greathouse didn’t get to do a whole lot of passing in tonight’s rain, but the two times he did connect were for major bombs totaling 91 yards to Trace Fleischman.

The Hornets offense took the field at their 35 after a Kasey Bales punt traveled out of bounds. Justice Hill managed to pick up one first down for the home team, but the Sandites excelled in the first quarter and quickly took possession at their 32.

On their first drive of the night, the Sandites needed only five plays for Greathouse to find Fleischman for a 63-yard touchdown reception. Bales kicked the PAT and the Sandites had a 7-0 lead barely four minutes into the game.

The next Hornet possession fell flat on 4th and 5 at the Sandite 32. Looking to put points on the board, QB Dakari Willis went for the keeper and was brought down at the line of scrimmage by Nathan Simonton and the ball was turned over to the Sandite Offense.

Once again, the visitors had little difficulty moving the ball.

Payton Scott picked up a first down, rushing for 11 yards, then Greathouse connected to Fleischman for a 28 yard bomb. Scott came back in for a single play and made it count, finding a hole and picking up 30 yards to give his team first and goal at the 10. Three plays later it was Lettich’s turn to find the endzone on a 2 yard run. The corresponding Bales PAT gave Sand Springs a 14-0 lead with 1:24 in the quarter.

It was the first time all season that Booker T had trailed by 14 points.

It didn’t take the Hornets long to respond, however, as they used seven plays to move the ball 46 yards, ending with a four yard touchdown run by Justice Hill, his 21st this season. Zachary Haney’s PAT brought the game to 14-7 with 10:14 in the half.

Sand Springs failed to convert on their next drive and punted it away to the Hornet 38. It looked like Booker T was going to score again as they found three first downs in nine plays and confronted Sand Springs at their 28.

The best defense in the state found an ally in Mother Nature, however, as the slippery conditions caused a fumbled hike and an incomplete pass and the Hornets were pushed back to fourth and 23 and had to punt.

The elements then turned on Sand Springs, as Greathouse had to fall on a fumbled hike for the Sandites for second and 17 at their own 7. A handoff to Scott picked the seven back up, but then Jason Harris II found Greathouse for his fourth sack of the season and nearly got a safety as the QB was brought down at the 2. Bales managed a 37 yard punt, but the Hornet offense was thirsty.

With 49.7 seconds left, Justice Hill found the endzone once again, this time on an 11-yard run. A penalty on the point-after had Haney repeating for a long PAT, but it didn’t stop him from tying up the game shortly before the half.

The third quarter belonged to the Sandites who picked up 93 yards on 19 rushes for 6 first-downs. Marching to the Hornet 16, it looked like Sand Springs was about to take the lead again, but a penalty and a sack pushed things back to 4th and 15 and Charles Page decided to try for a field goal. A 31-yard kick by Bales was dead center, but was nullified due to a penalty that pushed it back to the 26. This time the hike was fumbled and Jacob Taber was unable to find a receiver downfield and took a tackle-for-loss at the 40.

Sand Springs got the ball back four plays later at the BTW45, and used six plays spanning over into the fourth quarter to march to the Hornet 4 yard-line where Lettich gave the Sandites 1st and goal at the 1 yard-line.

The Hornet defense showed up, however, and Sand Springs found themselves 4th and 4 after three failed runs. Instead of kicking a field goal, the Sandites decided to try for a pass to Fleischman, but it was broken up by Daxton Hill.

Neither team scored on their next possessions and the home team ended up with the ball at the SS20. With 14 seconds left, Haney connected on a 35-yard field goal to give the Hornets the lead for the first time. Then, Haney found his first touchback of the night on kickoff, preventing the Sandites from a last-second touchdown return.

Sand Springs went down swinging, attempting a deep pass to Fleischman that fell short, then Greathouse was sacked to end the game 17-14.

It was a bit of déjà vu for both teams. Two weeks prior, Haney connected on a late field goal for a 17-14 win over Bartlesville. Last year in week 10 Sand Springs lost by a field goal at the #1 Bixby Spartans’ home field in a down-to-the-wire battle royale.

While Booker T may have succeeded in clinching the district title, the Sandites were far from losers. This was only Sand Springs’s second true loss of the season and both were away games to the #2 and #1 teams. The boys from the Springs proved that they could stand toe-to-toe with the best in the state and give them a run for their money. With the post-season now a certainty, Sand Springs still has a very legitimate possibility of making a major run at the state title.

Scoring Summary

1st Quarter

7:52 63 yard pass to Fleischman from Greathouse. Bales PAT. 7-0 SS
1:24 2 yard carry by Lettich. Bales PAT 14-0 SS

2nd Quarter

10:14 4 yard carry by Justice Hill. Haney PAT. 14-7 SS
0:49.7 11 yard run by Justice Hill. Haney PAT 14-14

3rd Quarter

No scores

4th Quarter

0:14 Haney 35yd field goal. 17-14, BTW

Stats

Click to Enlarge

September 12, 2015

CPHS ruins Enid's homecoming with 33-7 win

September 12, 2015/ Scott Emigh

By: Scott Emigh, Sand Springs Leader Sports Correspondent

ENID — Sand Springs picked up their second win of the season, ruining the Plainmen’s homecoming festivities.

The Charles Page High School football team beat the Enid Plainsmen 33-7 Friday night on the road, jumping out to a 20-0 lead before the Plainsmen could put any points on the board.

Click here for the full story.