Sandites roll Bartlesville 41-20, Pennington scores four touchdowns

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

After three weeks of brutal competition against the top three teams in the state, the Class 6A-II No. 6 Charles Page High School varsity football team (6-3, 3-3) got a much-needed win Friday night at Bartlesville (2-7, 1-5).

Sand Springs rolled to a 41-0 lead against the unranked Bruins before sending in the backups, and picked up a 41-20 win in district action. 

“We certainly expected to win,” said Sand Springs head coach Bobby Klinck. “The biggest thing I wanted to see was us get off to a good start. We hadn’t really gotten off to good starts this year. So we definitely emphasized that with our players and I was very proud that we came out and got on them really fast.”

After forcing a punt to start the game, the Sandites marched 85 yards and scored on a 27-yard pass from Ty Pennington to Jacob Blevins. 

Blevins added a ten-yard TD run with 2:23 in the first quarter, and Pennington ran in the PAT to make up for a missed kick on the first drive. The quarterback added a 17-yard scamper and Jonathan Daniels’s kick made it 21-0 to end the first quarter.

Things slowed down in the second quarter as the Bruins controlled the clock and forced two three-and-outs. A change in quarterbacks and costly Sandite penalties helped the home team move the chains, but Braylon Flores forced two turnovers on downs with pass deflections, including a goal-line stand. 

“We pride ourselves on not having those stupid penalties,” said Klinck. “I was a little disappointed in that, but all-in-all it was a good win for us.”

Sand Springs restarted its momentum with a 21-yard TD throw from Pennington to Blevins late in the half, then Blake Jones scored on a one-yard run to start the third quarter.

Jones has seen limited action the past three weeks after an injury against Booker T. Washington, but carried the ball nine times for 53 yards against the Bruins.

“It’s just day to day,” said Klinck. “This was the first time that he’s kind of looked good, so we wanted to give him that opportunity. Hopefully with each week he’ll be getting better and better in time for the playoffs.”

Jones remains the team’s leading rusher with 795 yards and eight scores.

Pennington hooked up with Keaton Campbell for the final score early in the third quarter on a 57-yard reception.

From there it was all about getting meaningful reps for the backups and running out the clock.

Pennington finished the game 11-of-19 passing for 187 yards and had three carries for 46 yards. Kenneth Page led on the ground with 69 yards on eight carries, while Blevins led the receiving corps with five catches for 111 yards. 

Defensively, the Sandites tallied seven tackles for loss, three sacks, and three turnovers. Brooks Dudley recorded nine tackles and Drake Fain had eight. Ryder Barnes had a 31-yard interception return, Fain and Trevor Stone recovered fumbles, and Dallas Elifrits forced a fumble.

“When you come off of three tough losses, it’s always good to get a win,” said Klinck. “We want to be playing our best football come November. So we need to have a great practice session this week and get after Putnam City West.”

The Sandites will wrap up the regular season at home against the Patriots (0-9, 0-6), who have lost 33 consecutive games.

Sand Springs Football falls 58-14 to No. 1 Bixby

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

It’s hard to look for a silver lining in a 58-14 loss, but when your opponent is Bixby High School, you have to take what you can get.

The No. 1 Spartans (7-0, 4-0) won their 43rd consecutive game, a streak which includes three State Championships, and their eighth consecutive meeting with No. 4 Charles Page (5-2, 2-2) Thursday night at Spartan Stadium.

The Sandites held Bixby to an unusually low 9-0 lead after the first quarter, but the home team soon hit the gas for a 30-0 halftime advantage and never looked back.

“The biggest thing is that we didn’t give up in the second half,” said Sandites head coach Bobby Klinck. “I told them ‘hey I want it 0-0 this half, let’s see what happens.’ You go by that, it’s 28-14, so I was proud of our guys for not giving up.”

“This is Coach (Loren) Montgomery’s 12th season here so their culture is pretty ingrained and that’s what we’re trying to do,” added Klinck. Montgomery, a Charles Page alumnus, earned his 100th win as the Spartans’ head coach. 

Bixby outgained Sand Springs 555 yards to 81, forced ten punts, got a turnover on downs, sacked Ty Pennington five times, and totaled 16 tackles for loss.

“They were definitely more physical than us,” said Klinck. “That comes with off-season weight room stuff. We’ve just got to really grind and get into that to where we’re not missing weeks during the summer. That’s got to be our culture.”

Bixby has out-physicaled everyone they’ve played this year, including No. 2 Choctaw who they beat 70-7 the week prior. The Sandite defense actually held up well, considering their world-class opponent. 

Sand Springs forced one punt and three turnovers on downs, and got two takeaways deep in their own territory. Ryder Barnes picked off Spartan senior quarterback Christian Burke on Bixby’s first possession, and Trevor Stone recovered a fumble on the Spartans’ last possession. 

“I think that in the first quarter we showed some fight,” said Klinck. “Defensively we showed some fight. We kind of got off to a rocky start offensively, which hasn’t happened all year so that was pretty surprising.”

A quick three-and-out ended in a punt snap out the back of the end zone for a safety, followed by five more Sandite punts before they successfully moved the chains.

“I thought we had some good matchups,” said Klinck. “So we just need to watch the tape and see where we can get our playmakers in spots to get the ball. Because that’s what Bixby does. They’ve got some pretty good playmakers and do an unbelievable job of getting it to them in space.”

The Sandite defense matched up well against a loaded Spartan backfield, holding Bixby to a season-low 4.8 yards per carry.

“That’s kind of our staple here that we’re going to defend the run,” said Klinck. “We’ve just got to do a better job of pursuing the ball. You got guys like the Presley kid, I mean he’s going to OSU for a reason. When they put him in positions to make plays then that’s all about pursuit and effort and we’ve got to try to get that guy down.”

Oklahoma State-committed senior Braylin Presley accounted for 151 yards receiving and 51 yards rushing with four total touchdowns. Burke passed for 326 yards and four touchdowns against the Sandites.

Pennington passed 14-of-28 for 106 yards and two touchdowns for the Sandites, with both scoring throws going to Keaton Cambell, who was 6-82 receiving.

“I was proud of our guys’ fight,” said Klinck. “We’re a better team than that. That’s a really good football team, they’ve got some really good players. They’re well coached. But we’re better than that. I’m proud of our guys for the most part. We’ve just got to become more physical.”

“We’re going to reset this, 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.”

The Sandites have one more big test in the regular season when they host No. 2 Choctaw (5-2, 3-1) Friday at 7:00 p.m. 

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