Sandites Fall 41-14 to Booker T. Washington in Second Half Shutout
/At halftime it looked like the district meeting between No. 5 Booker T. Washington (5-4, 4-2) and No. 6 Sand Springs (5-4, 3-3) would end up in a down-to-the-wire battle.
Instead, the Hornets held the Sandites to 48 yards in a second-half shutout to clinch third place in District 6AII-2.
The Hornets prevailed 41-14 on Senior Night behind a dominant defensive effort and a typical performance from Arkansas-commit Micah Tease, who finished the night with four catches for 162 yard and four touchdowns.
“He’s just an outstanding player,” said third-year head coach Jonathan Brown. “That’s why he’s committed to Arkansas. He’s a D1-caliber player. We’ve just got to find good ways to get him the ball. If we do that, we’ll be fine.”
The Hornets took a 14-0 lead into the second quarter after Lathan Boone flipped a 12-yard shovel pass to Tease as he was getting tackled on a designed keeper. Then Boone ran in the second score from 10 yards out.
The Sandites scored on a 20-yard pass from Easton Webb to Jabe Schlehuber early in the second, but Tease responded with a 58-yard reception to go up 20-7.
RJ Smittick blocked the point-after and the Sandites made it a one-possession game with an 11-yard pass from Webb to Brody Rutledge with 1:55 in the half.
It looked like momentum was on the Sandites’ side after Dallas Elifrits made a huge sack on the Hornets’ ensuing possession, but Boone responded by airing out a 49-yard completion to Grayson Chalk and soon scored on an 11-yard toss to Tease. Boone added a two-point scamper on a fake kick.
“(At halftime) we just told our guys to play harder and play tighter,” said Brown.
“We were making a few little mistakes throughout the first half. We just tidied those up as far as playing tight and getting our hands on the receivers. We were just letting them run so I thought we did a really good job of getting them off their lanes and making it tough for them.”
The Hornets ended the night with 14 tackles for loss and Elias Sherman had three sacks in crucial moments.
“Elias has been doing a good job for us all year,” said Brown. “He’s one of our captains. He’s a big time player for us and I think he’s one of the most unstoppable players in Oklahoma right now. He dominates up front and we’ve just got to make sure we get him in one-on-one situations.”
Washington held a typically lethal Sandite run game to negative yardage in the second half.
“Our whole philosophy on defense is to make them one dimensional or take what they do well and take it away from them. I thought we did a good job on defense of taking away the run and forcing them to pass.”
Midway through the third quarter Daylin Mayes blocked Jonathan Daniels’ punt in the end zone and Jayden Oates recovered it for the touchdown. Then Tease added an 81-yard scoring reception late in the third for the final points of the game.
“We’ve just got to keep getting better,” said Brown. “Just keep grinding.”
Washington will return to action Friday at Putnam City West (3-6, 1-5) while the Sandites will host U.S. Grant (0-9, 0-6) in the first-ever meeting between the two programs.
BTW;14;14;13;0--;41
CPHS;0;14;0;0--;14
First Quarter
BTW - Tease 12 pass from Boone (Patel kick), 9:59
BTW - Boone 10 run (Patel kick), 5:38
Second Quarter
CPHS - Schlehuber 20 pass from Webb (Daniels kick), 9:28
BTW - Tease 58 pass from Boone (kick failed), 8:48
CPHS - Rutledge 11 pass from Webb (Daniels kick), 1:55
BTW - Tease 11 pass from Boone (Boone run), 0:29
Third Quarter
BTW - Oates blocked punt return (Patel kick), 6:17
BTW - Tease 81 pass from Boone (kick failed), 3:10
Fourth Quarter
Team Statistics
First Downs: BTW 16, CPHS 9. Rushes-Yards: BTW 24-146, CPHS 33-41. Comp-Att-Int: BTW 18-33-0, CPHS 14-22-0. Passing Yards: BTW 355, CPHS 126. Total Yards: BTW 501, CPHS 167. Fumbles-Lost: BTW 1-0, CPHS 1-1. Penalty Yards: BTW 85, CPHS 26. Punts-AVG: BTW 3-33.3, CPHS 9-32.5. Records: BTW 5-4 (4-2), CPHS (5-4, 3-3).
