Division 6A-II Sandite Pride Week 2 round-up/ Week 3 Rankings and Predictions

 By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

Five teams remain undefeated in 6A-II after the week 2 bouts. Here are the new Sandite Pride rankings and predictions for this upcoming weekend.

#1 Charles Page (2-0, 0-0) District-1

The Sand Springs Sandites walked all over Enid in a 33-7 sabotage of the Plainsmen's homecoming. CPHS had over 400 yards of total offense and limited the home team to only 162. Last week the Sandites leveled the Hale Rangers 61-8 while Enid was smashed 41-14 at Ponca City. Sand Springs will take on 5A Guthrie at home this Friday.

Last week I picked CPHS by 24; the Sandites slightly outdid my expectations with a 26 point win.

Week 3 Pick: Sand Springs 35, Guthrie 24

#2 Bixby (1-1, 0-0) District-1

The 2014 6A-II State Champions, improved to 1-1 overall with a 71-7 win over 5A East Central (0-2). Bixby's first game was a 58-24 loss to the 2014 6A-1 State Champs at Jenks who this week affirmed their #1 ranking with a 45-27 win over Union. East Central's first loss was a 47-0 shutout to Bartlesville (2-0).

Last week I picked Bixby to win by 54 points which was 10 points shy of the damage they actually did.

Week 3 Pick: Bixby 54, Springdale AR 13

#3 Booker T Washington (2-0, 0-0) District-1

BTW put a 62-16 beat down on 4A Tulsa Central Friday, improving on their 28-16 win over Midwest City last week. The numbers are solid but their enemy was not. The Braves are 0-2 and unranked. Last year they won only two games and aren't expected to fair much better this year. The Hornets should breeze through their next four opponents and won't experience a real challenge till Bartlesville and Bixby at the end of October.

Last week I picked BTW by 35 points--an underestimation of 9 points.

Week 3 Pick: BTW 56, East Central 6

#4 Midwest City (1-1, 0-0) District-2

Midwest City won their first game of the season against cross-town rivals 5A #4 Carl Albert (1-1) in a close 28-21. It turned from a beat down to a dog fight as MWC's 28-0 3rd-quarter lead quickly dissipated and Carl Albert was barely held off from a touchdown drive that could have forced overtime. MWC has nine new starters on both sides of the ball and they'll need to really break them in before Del City this weekend.

Last week I picked MWC by 12 points.

Week 3 Pick: Del City 35, MWC 31

#5 Bartlesville (2-0, 0-0) District-1

#12 Enid (0-2, 0-0) District-2

The Bruins may be off to a better start than last year, but considering their wins were 46-0 over unranked 5A East Central and 42-14 over the 4A #6 Cascia Hall, its unclear how well they'll do when it comes to district play. Enid however, has been walked all over this season and hasn't had a win yet.

Last week I picked Bartlesville to win by 35 and was one touchdown off from their 28 point win. Enid lost by 2 points more than my 24 point prediction. 

Week 3 Pick: Barlesville 35, Enid 12

#6 Choctaw (2-0, 0-0) District-2

The Choctaw Yellowjackets may be undefeated, but it's against teams that are at the bottom of everybody's list. 38-12 in Week one over Sapulpa and 24-13 over unranked 6A-I Putnam City Friday. Choctaw has a lot to clean up before they'll make anyone's top picks this season--especially after committing 22 penalties for 172 yards against PC. Their passing game needs some major workup too as they connected on less than half of 26 attempts for under 100 yards.

Week 3 Pick: Choctaw 34, Putnam City North 28

#7 Muskogee (0-2, 0-0) District-1

The Rougher's record may not look good this season, but it's a noticeable improvement over last year. Muskogee suffered a 33-22 loss to 5A #5 McAlester who defeated them 35-7 last year, and Friday they lost 34-25 to 6A-1 #5 Owasso who shut them out 34-0 last year. The Roughers were 3-7 last year and should be expected to finish around 5-5 or better this year.

Either I put too much faith in Owasso or too little in Muskogee as the Roughers only lost by 9 points as opposed to the 3 touchdowns I expected.

Week 3 Pick: Fayetteville AR 21, Muskogee 0

#8 Putnam City West (1-1, 0-0) District-2

The Patriots narrowly lost 47-42 in week one to 5A #1 Del City and smoked cross-town rivals PC North 29-6. PCW hasn't had a winning season since 2000 and in the last 14 years they've gone 18-122. It appears the team may finally be on the up-and-up.

Last week I picked PCW by six points. The game was actually won by 23.

Week 3 Pick: Putnam City 18, PCW 16

#9 Ponca City (1-1, 0-0) District-1

The Wildcats started the season hot with a 42-14 win over Enid, but choked against 5A unranked Guthrie, 28-19. 

I had picked Guthrie by 14 points, the blue jays won by 9.

Week 3 Pick: Ponca 28, Shawnee 7

#10 Claremore (2-0, 0-0) District-1

The Red Zebras may not be winning by a lot, but they're undefeated and have won as many games this year as they did through all of last year. They narrowly beat Pryor 21-20 this week, but had a solid edge on Rogers, AR 18-7.

Last week I picked Rogers by six and was happily wrong as our Okies won by 11.

Week 3 Pick: Siloam Springs 28, Claremore 21

#11 Lawton (1-1, 0-0) District-2

#14 Sapulpa (1-1, 0-0) District-1

The Lawton Wolverines are far from a team to laugh at, but they've certainly fallen off their pedestal from last year. They won 56-35 over Salina, Kansas last week--a team that they beat 49-3 the year before. This week they barely put up points  against in-town 5A rivals, MacArthur. MacArthur's starting QB went down with a leg injury early in the 2nd quarter, but even with the backup in, Mac managed a 13-0 lead into the half. MacArthur's 33-12 was a notable improvement over their narrow 35-33 winlast year. With divisional play not starting till the Wolverines travel to Sapulpa next week, there's still plenty of time for them to find their mojo and make a run at the state title--but they'll definitely need to make some improvements if they're going to stand a chance against District-1's top dogs. 

Sapulpa is healthily recovering from a 1-9 record last year with a new head coach and a 55-0 shutout of Tulsa Hale. At the least, they'll tie their record from last year. I expect them to do a little better but I doubt if I'd pick them for a winning season. They lost 38-12 to Choctaw in week one. 55-0 sounds impressive, but Hale has lost their last 27 consecutive games and 8 of those were shutouts of 50+ points. 55-0 was the same score Sapulpa managed last year. 

I picked Sapulpa to win by 41 points last week and they outdid my expectations by a pair of touchdowns.

I picked Lawton by 13 last week and was way off as Mac topped them by 21.

Week 3 Pick: Lawton 48, Sapulpa 27

#13 Stillwater (0-2, 0-0) District-2

The Plainsmen are non-contenders this year, losing 31-7 to 5A unranked Deer Creek and 41-14 to 6A-1 Mustang.

I picked Mustang by 31 points last week and was only 4 points off.

Week 3 Pick:  Stillwater 21, Edmond North 14

#15 Eisenhower (0-2, 0-0) District-2

Eisenhower is off to a rough start this year after a 58-6 loss to #3 Fayetteville, AR and a 41-14 loss to 5A #1 Del City. Last year they went 4-6--this year I expect them to do worse. 

Week 3 Pick: MacArthur 35, Ike 9

 

 

 

CPHS ruins Enid's homecoming with 33-7 win

 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.

Week 2 6A-II Football Match-ups and Predictions

#1 Bixby (0-1) vs 5A East Central (0-1) Sandite Pride pick: Bixby +54

#2 Booker T Washington (1-0) @ 4A Tulsa Central (0-1) Sandite Pride pick: BTW +35

#3 Charles Page (1-0) @ #12 Enid (0-1) Sandite Pride pick: CPHS +24

#4 Bartlesville vs 4A Cascia Hall (1-0) Sandite Pride pick: Bartlesville +35

#5 Lawton (1-0) @ 5A MacArthur (1-0) Sandite Pride pick: Lawton +13

#6 Midwest City (0-1) vs 5A Carl Albert (1-0) Sandite Pride pick: MWC +12

#7 Muskogee (0-1) @ 6A-I Owasso (0-1) Sandite Pride pick: Owasso +21

#8 Choctaw (2-0) defeated 6A-I Putnam City (1-1) Thursday night 24-13

#9 Ponca City (1-0) @ 5A Guthrie (0-1) Sandite Pride pick: Guthrie +14

#10 Lawton Eisenhower (0-2) lost to 5A Del City (2-0) 41-14 Thursday night

#11 Stillwater (0-1) vs 6A-I Mustang (1-0) Sandite Pride pick: Mustang +31

#13 Claremore (1-0) vs Arkansas 7A Rogers (0-1) Sandite Pride pick: Rogers +6

#14 Putnam City West (0-1) vs 6A-1 Putnam City North (0-1) Sandite Pride pick: PCW +6

#15 Sapulpa (0-1) @ 5A Tulsa Hale (0-1) Sandite Pride pick: Sapulpa +41

Week 2 Football Rankings

By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

Here's the consolidated rankings for all you stat geeks like me out there.

Sand Springs at Enid: Week 2 Pre-game

Friday, September 11th, the 1-0 Charles Page High School Sandites will travel to Enid to take on the 0-1 Plainsmen in the second game of the season. 

CPHS annihilated the 5A Nathan Hale Rangers at the Eastside Sports Complex in their season opener 61-8, while Enid was handily defeated 41-14 at Ponca City.

Both teams are led by inexperienced Quarterbacks. Sand Springs junior Hunter Greathouse got his first varsity start against Hale and threw for two touchdowns before the JV squad went in at the second half. Enid’s Tanner Lingenfelter, a senior, started against Ponca and was replaced late in the second quarter by junior Colton Troxell. Troxell went 5-of-15 passing for 105 yards and two touchdowns, and led his team in rushing with 45 yards. Lingenfelter is now listed as WR in the current roster from Enid so it’s unclear who will get the start this Friday.

Dustin Kinard is in his ninth year as the Sand Springs Head Coach and has a record of 41-45 with four trips to the playoffs. If the Sandites perform as well this season as they have the past three seasons, he can expect to claim a winning record this year. His win over Hale helped him move up a rung on the Sand Springs ladder, surpassing Gary Quimby in win percentage.

Steve Hayes is in his first year at Enid, but was Head Coach at Texas’s Trinity Christian Academy for 11 years where he amassed an 88-49 record that included 11-straight playoff appearances and 4 state final games.

Sand Springs has an 11-14 record against Enid.

The series began in 1978 when AD James was Head Coach in Sand Springs. The Plainsmen won the first three installments, 7-6 in Enid, 13-12 in SS, and 20-14 in Enid. Quimby took over in 1980 and the Sandites won the fourth installment 21-7 at home under QB Eric Haines.

By their next meeting in ‘88, LD Baines was the man in charge in SS and Blair Culley was QB. The Sandites won 40-16 at home, but were not so fortunate the next two years. With Brett Pennington at QB, the Sandites lost 10-9 on the road, then 17-3 at home in ‘89-90. ‘90 was a big year for CPHS as they defeated both Union and Jenks in a playoff run before losing to Putnam City North in the semi-finals.

Enid won 24-14 in 1991 and 35-6 in ‘94 before SS finally scored the first shutout of the series, 20-0 in ‘95 with QB Dustin Morrow. The Plainsmen were shutout again in ‘96 by Keith Hooks, 21-0, then were defeated 30-22 in the famed ‘97 season when CPHS went 12-1 before losing by three points to Yukon in the semi-finals.

SS won the next two games before entering their dark days in 2000. The Plainsmen won 21-6, 45-29, 40-7, and 34-6 before a 4-year hiatus in the series.

The next time the Plainsmen met the Sandites was 2008—their first game against Dustin Kinard. They beat the Minutemen 38-23, 28-14, and 44-29 before the Sandites finally turned it around with QB Darrack Harger in 2011. Harger threw 14-of-27 for 272 yards and two touchdowns in a 59-13 beat-down.

From there it’s been all Sandite wins. 2012 was the best year for the Sandites since ‘97 and the Enid game was a big one. Cody Hildebrant became the highest-scoring receiver in school history with 11 touchdowns, and QB Cody Hale broke the single-season passing record with over 2,200 yards and tied the school record of passing touchdowns with 21. The Sandites won 35-21.

2013 saw the Sandites beat the Plainsmen 21-16 to place second in district and secure their first home playoff game since ‘97—which they went on to lose to Westmoore 31-10.

Last year the Sandites narrowly held off a two-point-conversion with a minute to play that would have tied the game, and won 16-14.  Charles Page went on to finish the season 8-4 and win their first playoff game since ‘97.

Enid’s longest winning streak against SS is 7 games, opposed to 5 by SS. CPHS has won the last 4 matchups.

Kick-off is at 7PM in Enid, so come support your Sandites on their path to state!

Division 6A-II District-1 Week 1 Roundup

2014 6A-II State Champions Bixby fell to the top-ranked 6A-I Champions from Jenks at home Friday in a 58-24 beat-down that may cause many to rethink their ranking of Bixby as the #2 team in the state. Then again, the Spartans lost to the Trojans 66-20 in their season-opener last year, so maybe there really is just that much of a gap between the top teams. Bixby managed only 14 first downs to Jenks’s 20, and managed only 310 total yards, and punted an average of only 32.8 yards. Add to that 2 fumbles and they didn’t exactly perform like state champions. I’d be surprised if Bixby falls more than a spot in the Division2 rankings, if at all, but I expect them to fall behind Union and Southmoore in MaxPreps State rankings.

Booker T Washington had a solid victory over Midwest City in their season opener, winning 28-16 at Midwest City whom they only defeated 17-12 at their home field last year. Their next five games were won 227-0 last year, so it’s not unreasonable to think the upcoming season will be even more impressive. BTW is led by a new, but far from inexperienced Quarterback, in Senior Dakarai Willis. Midwest City may have been clearly defeated, but they were far from destroyed. After being caught off guard with two 90-yard kick-off returns by BTW’s Rylan McQuarters, MWC held BTW scoreless for the second half and rallied for two fourth-quarter touchdowns. Washington will easily handle the 4A Central Braves next week and the Bombers should have no problem taking down 5A #10 Carl Albert.

The 5A East Central Cardinals had a score of impressive seasons, culminating in a 2005 State Title, but haven’t had a winning season since 2012.  They’ve only managed a 7-13 record over the last two seasons, so they’re not exactly a big deal to beat. However, Bartlesville hasn’t had a winning season in even longer, so improving from a 48-27 win in 2014 to a 47-0 shutout in 2015 is a good way to kick off the season. Next week the Bruins face Cascia Hall, and though they’re only 4A, they’ve put up impressive records the last few seasons, and claimed 3 consecutive state titles from 2007-2009. It should be a good match for a rebuilding 6A team.

Muskogee lost 33-22 to 5A semi-finalists McAlester, which was actually an improvement over their 35-7 season debut last year—which ended in a 3-7 season record. At one point they even led 22-19, a marked improvement from their last several season openers. It’s quite possible that they’ll make a legitimate playoff run this year. Muskogee takes on Owasso next week, and despite a 21 point shutout by Union, the Rams should still make quick work of the Roughers.

Charles Page lost a lot of big names from 2014, including their starting QB, Kicker, and star RB/WR. They also put into place some young new talent in Junior QB Hunter Greathouse who had an excellent debut in Page’s 61-8 domination of 5A Nathan Hale. Though the Sandites have Enid next week; their first real test will be in two weeks against Guthrie.

Ponca City devastated Enid 42-14 on the Plainsmen’s home field in a full reversal from their 14-13 loss last year. Ponca has Guthrie for week two, which will be a real test of their season to come. Guthrie came into the season ranked fourth in 5A, but time will tell if their 28-27 loss to unranked Duncan was a fluke or foresight of the season to come.

The Claremore Zebras entered the season unranked by Tulsa World polls but won their first matchup against Pryor 21-20. After a 4-6 losing season in 2014, this could be a good sign for the season to come. Next week the Zebras have Rogers, Arkansas at home.

Finally, Sapulpa is in a major rebuilding year after a season of drama and devastating losses that amounted to a 1-9 record. With a new Head Coach in former Broken Arrow offensive coordinator Jake Corbin, the Chieftains can only move up from here. They suffered a 38-12 loss in their season opener at Choctaw, but considering their previous-season loss of 50-13, they already seem to be on the up and up.  Next week Sapulpa takes on Hale at home and can be expected to hang half a hundred on them easily.