Sandites take sixth place at Edison Green and White Tournament

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Story and photo by: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

The Charles Page High School boys (2-7) settled for a sixth place finish at the Edison Green and White Tournament Saturday afternoon, falling 2-0 to the host team for a 1-2 tournament record. 

The Eagles (5-3) got off to a heavy offensive early on and the bulk of the first half was spent in Sandite territory, with shots ringing out left and right. Steven Astin got off one shot that was completely undefended and miraculously caught the goal post for the save.

Sophomore Blake Faulkner was all over the ball but took a while to get sighted in. His first shot deflected off a Sandite defender, two minutes later he sent one wide left, and two minutes after that he sent one high through the football goal posts. Finally he found his mark in the 12th minute and found an opening under triple coverage to fire a shot right to the center of the goal. 

Edison didn't stop their press there. Cameron Chamberlin took a shot just two minutes later, then Eddie Vargas bounced one off a Sandite's back a few minutes later. 

Sand Springs finally began to make some offensive moves in the 21st minute as Ethan Baxter, who just recorded a hat trick in Friday's victory over Regent Prep, made a close run at goal but was tripped up by the Eagle goalie who made a dive at the ball. 

Austin Morrison had a very close shot as he bounced a header off the ground in front of the goal and it just narrowly flew high. Alex Hernandez sent in a corner kick soon after and Kaleb Brooks sent a header high and wide. 

From there, however, the Eagles returned to the offense for the duration of the half. Vargas and Angel Torres each took long shots that sailed high. In the final minute Sand Springs tried to rally as Hernandez took a wide shot with 45 seconds left and Cade Loomin made a run at goal in the final seconds, but regulation expired with the Sandites in a 1-0 hole.

The second half was a lot slower, but Edison furthered their lead to 2-0 with a goal in the 11th minute by Jack Coon. Hernandez got off another pair of shots for the Sandites, sending one high and one wide, and Morrison got another close call as he tipped one off the post with 2:40 remaining. Unfortunately the boys were unable to rally and ran out of steam.

The Sandites will return to action Tuesday night at Union (6-0).

Ethan Baxter scores hat trick in 4-1 victory over Regent Prep

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Story and photo by: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

The Charles Page High School boys soccer team (2-6) snapped a five-game losing streak with a dominating 4-1 performance against Regent Prep (0-4) in round two of the Edison Green and White Tournament Friday afternoon. Freshman Ethan Baxter scored the first hat trick of the season for the Sandites and Kaleb Brooks added the exclamation point in the moral victory.

Sand Springs took the lead early on in the eighth minute off a Baxter header. The Rams tried to get off a shot three minutes later but Sandite keeper Ethan Tippit was quick with the save to maintain the lead. 

Baxter was back at it again on the next Sandite drive and scored another goal exactly four minutes after his first, this time on a wide open shot at center. Simon Hollekve got in a close battle with the Regent keeper that looked more like a wrestling match than a soccer match, but ultimately the Ram got the ball scooped up for the save. 

Tippit was all over the ball whenever the Rams actually got shots off, which was rare, but he unfortunately wasn't expecting his own teammates to make a go at him and Regent got on the board off a wild own-goal nine minutes into the second half. 

The Sandites took a few wide shots throughout the second half, none very close, till Baxter completed his hat trick with 5:20 to play. 

The Rams only got off one close shot in the second half, a powerful kick by Mitchell Love, but he was no match for the eager arms of Tippit. 

Baxter finally let another Sandite in on the scoring action as Cade Loomin set up Brooks for a 4-1 lead with 1:50 to play.

Baxter leads the team in scoring now with 4 goals for the season, followed by Andrew Morrison with 3, Brooks with 2, and Alex Hernandez, Loomin, and Cody Gurley with 1 each. 

Sand Springs will play Saturday at 1:15 for fifth place in the tournament. Their opponent has not been decided yet. The Lady Sandites (7-1) will play in the tournament championship round Saturday at 6:30 against Edison (3-4).

Andrew Morrison scores lone Sandite goal; Pryor wins 2-1 at Edison Tournament

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Story and photo by: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

The Charles Page High School boys soccer team (1-6) dropped their fifth straight in the opening round of the Edison Green and White Tournament Friday morning at LaFortune Stadium to the Pryor Tigers (5-1).

It was a slow starter with the first shot not coming till Pryor's Hayden Spencer got off a goal with 19:40 on the clock. The goal was more of an accident than anything as the ball deflected off his foot at point-blank and everyone in the box, including him, lost track of it. The ball slow-rolled to net before anyone even realized what was happening. 

David Gomez took a wide shot with 15:49 left, but the next seven minutes were spent mid-field. Sand Springs finally got on the board with 8:15 in the half as Austin Morrison headed in a goal off a Logan Jeffus assist to tie things up for the duration.

Ben Holloway nearly retook the lead for the Tigers with 3:35 left on a header that snuck slightly wide, but by halftime there was still no edge for either team.

Quint Ramsey took a wide shot two minutes into the second half, but Sand Springs put forward a strong offensive and drove back to the Pryor box where Alex Hernandez got off a super close shot that keeper Jacob Ryhmer barely deflected.

Pryor's Margareto Gomez and Juan Charqueno each got shots off in the 40th minute (tournament play was only sixty minutes per game) but Sandite keeper Edgar Soberano made great saves on each. 

With under eight minutes to play, Margareto Gomez got off a goal for the lead. Soberano snagged another another save with 1:30 to play and the Sandites were driving back to Tiger territory when Sam Watson went down with a hurt leg and disrupted the Sandite momentum. William Pelfrey got off a shot with 0:03 left but it went wide and the Tigers came out with the win.

Sand Springs will play again today at 3:00 pm against Regent Prep (0-3) who lost to Memorial in the opening round.

Sandite soccer splits with Booker T: girls win 2-0, boys fall 4-1

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Story and photo by: Virgil Noah, Marketing Director

It has been a troubling year so far for the Charles Page High School Varsity Boys soccer team, who came into Tuesday night's game with a record of just 1-4. The Booker T. Washington Varsity Boys came into the first game of district play with a much better record of 3-0 and looked very formidable coming in. 

The Hornets got off to a hot start with Senior captains Zach Canady and Joseph Cuellar each scoring a goal to put their squad up 2-0. The visiting team's defense stifled the Sandite offense for nearly the entirety of the first half, until Senior forward Cody Gurley corralled a loose ball and fired a shot that squeaked by Hornet keeper Zac Haney. The Sandite goal came in the 39th minute and cut the lead in half going into the break. 

The second half would see a more aggressive Sandite offense, as they made far more trips into the box. Sand Springs nearly evened the game in the 50th minute when a left footed strike hit the right post and shot out of bounds. That would be as close as they would get though as Max Pettett, a sophomore midfielder, netted a header in the 63rd minute and Cuellar scored his second goal of the match on a penalty in the 66th to seal things for Booker T. 

The loss puts the Sandites at 1-5 (0-1) on the year and the Hornets continue their undefeated start at 4-0 (1-0). Charles Page will play next April 1-2 at the Edison Tournament. 

The Charles Page and Booker T Washington girls soccer teams both entered the district opener with records well over .500 for the year. The Lady Hornets carried an undefeated record of 4-0 with them into Memorial Stadium to face the Lady Sandites who boasted a record of 4-1 on the season. The lone Sand Springs loss came at the hands of Metro Christian Academy by a score of 1-0, but Bobby Behrens's girls have gotten back on track beating Enid 5-0 and Bixby 2-1. 

Sand Springs took a major hit offensively coming in, as Senior captain and leading goal scorer Kayla Foster was unable to play due to injury. Foster has scored 7 goals in the first 5 games, including a pair of hat tricks. 

The Lady Hornets made a strong run at goal in the opening minute as Freshman forward Lauren Cousins played a ball in to fellow freshman midfielder McKenna Raley who took a shot that went just wide to the right of the goal. That would prove to be the only shot of the half for Booker T. as the two teams would simply trade possession for the remainder of the half. The Lady Sandites managed one shot midway through the opening 40 minutes, and it came on a Brooklyn Eardley free kick that sailed well over the top of the goal. 

Both teams seemed to really pick up the pace in the second half as they traded shots for the first 20 minutes with Sandite keeper Abigail Banks making a key stop on a shot by Cousins. Sand Springs finally found pay dirt in the 64th minute when Eardley collected a loose ball on the left sideline, cut past her defender towards goal, took a couple of touches and stroked a shot inside post past the keeper. Kyndal Zicker got in on the fun as the junior contributed with her 5th goal of the season coming in the 76th minute.  The Lady Hornets refused to give up though, as Cousins and the offense continued to press forward and get off shots, but Banks and the Sandite back line stood strong and completed the shutout. It was Banks's fourth clean sheet of the year and the girls's third straight victory. 

The victory moves the Sandite girls to 5-1 (1-0) and the Lady Hornets fall to 4-1 (0-1). Sand Springs will play this weekend, April 1-2 at the Edison tournament.

Sandite soccer shuts out Muskogee but drops losses to Metro Christian

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By: Virgil Noah, Marketing Director and Sports Journalist

Photo by: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

Bobby Behrens's Lady Sandites stormed into Tuesday night's matchup with Metro Christian (3-1) having shut out their last two opponents by a combined score of 15-0. The Lady Patriots would prove to be too much for the Lady Sandites, winning by a final score of 1-0. 

Offensively the girls made a multitude of well timed runs and executed some well-placed passes, but could never quite make it to the ball before Metro junior goalkeeper Olivia Gordan snatched up the ball. The two teams took the game into the second half scoreless as both Gordan and Abigail Banks, Sandite sophomore goalie, made some impressive saves. 

Gordan would continue to stop everything that came her way in the second half. 14 minutes in Brooklyn Eardley passed to Kayla Foster in the box who then dribbled to the left and took a shot towards back post, but Gordan was all over it. After a couple of shots went just wide for the Lady Patriots, Freshman forward Chloe Tregoning took a pass up the right line, cut inwards, and scored a goal just past the diving arms of Banks.

Sand Springs, who defeated East Central 10-0 and Muskogee 5-0 in a very physical game the week prior, was held scoreless for just the second time all season. The loss puts them at 2-1 for the year. 

The Sand Springs boys came in on a high note, after notching their first victory of the season in a shutout of Muskogee 4-0. Metro Christian Academy (3-0) got off to a very quick start scoring in 1:08 as Sandite keeper Edgar Soberano came out of goal in pursuit of a pop up. Soberano lost track of the ball and Patriot Junior midfielder Nick Mckee was able to tap in an easy goal to get things going. The leading scorer however was Senior Riley Mayes who scored on a pair on goals later in the half, one of which was assisted by fellow forward Tyler LaCourse. The final goal for the visiting Patriots came off of a free kick by LaCourse in which there was a cluster of players blocking Soberano's vision allowing the ball to squeak by unseen. 

Soberano and the Sandite back line were able to keep Metro off the board in the second half, but were unable to net a goal. The loss will drop them to 1-2 for the season. Both Sand Springs squads will look to get back into the win column as they play Enid at home on Friday. 

Lady Sandite Soccer starts season hot with 10-0 mercy rule shutout

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By: Virgil Noah, Marketing Director

Tuesday night’s game was over practically as soon as it began. The Charles Page High School Lady Sandite soccer team (1-0) got off to a racing start against East Central (0-1) as Missouri University of Science signee Kayla Foster scored a pair of goals before a minute had even run off of the clock. Eight more Sandite shots would find the back of the net and the game was stopped less than 23 minutes in due to a 10 goal mercy rule.

The girls also won the Stillwater scrimmage tournament in the preseason, beating Ponca City 2-1, Stillwater 3-0, and Mannford 3-0.

Leading the way in scoring for the Sandites were Foster and junior Megan DeShazo each picking up hat tricks at three goals apiece. Oral Roberts University signee Brooklyn Eardley and Kyndal Zicker each scored two goals to round out the scoring. Passing played a big part in the win, with 7-out-of-10 goals coming off of assists. Zicker, DeShazo, and Eardley assisted on 2 goals each and Gracen Taylor came up with the final assist.

Defensively the Lady Sandites painted a picture of perfection by holding the Lady Cardinals not only without a shot attempt, but without a trip inside the box for the entirety of the 23 minutes played.

The Sandite boys (0-1) faced a much tougher task and came up a bit short, falling 3-1 to the Cardinals (1-0). The first half saw little action for the initial 25 minutes, but East Central started to turn up the heat with 4 narrow misses on the Sand Springs goal. It was the Sandites however that struck first blood. With just 51 seconds remaining in the first half a shot deflected off the Cardinal keeper and slowly bounced in for a 1-0 halftime advantage. East Central would ultimately get on track scoring 3 second half goals in a matter of 3 and a half minutes to secure the victory.

Next up for Sand Springs is a road trip to Muskogee, Varsity Girls will begin at 6 pm and Varsity Boys at 8.