Lady Sandites Win Diamond State Invitational Over Top Arkansas Teams

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Photo courtesy of Earl Shockley.

Charles Page High School has laid claim to its first ever tournament title in girls’ wrestling, winning the Diamond State Lady Invitational with four champions Saturday afternoon in Springdale, Arkansas.

Bailey Copeland, Ambrielle Chambers, Laila Mirza, and Kelsi Hilton all took top honors at the event while Tessa Urrey was runner-up and every Lady Sandite placed top-five.

Sand Springs earned 192 team points for a three-point advantage over Sylvan Hills, last year’s Arkansas 5A State Runners-Up. Placing third was defending Arkansas 6A State Champion Springdale Har-Ber with 147 points.

Copeland won the 100-pound bracket handily, pinning all four of her opponents while outscoring them 18-1. In the second round she took an 8-0 lead against Sylvan Hills State Runner-Up Emele Siegfried before pinning her in 3:36. Her other three opponents didn’t make it out of the first period.

Chambers won the gold at 105 pounds, also pinning all four of her foes while outscoring them 20-5. In the first round she pinned State Champion Farrah Crossno of Greenwood in 1:21.

Mirza won at 120 pounds with three pins, outscoring her opponents 21-0. All three of her pins came in under a minute and in the second round she won a 5-0 decision against Sylvan Hills State Runner-Up Chelsea Harmon.

Hilton won at 140 pounds, pinning all four of her foes, including Arkansas State qualifiers Kinalisa Lokot and Alyssa Beasley. She outscored her opponents 18-3, only surrendering escape points.

Urrey was runner-up at 155 pounds with a 6-2 record, with all six of her wins coming via fall. She had two wins over returning State qualifiers. In round eight she took a 7-0 lead on Har-Ber State Runner-Up Serena Valentine before pinning her in the second period, and in the final match she pinned Fayetteville’s Meya Flowers.

Mia Bruns placed third at 130, Kayla Arnold placed third at 145, Emily Ambriz placed third at 235, Zoe Butler placed fourth at 135, Gracie Gifford placed fourth at 125, Caryss Upton placed fifth at 110, Trinity Owens placed fifth at 115, and Kadence Grant placed fifth at 170.

The Lady Sandites (4-1) will return to action Thursday with duals against Westmoore (1-0) and Ponca City (0-2).

Sandites Place 2nd at Diamond State Duals, 8th at Jenks Tournament

It’s been a busy couple of weeks for the Sand Springs wrestling program as the Sandites took second place at the Diamond State Duals in Springdale on December 30th and eighth place at the Larry Wilkey Invitational in Jenks on January 7th.

At the Jenks tournament the Sandites had six placers and one finalist, led by Mitchell Smith as runner-up.

“It was, in my opinion, a little bit of an up and down weekend,” said first-year coach Ty Bowling.

“I think we had a really good quarterfinal round and struggled in the semis, but I think we came back and finished pretty strong.”

Smith faced a rematch with Salina state champion Gavin Montgomery, who dealt the Sandite his only loss in December’s Enid tournament. In that event Smith led 6-0 before giving up a reversal and pin with four seconds left.

In the rematch it was Smith who had to battle out of an early hole after giving up a takedown and two nearfall points before calling an injury timeout for a knee pain.

“I think it was more of a scare than anything, just kind of an awkward position,” said Bowling. “But he came back. He was put in a bad spot down 4-0 but he battled all the way back.”

The senior tied it up at 5-5 on a third-period reversal, but Montgomery reclaimed the lead with a reversal of his own and won a 7-6 decision.

“It’s just one of those matches where we learn in January how to finish in February, so he’ll come back strong.”

Zander Grigsby placed third, Mason Harris was fourth, Kase Skaggs and Jayden Pait placed fifth, and Ethan White was sixth at the tournament.

No. 7 Sand Springs (10-1) won its first nine duals of the season before falling 39-37 to Ozark in the Diamond dual finals, then defeated Jenks on Tuesday before the tournament.

In pool play Sand Springs won 77-6 against Fayetteville, 64-9 against Bentonville, and 74-0 against Arlington for its biggest win and first shutout since 2017.

In the gold bracket the Sandites won 78-6 against Shiloh Christian, 70-6 against North Desoto, and 69-3 against Bentonville before falling to Ozark in the finals.

Skaggs, Matthew Moore, Pait, Grigsby, Jesse Moore, David Ritchey, and Cash Lucas all went undefeated in the Springdale duals. The Sandites went 85-13 in individual matches.

“I think that was really good for our confidence,” said Bowling. “Not only did we get a bunch of matches, but we were able to win as a team and come together in a dual format.”

Ritchey, Matthew Moore, Grigsby, Smith, Trotter, White, McCoy and Harris all pinned their foes in the 58-15 win at Jenks on Tuesday.

“Obviously you want to have a lot of success in December and January, but you’re always building toward February and getting your hand raised down at that last match in the state tournament, so that’s what we’re building towards.”

Sand Springs will return to action with a tough road dual at No. 3 Bixby (5-2) on Thursday before competing at the Jerry Billings Invitational in Sapulpa over the weekend.

Sandites Win Highway 97 Rivalry 51-20 Against Sapulpa

The Sand Springs boys wrestling team is right where it wants to be heading into Christmas break.

The No. 8 Sandites are 3-0 in duals following a 51-20 victory against 5A No. 10 Sapulpa (1-2) Tuesday night at the Ed Dubie Field House.

Sand Springs won nine out of fourteen matches with six pins in its seventh-straight Highway 97 Rivalry win.

“Anytime you can beat your rivals it’s a good evening,” said first-year head coach Ty Bowling.

“Good start to December for us so far. We’re not in February yet so we’ve got plenty of time to get better and keep getting better every single week.”

Sapulpa won the opening match with a 3-0 decision by Christian Cue over Dawson Briscoe, but a forfeit at 113 put the Sandites ahead for the remainder of the evening.

Colt Hood pinned Jackson Mills in 28 seconds and Brady Moore won a 7-0 decision against Jackson Willingham before the Chieftains won their next match.

Kyle Brooks eked out a back-and-forth 6-4 decision over Preston Reyna, but the Sandites responded with three more bonus point wins

Jayden Pait and Jesse Moore pinned their opponents and Mitchell Smith received a forfeit to make it 33-6.

Blake Hurt won an 8-7 upset against Jaxon Trotter at 157 pounds, but Ethan White answered with a 32-second pin of Trey Henderson to clinch the dual for Sand Springs.

“It’s Ethan’s senior year,” said Bowling. “We’re working real hard to get him to the state tournament this year, hopefully to the podium.”

“He’s been putting in extra work and that’s his goal this year is to get to the state tournament and make a little noise there.”

Sapulpa won at 190 and 215, but Hudson Sheppard pinned Mason Williams in 38 seconds and Mason Harris pinned Taylor Anderson in 29 seconds to wrap up the evening.

“This year we’re working on our toughness and I think every single week we’ve gotten a little bit tougher,” said Bowling.

“We had two duals a couple of weeks ago then we rolled into a long two-day tournament. We dealt with sickness and soreness and getting our weight down, but we battled through things and each week we’re getting tougher and tougher and that’s kind of our theme for this year.”

Prior to the boys dual, Ty Davis pinned Elizabeth Corveler in a girls exhibition match.

The Sandites will return to action December 29th at the Diamond State Duals in Springdale, Arkansas.

Sandite Football upsets defending Arkansas State Champions 40-33

A version of this story was originally written for the Tulsa World.

For the first time since 2012, the Sand Springs Sandites are 3-0.

The Class 6A-II No. 5 ranked Charles Page High School football team rolled into Springdale with a big task in front of it. Repeating its last year’s win against the defending 4A State Champions from Shiloh Christian (2-1) wouldn’t be an easy task, but even down 14-0 early in the fourth quarter, the Sandites kept their cool and showed toughness.

“Our kids are from Sand Springs, so we know all about toughness,” said second-year head coach Bobby Klinck. “That’s a really freaking good football team that we just beat. I think we’re lucky to get away with a win, so we’re really pleased.”

As they should be. The Saints are ranked No. 1 in their class, and their only loss last season was 27-26 on the Sandites’ homefield. This time the visiting Sandites prevailed 40-33 behind a monumental effort from senior quarterback Ty Pennington.

Pennington finished the night with a career-high 331 yards and five touchdowns, passing 21-of-32 with one interception. The lone pick was only a tad high of his receiver, who tipped it up into Dax Widger’s hands to set up the Saints’ third score late in the first quarter.

“I’ve said it over and over again,” said Klinck. “He’s the best dang quarterback in the state. He suffers through drops sometimes with our guys, but he never flinches. That guy’s a dang winner. I’m constantly just saying, ‘put the ball in that dude’s hands. We’ve got the best dang quarterback in the state, let’s go get the dang first down.”

The Saints took a 14-0 lead behind a 2-yard run from Eli Wisdom and an 11-yard pass from Wisdom to Ben Baker, but the Sandites soon settled down and found their rhythm. It wasn’t Pennington who gave them their first score, however.

After running back Blake Jones did most of the work to move the chains, it was Brody Rutledge who tossed the first touchdown pass on a 23-yard trick play to Jacob Blevins.

“That’s all Coach (Lee) Kizzar,” said Klinck. “The trick play, that’s all our coaches. I’ve been really hands-off this year. I know I’ve hired great coaches so I let them coach. That’s all them.”

The backup quarterback and leading receiver finished the night with seven catches for 132 yards and one touchdown, a 33-yard pass from Pennington to make it 21-14 late in the first quarter.

“I’ve challenged that kid all through 7-on-7, he kind of had drop-itis during the summertime, and we challenged him,” Klinck said of Rutledge. “Now that guy’s become one our top receivers and I’m freaking proud of that kid.”

Keaton Campbell was the Sandites’ other top receiver with seven catches for 112 yards and two scores, a 49-yarder in the second quarter and a 21-yarder in the third. 

Also collecting passes for the Sandites was tight-end Ryan Shoemaker, who had three catches for 59 yards and two scores. 

Sand Springs trailed 21-20 in the second and stalled out in their own territory, but Kenneth Page recovered a muffed punt to extend the drive, and Pennington found Shoemaker for an eight-yard score. 

The Sandite defense got a turnover on downs to close the half 26-21.

Campbell’s next touchdown made it 32-21 but the Saints negated it three plays later on a 78-yard pass from Wisdom to Cooper Hutchinson, then took a 33-32 lead on a 14-yard screen to Arkansas-commit Kaden Henley. 

The Sandites got back on top with a 34-yard pass from Pennington to Shoemaker to start the fourth quarter, and Shoemaker also caught the two-point pass for the final points of the game.

“We’ve watched film, we knew they were going to come out with stuff we haven’t seen, so we just had to weather the storm,” said Klinck. “We’ve been down big before, so great job by our kids.”

“That’s an unbelievable football program. That’s a good team, they’re going to win it again. So for us to come here and really steal one from a really well-coached football team, that’s huge for our program.”

“That offense is great,” said Klinck. “They’ve been doing that for a long time. We knew it was going to be a slug fest. We knew it was last year. We had to just make one more play. ‘One more play,’ that’s what we kept saying.”

Sandite Football will return to action Friday at 7:00 p.m. with a district homecoming game against Ponca City (1-2) as the team looks to keep its winning streak alive.

CPHS Football: Sandites take down Arkansas No. 1 Shiloh Christian, Hendricks gets 3 turnovers

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Jamon Sisco scored the lone receiving touchdown for the Sandites.

Defense shined and Landon Hendricks made three fumble recoveries as the Class 6A-II No. 10 ranked Charles Page High School football team (2-1) took down Arkansas 4A No. 1 Shiloh Christian (3-1) Friday night at Memorial Stadium. The Saints went 14-1 last season and only lost their State Finals game, but the Sandites put a stop to their hopes of a second undefeated regular season with a 27-26 home upset.

Shiloh came ready to play and Cam Wiedemann snagged a short pass and took it 75 yards to the house on the second play of the game. Cale Slaba kicked the PAT for the 7-0 lead just 49 seconds into the game.

Sand Springs responded with a 12-play 66-yard march and fourth-down two-yard touchdown run from Ty Pennington. The Sandites attempted to kick a PAT but a bad snap resulted in Pennington tossing an incompletion.

Hendricks got his first recovery on the Saints’ next drive, setting up the Sandites in Shiloh territory, but the offense stalled out and the teams exchanged a trio of punts. The Sandite defense got another takeway just before the end of the first as Brycen Peterman made a pick at the Shiloh five-yard line, and Jonathan Daniels kicked a 22-yard field goal for the 9-7 lead.

The Sandites pushed their lead to 15-7 with a 52-yard touchdown pass from Pennington to Jamon Sisco, but the PAT failed. A failed onside kick gave Shiloh good field position at the 50, but Hendricks made another fumble recovery at the Sandites’ 22-yard line.

Shiloh responded with a defensive three-and-out and scored on a 61-yard touchdown pass to Drew Dudley, but Daren Hawkins stopped a two-point run attempt. Braden Tutt made a big play for the Saints on the Sandites’ corresponding drive with a blocked punt and returned it for a touchdown and a 20-15 lead after Slaba kicked the PAT.

Sand Springs had the final say of the half, however. Pennington found Jacob Blevins for 61 yards to enter the red zone and six plays later the quarterback punched it in from a yard out. His two point run attempt was stopped, but the home team took a 21-20 lead into the locker room.

The Saints took the lead again on their second offensive play of the second half, as Wisdom ran it in from 70 yards out, but Caden Harris stopped Kaden Henley’s two-point run. Both teams committed turnovers in the third quarter. Hendricks got his third fumble recovery and Ben Baker snagged Pennington’s first interception of the season, but neither team capitalized.

Pennington scored his third rushing touchdown from two-yards out early into the fourth quarter but his two-point pass to Ryan Shoemaker fell incomplete. Cooper Hutchinson recovered a muffed punt to give his team another possession deep in Sandite territory, but Sango Whitehorn sacked Wisdom on a fourth-down play for the turnover on downs.

The Sandites marched as far as Shiloh’s 29-yard line with 2:02 to play before stalling out and Zach Heinen’s 46-yard field goal attempt fell short. Brooks Dudley appeared to sack Wisdom for a safety, but the Saints retained the ball on forward progress. Their fourth-down pass attempt fell incomplete, however, and the Sandites took a series of knees in the Shiloh red zone.

Pennington finished the game 20-32-271-1 passing with one touchdown by air, and was 24-42 rushing for three scores. Blevins was his top receiver with six catches for 145 yards. Wisdom paced the Saint offense with a 9-18-172-1 passing mark and was 14-85 on the ground for three total scores.

Sandite Football will kick off district action next Friday at No. 13 Ponca City (1-1). Shiloh will host Berryville, AR (0-2).

CPHS Football: Sand Springs to host Shiloh Christian Friday

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The Class 6A-II No. 10 ranked Charles Page High School varsity football team (1-1) will look to get back to a winning record Friday at 7:00 p.m. when they host Arkansas 4A No. 1 Shiloh Christian (2-0) from Springdale. Both teams are coming off bye weeks.

Sand Springs has a lot to prove this season - its first under Head Coach Bobby Klinck. They missed the playoffs two years in a row, suffered losing records three years in a row, and those down years resulted in a complete overhaul of the coaching staff. They got off to a great start by beating 5A No. 6 rival Sapulpa (2-1) and led 5A No. 2 Bishop Kelley (3-0) until the final minute of the game.

Shiloh Christian is coming from the other side of the success spectrum. The Saints are 28-3 over the past three seasons and their only loss last year came in the State Championship game. They own seven State Titles, most recently in 2009, while the Sandites only have one from 1966.

Shiloh is 5-2 against Oklahoma teams in the past decade, but they have yet to play anyone above a 4A classification. They beat Poteau 34-28 in their second game this year. They beat Beggs the past two years, lost to Victory Christian in 2014, split games with Broken Bow in 2012 and 2013, and beat Webster in 2011.

Saint quarterback Eli Wisdom is already receiving attention from D1 recruiters this season. In the first two games he was 21-of-35 passing for 236 yards and two touchdowns, 22-212 rushing for three touchdowns, and he had an 85-yard kick return for a touchdown. Both Auburn and Memphis have expressed interest in the sophomore.

The Sandites also have a young star under center in 6’3” junior Ty Pennington, who is 20-of-47 passing for 500 yards and three touchdowns, with another 98 yards and two touchdowns on 29 carries. Pennington has started only eleven games in his career, and will likely surpass the 2,000 yard passing mark on Friday.

The receiving corps has been a bright spot for the Sandites, led by Jamon Sisco with eight catches for 219 yards and a touchdown, and Keaton Campbell with eight catches for 167 yards and two scores. Jacob Blevins only has two catches and has already racked up 97 yards.

The run game has been through a rough patch, losing two backs in the first two games. Blake Jones was injured in the season opener and missed week two, while Tyyee Atkison is out for the season after an injury against Bishop Kelley required surgery. Thankfully the Sandites have a dual threat quarterback, and a promising backup RB in 5’10” 190-pound sophomore Codey Cramer, who was 5-28 against Bishop Kelley.

The Sandite defense and special teams have seen remarkable improvement over last season, with 13 tackles for loss, three sacks, two interceptions, a forced fumble, four fumble recoveries, and three blocked kicks. Sango Whitehorn, Landon Hendricks, and Drake Fain have led the defense in tackles and Bryson Chase leads the team in pass deflections.

The game will kick off at 7:00 p.m. at Memorial Stadium and fans are required to wear masks. Prior to the game the Church That Matters Tailgate Crew will be grilling hamburgers, hot dogs, and chicken as a fundraiser for the football team. That event kicks off outside the stadium at 6:00 p.m. and tickets are $6.00.