November 07, 2015

Sandites shut out Spartans 20-0 on path to playoffs

November 07, 2015/ Scott Emigh

By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

The #3 Charles Page (5-4, 5-2) varsity football team had a huge night, handing the #4 Bixby Spartans (6-4, 4-3) their first shutout in seven years in a dominating 20-0 showdown at Memorial Stadium Friday night.

The team as a whole put up one of their best performances of the season, but several players in particular stole the show. Junior quarterback Hunter Greathouse was 5-8-0-109 in the first half that included a 63-yard touchdown pass to Kasey Bales.

Jaxon Starling, Jacob Taber, and Delvin Jordan tied for a team-high six tackles each. Starling had four tackles-for-loss totaling 41 yards, including 3 sacks. Jordan had three tackles-for-loss totaling 12 yards, including one 12-yard sack, as well as a fumble recovery. Taber had one tackle-for-loss.

The whole Sandite defense was incredible. Parker Taylor also picked up a fumble recovery and Cruz Desjarlais had three pass break-ups.

The game was clear Sandite domination from the get-go. The second play of the first Spartan drive resulted in a fumble recovered by the Sandites less than thirty seconds into the game.

The home team used a mere seven plays to move the ball 70 yards, ending in a 30 yard touchdown run by Payton Scott. Kasey Bales missed the first PAT of the night, but Sand Springs had taken an early 6-0 lead with 8:28 left in the first quarter.

Bixby never even reached Sand Springs territory before having the punt the ball away, and Sand Springs wasted no time in finding the endzone once again. Greathouse connected to Bales on a screen and the versatile receiver went 63 yards for the touchdown, then kicked his own point-after for a 13-0 lead with 2:39 in the quarter.

The following Bixby drive was pushed back for a loss of seven yards thanks to a two-yard tackle-for-loss by Jordan and a five-yard sack by Gage Fain, and the Spartans were once again forced to punt.

Lane Lettich took the handoff at the Sandite 41 and got behind the incredible Sand Springs O-line as they knifed through the would-be Spartan phalanx for a gain of six yards. Payton Scott found a hole on the next play and the home team was sitting pretty at 3rd and 1 at the 50 as the first quarter came to a close.

Ten plays later, Greathouse found his way into the endzone on a 1-yard quarterback sneak for his second touchdown of the night. Bales put up the extra point, and Sand Springs had a 20-0 lead with 7:39 left in the half. Now Sand Springs had to defend that lead for another 31 minutes.

Not much happened in the remainder of the first half, but the Spartans found their rallying cry at half-time and came out with all pistons firing for the third quarter.

It was the secondary’s time to shine as they prevented a fourth-down conversion attempt in their redzone early in the quarter, then got no rest as they were up against a Spartan possession that lasted more than four minutes and came down to the wire.

Bixby was first and goal at the Sandite 6 when Taber picked up a nice 4-yard TFL, then Jordan recovered a fumble to give the D a brief rest.

It wouldn’t last long, however. Four plays later, the Spartans were back at it with a 39-yard pass from Tucker Pawley to Conner Walker that put them right back at the Sandite 7. A pass attempt fell incomplete, then #33 Cole Dixon collided with #33 Nic Roller and proved himself the tougher of the two with a tackle-for-loss as the third period expired.

Next, Delvin Jordan sacked Tanner Griffin for a loss of 9, then Starling put the quarterback right back on the ground for a loss of 5 to hand the ball back over to the offense.

The remainder of the fourth quarter was a back and forth game of tug-a-war and once again Bixby threatened with 1st and 10 at the 11 with under a minute to play, but the game was finally wrapped up as Roller fumbled near the goal-line and Taylor recovered it to give the Sandites final-possession.

Despite the loss, several Bixby players put up impressive efforts. Griffin connected on 10 of 14 for 144 yards in the fourth quarter alone, for 218 overall.

Nic Roller is the #5 rusher in 6A with 1394 yards this season and 4425 career. Sand Springs held him to a meager 47 yards on 20 carries. The only other time this season he’s been held to such a low out-put was against Ponca when he only carried one time for twenty yards due to an injury.

This was the 24th meeting of the two teams, and Sand Springs was bloodthirsty after the Spartans beat them twice last season. This was only the second shutout of the series, the last time being 19-0 in 1997, also by Sand Springs. The series is split now with both teams sitting at 12 wins.

This win gave Sand Springs their first undefeated season at home in over a decade and their fourth consecutive winning record.

Next week Sand Springs will travel to #9 Stillwater (5-5, 4-2) for their fourth-consecutive playoff appearance. Sand Springs has a 10-28-1 record against the Pioneers.

November 06, 2015

Spartans at Sandites: Only 23 games in 93 years, but lots of bad blood

November 06, 2015/ Scott Emigh

By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

The first time the Sandites met the Spartans was in 1922 under head coach A.R. Bateman. It was the final game of the season and Sand Springs went into the game with a 2-5-2 record. Bixby won 19-14.

Sand Springs got their payback in 1926, once again in the final game of the season, with a 30-12 win to finish the season with a 5-2-2 record.

The Sandites took the series lead in the final game of 1927 with a 20-6 win to finish the season 4-4-2.

The two teams didn’t meet again till 1978 in a preseason scrimmage that the Sandites won.

In 1980 under first-year head coach Gary Quimby, Sand Springs traveled to Bixby and brought home a 10-7 victory in the second game of the season. Eric Haines was the quarterback and the team went on to finish with a 5-5 record. That year also saw an overtime upset of #1 ranked Union in week 3 and 18-0 shutout of Sapulpa at the Chieftain homecoming in week 4.

The following year, however, the Spartans beat Sand Springs on their home turf with a 14-12 win, then in '82 beat us 32-6. The 1982 team was coached by Chris Thurmond.

In 1983 Bixby beat Sand Springs 21-4, the first year of Sandite coaching legend LD Baines and took a 4-3 series lead.

By 1984 Baines had turned the program around and quarterback Shawn Morand led the Sandites to a 5-3 home win, then a 14-3 road win in '85.

The series took a seven-year hiatus before resuming at Memorial Stadium in 1992 where Bixby won 20-17 in overtime to even the series back out at 5-5.

In 1993 Delvin Jordan, Sr. was the quarterback and Sand Springs won 26-20 on the road. Jordan was named offensive player of the week by the Tulsa World. That year the Sandites went 7-4 and saw the season end in a 24-7 loss to Jenks in the playoffs.

Sand Springs managed only four wins in 1994, but still managed to smoke the Spartans 33-7 for a 7-5 series lead.

In 1995 Current Girls Head Basketball Coach Dustin Morrow was the quarterback as the Sandites went 6-4 in the regular season, but lost 17-10 to Bixby.

1996 and 1997 were magic years for Sand Springs and both saw substantial wins over the Spartans. 140 pound Keith Hooks was QB and the season started with a 28-7 win in 96 and the first shutout of the series 19-0 in 1997. Sand Springs made the playoffs both of those years and in 1997 went undefeated till the state semifinals where they finished the season with a 12-1 record.

In 1998 Archie Loehr took over the program from Baines and the Sandites went 5-5, starting the season with a 30-6 win against the Spartans.

In 1999 Sand Springs had a 10-6 lead, but their streak would come to an end with a 23-7 home loss.

Dustin Kinard became the Head Coach in 2007.

The rivalry took a hiatus until 2010 when Bixby handed the Sandites a 48-35 home loss to cap a disappointing 1-9 season.

In 2011 the program began to see some turnaround. Bixby defeated the Sandites 43-23 and the team ended with a 3-7 record, but five of those loses were by a touchdown or less.

By 2012, Sand Springs had reestablished itself as a force to be reckoned with. Cody Hale was a record-setting quarterback that year as our boys had their first 6-0 season start since 1997 that included a 21-7 week two victory over Bixby. It was also the last time the Sandites would defeat the Spartans.

In 2013 Bixby won 35-21 and Sand Springs finished with 6-5 record. Hale threw for 207 yards in that game.

In 2014 Class 6A was split into two divisions with each having their own playoffs and championship. The inequality between the top and bottom of 6A was greater than the inequality between 5A and A, and schools such as Broken Arrow had freshman classes larger than the entirety of Charles Page.

Last year, Sand Springs went 8-4 and won their first playoff game since 1997 in a 29-28 overtime win at Midwest City. In the final game of the regular season, Sand Springs barely lost 34-31 at Bixby, but were handily defeated 41-14 in the semifinals due to a string of injuries that left the starting quarterback, runningback, and kicker all unable to play. The starting nose-tackle was out for non-injury related reasons and the leading tackler had to fill in at QB leaving both sides of the ball drastically weakened. The Spartans would go on to win the inaugural 6A-II State Title over Lawton.

Bixby took the lead in the series and it now stands at 12-11 going into tonight’s game.

This season Sand Springs technically stands at 4-4, 4-2, though it should really be 7-2 overall. Two of those games were wins on the field that were forfeited due to an ineligible player, and one game against Guthrie was cancelled shortly before half time due to lightning. Sand Springs was leading that game 18-7 when it was called off. The only true losses for the Sandites were 24-7 at #2 Bartlesville and 17-14 at #1 Booker T Washington.

Bixby stands at 6-3, 4-2 and has losses to Jenks, Bartlesville, and Booker T.

November 06, 2015

Week 10 Rankings and Predictions

November 06, 2015/ Scott Emigh

By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

#1 Booker T Washington (8-0, 6-0) District 1

#7 Muskogee (3-6, 3-3) District 1

Don't expect any surprises here. Muskogee's a far better team than they've been in recent years, but after being knocked out of playoff contention there's little likelihood that they'll find the motivation to upset the #1 undefeated team. Expect OSU-commit Justice Hill to rush for a couple hundred yards as usual and Dakari Willis will probably look to stretch his arm out a bit before the playoffs.

The pick: BTW 56, Muskogee 14

#2 Bartlesville (8-1, 5-1) District 1

#13 Claremore (2-7, 0-6) District 1

Bartlesville consistently gives up points, but also consistently scores substantially more. It'll be a blow out, but I doubt it'll be a shut out. The Zebras have had a rough time this season with injuries, but they've still got heart and won't go down without a fight. Between Colton Penrod and Jarron Hilger, however, it should be a clear Bruin victory.

The pick: Bville 48, Claremore 13.

#3 Charles Page (4-4, 4-2) District 1

#4 Bixby (6-3, 4-2) District 1

Bixby has fallen quite a bit from their early season performance and barely edged by Muskogee last week in overtime while Sand Springs was close to upsetting top-ranked Booker T. On paper, this should be a clear pick. However, there's a lot of bad blood between the Sandites and Spartans after Bixby injured several Sand Springs players last year and beat them twice--once in the regular season and once in the semifinals. Muskogee's players hadn't even made it home yet before Twitter was blowing up with Sandite tweets calling out Bixby last week. The playoffs are locked up for both teams, but they'll be battling for the #3 seed so it should be a shootout, just like last year's 34-31 week 10 game. Bixby has one of the best runningbacks in the state in Nic Roller and Sand Springs has the best defense so it should be a great matchup.

The pick: Sand Springs 41, Bixby 35.

#5 Lawton (7-1, 5-0) District 2

#11 Choctaw (5-4, 2-3) District 2

The Wolverines wrapped up a district championship last week against Midwest City and their only loss was a rivalry matchup against the undefeated #1 team in 5A. Choctaw is coming to do battle, however, as they need a win to hold onto a playoff berth.

The pick: Lawton 48, Choctaw 24

#6 Midwest City (6-3, 4-2) District 2

Midwest City elected not to play a fourth non-district game and is taking a week off before the playoffs.

#8 Putnam City West (4-5, 2-3) District 2

#14 Enid (2-7, 1-4) District 2

It's down to the wire for PCW. The Patriots are already experiencing their best record since 2000, but after a big time upset by Eisenhower last week it still remains to be seen if they'll clinch their first playoff appearance since 1996. On paper, it should be locked up. But if Enid overcomes PCW like Ike did, then Choctaw will take the bottom seed in the playoffs.

The pick: PCW 47, Enid 35

#9 Stillwater (4-5, 3-2) District 2

#15 Eisenhower (1-8, 1-4) District 2

It's too late for Ike to reach the playoffs, but it's not too late for them to bump Stillwater down to the bottom seed and at least move up from the bottom rank of the division. The Eagles will be flying high after their 50-28 dominating upset @ PCW last week.

The pick: Stilly 38, Ike 35

#10 Ponca City (2-6, 1-5) District 1

#12 Sapulpa (2-6, 1-5) District 1

The Chieftains pulled off a narrow 1 point win last week against Claremore in the lowest scoring game of the season for 6A-II, but it was their first win since week 2 and it was an upset. Expect Dae Williams to cross the 1500 season rushing mark. Ponca doesn't have any huge stars like Williams, but they have a better talent-spread among the players. Keep your eyes on QB Conner Larson and the RB/WR combo of the Arita brothers.

The pick: Ponca 35, Sapulpa 21

My Record

Week 1: 10-2 (.833)
Week 2: 12-2 (.857)
Week 3: 6-3 (.666)
Week 4: 6-2 (.750)
Week 5: 5-3 (.625)
Week 6: 8-0 (1.00)
Week 7: 8-0 (1.00)
Week 8: 7-1 (.875)
Week 9: 6-2 (.750)
Overall: 68-15 (.819)

November 04, 2015

Sandite JV falls to Booker T Washington in final game of the season

November 04, 2015/ Scott Emigh

By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

The Charles Page Junior Varsity football team suffered a loss for its final game of the season Monday night, falling 40-6 to Booker T Washington at Memorial Stadium in Sand Springs.

Freshman quarterback Caden Pennington led the Sandites in offensive yardage with 105 passing and 3 rushing. Sophomore Ben Norte picked up 45 yards over 15 carries, followed by backup quarterback Cameron Smith who made a late fourth-quarter appearance for 31 yards on 4 carries.

Tre Finch and Austin McNatt were the defensive stars. Finch led the team with six tackles and the lone fumble recovery. McNatt had five tackles and two pass-breakups.

The junior Hornets emerged to an early lead on the fourth play of the game with a 29-yard touchdown reception. Sand Springs blocked the point-after attempt, but trailed 6-0 with 7:55 left in the first quarter.

Sand Springs drove the ball 31 yards before Josiah Chism punted it away to the Hornet 9 yard line.

Two plays later, the Hornets took to the air with a 90 yard touchdown pass. This time the PAT was good and the visitors had a 13-0 lead that they would take into the second quarter.

With 2:28 left in the half, a 2-yard quarterback keeper gave Booker T a 20-0 advantage. The corresponding kickoff was picked up by Colton Washington for a 43 yard return to the Hornet 37.

The Sandites had some magic up their sleeves and Pennington pitched a lateral to Cody Motes who connected with Tyler Smith for a 37-yard touchdown. A 2-pt conversion attempt failed, but the Sandites avoided a shut out with 1:57 left in the half.

Sand Springs wouldn’t have the final score of the quarter, however, as the Hornet quarterback launched a 38 yard pass for a touchdown and a 27-6 lead.

The home team tried to respond with a 42 yard pass from Pennington to Washington, but the receiver was finally drug down at the 10 and lost the ball as the clock expired.

The second half was a knock-down drag out as the Sandites managed only 85 yards of total offense over 21 plays.

The defense played a great third quarter, however, and held the Hornets scoreless. Finch snagged a fumbled lateral and the next drive took the ball to the Hornet 11 where a fourth-and-short attempt fell flat.

The secondary showed themselves strong when they put a stop to a 74 yard drive and held the Hornets to a field goal attempt that missed.

The visitors would not be denied in the fourth quarter, however, and scored on a 12 yard pass and a 40 yard interception for a final score of 40-6.

Stats (Sand Springs Only)

Click to Enlarge

November 04, 2015

Week 9 Roundup and Week 10 Rankings

November 04, 2015/ Scott Emigh

By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

#1 Booker T Washington (8-0, 6-0) District 1

#3 Charles Page (4-4, 4-2) District 1

The Hornets held off Sand Springs with a last minute field goal to further their series lead to 12-6, but it was the Sandites who were the stars of the show. Not only was SS the only team this season to lead the Hornets, but they thoroughly dominated offensively, beating the home team by 112 yards. The loss came down to two plays. First, Sand Springs had a 31 yard field goal nullified due to having only 10 players on the field, and the retry was fumbled due to the rain-slicked ball. Then, the visitors tried for a fourth and goal touchdown pass from the four instead of kicking a field goal.

The pick: BTW 43, CPHS 24.

Results: BTW 17, CPHS 14.

#2 Bartlesville (8-1, 5-1) District 1

#10 Ponca City (2-6, 1-5) District 1

The Wildcats managed to draw first blood with a first quarter field goal but four minutes later Bartlesville took the lead once and for all. Colton Penrod, the #3 quarterback in the state, passed for 228 yards and Jarron Hilger picked up 147 yards rushing. Ponca went down with all pistons firing, however, and Darrell Arita put up a valiant effort with 133 rush yards.

The pick: Bartlesville 56, Ponca 28.

Results: Bartlesville 42, Ponca 23.