Sandite defense overcomes Patriot surge for 29-24 victory at home

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Photo: Morgan Miller

By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

SCORING SUMMARY

1Q 6:07 Gooch 23 yard pass to Robinson. Castillo PAT. 7-0 PCW.
2Q 11:51 Greathouse 9 yard run. Bales PAT. 7-7.
2Q 2:41 Greathouse 1 yard run. Bales PAT. 14-7 SS.
2Q 2:39. Greathouse 26 yard pass to Morgan. Bales PAT. 21-7 SS.
2Q 0:05 28 yard field goal by Castillo. 21-10 SS.
3Q 5:42 Scott 1 yard run. PAT missed. 27-10 SS.
3Q 5:33 Safety. 29-10 SS.
4Q 10:21 Gooch 5 yard pass to Potts. Castillo PAT. 29-17 SS.
4Q 2:20 Gooch 14 yard pass to Robinson. Castillo PAT. 29-24 SS.

The No.6 ranked Charles Page High School varsity football team (1-2) scored their first win of the season in their home-opener against No. 11 Putnam City West (2-1), dealing the Patriots their first loss of the season. The Sandites were the favorite to win, but penalties and turnovers made the game far closer than it should have been. 

The Sandites received the opening kickoff and started the game with some fireworks as senior quarterback Hunter Greathouse received a double reverse and fired a pass downfield to junior tight-end Dash Fleischman for a 26 yard gain. The rest of the drive fell flat, however, and the Sandites turned the ball over after a failed fourth and 8 pass attempt at the Patriots' 34. 

The Patriots were simple and methodical in their first drive, taking four minutes to drive 66 yards to be the first team on the scoreboard. Putnam quarterback Trey Gooch connected with Nick Robinson from 23 yards out and Pablo Castillo sent in the point-after to take the 7-0 lead.

The Sandites' second drive also fell short due to penalties and solid Patriot defense. Payton Scott picked up a pair of first downs on the ground and landed the home team at the Patriot 14 thanks to a big run with a facemask penalty tacked on the end. From there, everything went in the visitors' favor. Greathouse dropped the snap for a loss of five, and Scott took a tackle-for-loss on the corresponding play. It looked like Scott might get a shot at the endzone on the next handoff, but the play was blown dead due to a holding penalty on the Sandites. A third-and-nineteen pass attempt was broken up in the endzone by Arich Ansley, and on fourth-down, Greathouse was sacked at the 32 by Jordan Ealy.

The Patriots didn't keep the ball for long, however, turning it back over just a minute later and this time the Sandites hit pay-dirt. 

In the last minute of the first quarter, the Sandites drove their way down to the Patriot nine-yard-line for fourth-and-one. In the opening play of the second quarter, the offense piled behind Greathouse on a keeper to try and get the down, and ended up going all nine yards to the endzone for a touchdown. Kasey Bales sent in the point-after and the game was tied up.

Once again the Patriots failed to find traction and punted without a first-down. The Sandites ate up the clock on their corresponding 90-yard drive, and ultimately took the lead. The first play was a fifteen-yard screen to Caleb Wash. Greathouse added another first-down with a 30-yard pass to Bales, Scott picked one up on the ground, and Greathouse hit Bales again for 12. A run from Scott with a facemask at the end put the Sandites in the red zone at the 15-yard line. Greathouse hit Bales at the 1-yard line and scored on a sneak to take the 14-7 lead after Bales's PAT.

The next Sandite drive needed only two plays. Cade Looman sent the kickoff into the back of O'Neal Cotton and Brett Freeman was there to recover it for the Sandites at the Patriot 26. A repeat of the opening play of the game found Greathouse connecting with Dalton Morgan for the touchdown and a 21-7 lead.

The Patriots mustered up a solid drive, aided by some Sandite penalties, and marched to the 11-yard line before settling for a 28-yard field goal by Castillo.

The Sandites tried to score on a deep pass with less than a second remaining, but it was intercepted by T'Mahjai Scales who was tackled by the intended receiver, Bales, to end the half 21-10.

Freeman made yet another great play in the second half, picking off a pass to give the Sandites the ball at the Patriot 16. After being pushed back to a fourth-and-fourteen attempt, Greathouse connected to Mack Thompson at the 2-yard-line and Payton Scott punched it in a few plays later. Bales' PAT missed, but the Sandites led 27-10.

The Sandites scored yet again less than 10 seconds later. Looman's kick pinned the Patriots in at their 19, Delvin Jordan tackled Ealy for a loss of 3, and an unsportsmanlike penalty pushed the visitors back to their 8. A high snap over the quarterback's head traveled all the way into the endzone for a safety, and the Sandites took the ball once again.

From there it was the Patriots' game. The Sandites drove all the way to the visitors' 24 before Greathouse's pass was intercepted. The Patriots retained the ball into the fourth quarter and soon scored on a 5-yard pass to Chris Potts to cut the lead to 29-17.

 The Sandites' next drive was another turnover on downs after a pair of passes were broken up to give Putnam the field at their 32. Putnam marched downfield in yet another successful drive to score on a fourteen-yard pass to Robinson for a touchdown. Castillo's PAT sailed true and cut the deficit to 29-24. 

The Sandites held on to the ball for the remaining two minutes and picked up a first down run the clock out and secure the victory. 

Greathouse finished the evening 10-24-2-172 with one touchdown passing and was 6-(-7) with two touchdowns rushing. The Sandites split receiving duty fairly equally between five players, but Bales led with four receptions for 59 yards. Scott led the ground game with 37 carries for 147 yards and one touchdown. Jordan, Tre Finch, and Gage Fain led the defense with 5 unassisted tackles each, and Freeman was the star of the show with two tackles, an interception, and a fumble recovery.

Gooch led the opposition with a 16-25-1-131 passing record and 14 carries for 72 yards. He was in on all three touchdowns of the evening. 

The Sandites will play their first district game at home next Friday when they take on their Highway 97 rivals from Sapulpa. The Chieftains are ranked fourteenth in Class 6A-II with an 0-3 record after dropping this weekend's game 35-7 to 5A No.8 Bishop Kelley (2-1).

The Patriots will kick off district play at No. 10 Enid Friday (1-2) who just dropped a 44-14 loss to 5A No.7 Bishop McGuinness (2-1).

Former classmates Betts and Sigmon go head-to-head in MSU vs SW College

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By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

Two Charles Page High School graduates found themselves at odds recently in a matchup between Southwestern College and Missouri State University.

Class of 2014 grad Jacob Sigmon started in the Southwestern College season opener two weeks ago. The Moundbuilders (0-1) dropped the first game of the season to Missouri State 57-0. Sigmon was the number two receiver for his team, hauling in three catches for twenty-seven yards. Southwestern returns to action Saturday at McPherson College (0-2).

On the other side of the ball was former classmate Tre Betts. Betts recorded two assisted and two unassisted tackles in the shutout win, but none were against his former teammate. Betts also played in week two against Murray State (0-2), but didn't record any tackles in the 28-22 victory. MSU improves to 2-0 and will next take on Kansas State (0-1) on Saturday, September 24th. 

Class of 2013 grad Isaiah Silversmith has seen action in both games this year for Northeastern State University (1-1). He didn't record any stats in the season-opening 38-19 loss to Washburn (1-1), but picked up two solo tackles in a 35-31 win over Lindenwood (1-1). The RiverHawks travel to Pittsburg State (1-1) Saturday.

Class of 2016 grad Jason Cooper saw action as a true freshman in the first game of the season at Southern Nazarene University (0-2). He recorded one solo and one assisted tackle during his third quarter showing in the season-opening 46-0 loss to Arkansas Tech (1-0) and earned a starting spot in week two where he posted one solo and two assisted tackles in a 63-7 loss to Harding University (2-0).

4X Sandite of the Week: Daton Fix wins Bronze at World Championship

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By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

Daton Fix still has a year left of high school, and he's already got more on his resume than most athletes ever will. The eighteen-year-old Charles Page High School senior has wrestled in eight countries and most recently claimed Bronze at the Junior World Championships in Macon, France. 

Fix is a three-time undefeated Oklahoma State Champion with a 118-0 high school record, but his dreams lay well beyond the confines of this state. Since winning State his junior year, he's also won the United World of Wrestling Junior Freestyle National Championship. He then competed with Team USA in the Beat The Streets: United In The Square exhibition match against Team Iran in Times Square, New York City. From there he won All-American status for the umpteenth time by going undefeated with Team Oklahoma at the Junior Dual Nationals. In July he competed in his first senior level event at the Spanish Grand Prix and lost by a single point to 2014 Youth Olympic Gold Medalist Mukhambet Kuatbek of Kazakhstan. 

At the Junior World Championships in France, he went 3-1 to win Bronze through repechage. In the opening round, he was dealt a 9-6 loss to eventual World Champion Khasankhusein Badrudinov of Russia. In repechage he scored back-to-back tech falls over Darthe Capellan of Canada and Mikyay Salim Naim of Bulgaria to earn his way into the placement match. There he defeated two-time Cadet World Champion Andriy Yatsenko of Ukraine 10-3 to earn his second World Championship Bronze Medal. 

Fix is currently 58-2 for 2016 and is undefeated in the U.S. The following is his national and international-level competition history. 

2011 ASICS/USAW Kids Freestyle Schoolboy National Champion
2011 ASICS/USAW Kids Greco Schoolboy National Champion
2012 ASICS/USAW Kids Folkstyle National Runner-Up
2012 ASICS/USAW Kids Freestyle Schoolboy National Champion
2012 ASICS/USAW Kids Greco Schoolboy National Champion
2012 Cliff Keen USAW Preseason National Middle School Champion
2013 FILA Cadet Nationals Freestyle Runner-Up
2013 USAW Cadet Greco National Champion
2013 USAW Cadet Freestyle National Champion
2014 Cliff Keen USAW Cadet Folkstyle National Champion
2014 Cadet Freestyle Pan-American Champion (Brazil)
2014 Cadet Greco-Roman Pan-American Champion (Brazil)
2014 ASICS/FILA Cadet Freestyle National Champion
2014 USAW Junior Freestyle Duals National Championship team-member
2014 Youth Olympic Games Freestyle Silver Medalist (Nanjing, China)
2015 Junior Folkstyle FloNationals Champion
2015 UWW Junior Freestyle National Champion
2015 UWW Cadet Freestyle National Champion
2015 Junior Freestyle Duals National Championship team-member
2015 USAW Junior Freestyle National Champion
2015 Cadet World Championship Bronze Medalist (Sarajevo, Bosnia)
2016 UWW Junior Freestyle National Champion
2016 Junior World Championship Bronze Medalist (Macone, France)

Other notable Sandite achievements this week include:

Junior running back Payton Scott ran the best game of his career Friday in a 45-41 loss at Choctaw. He picked up 239 yards on 39 carries for two touchdowns, including his fifteenth career touchdown. 

Senior quarterback Hunter Greathouse had his best passing game of his career, throwing 14-29-215-1 with 1 touchdown, putting him over 2000 career yards. 

Senior linebacker Delvin Jordan surpassed 250 total career tackles and 35 tackles for loss.

Senior Oklahoma State University-commit Sydney Pennington hit four home runs in three games and was six of eight from the plate. She also picked up a win from the mound against Ponca City.

Sophomore Aden Baughman, who qualified for State last year, placed sixth in the Broken Arrow 5K with a PR time of 17:01.40, shaving 05:12 off his previous best.

Sandite of the Week is a weekly recognition given to any one person with significant ties to the Sand Springs community who accomplishes remarkable achievements during the Sunday through Saturday week preceding the award. Prior achievements may be noted in the article, but do not bear direct influence on the selection committee which only considers prior week accomplishments. Candidates may be nominated by anyone by emailing SanditePrideNews@gmail.com. The award is not given to anyone in consecutive weeks, but any recipient may be nominated and awarded again in the future, so long as the weeks are not consecutive. Final selection is made by a majority vote of the Sandite Pride Editorial Board.

Businesses or organizations seeking to sponsor the Sandite of the Week award may contact the above email for inquiries.

New 6A-II rankings and predictions; a look at this weekend's games

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Photo: MORGAN MILLER

By: Sandite Pride Editorial Board

No. 1 Bixby Spartans (Last week No. 1) vs No. 8 Putnam City Pirates (7)

The back-to-back defending State Champions (0-2) haven't won a game yet, but only due to their strength of schedule. The Spartans gave 6A-I No. 1 Jenks (3-0) a closer run for their money than 6A-I No. 2 Union (2-1), leading 34-31 with forty seconds left before giving up a touchdown. In week two they traveled to Arkansas to take on Class 7A State Semi-finalist Bentonville (1-1) and lost 44-34. QB Tanner Griffin is 50-82-549-2 with 7 touchdowns.

The Spartans play their home-opener Friday at 7:00 p.m. against Putnam City (2-0).

Putnam makes the drop from 6A-I after a 5-6 season with a 58-28 playoff loss to Union. The Pirates won their in-town rivalry game against 6A-I Putnam North (0-2) 16-7 and trounced 5A El Reno (0-2) 24-6. 

The Pick: Bixby 53-12

No. 2 Booker T Washington Hornets (3) vs Shawnee

The Hornets are 1-2 after starting with the toughest pre-conference schedule in the class. In week one they lost to 6A-I No. 3 Edmond Santa Fe (3-0) by a close 26-23, then followed it up with a 21-14 win over No. 5 Midwest City (0-2). This weekend they traveled to Shreveport, Louisiana to take on the number two team in the nation. Florida's IMG Academy (3-0) features 29 NCAA Division One committed players and had little difficulty in shutting down the Hornets 49-7 in the Battle of the Border high school showcase. 

Booker T travels to 5A Shawnee (1-1) Friday at 7:00 p.m.

The Pick: Booker T 36-13

No. 3 Muskogee Roughers (4) vs Bentonville

Former 5A State Championship-winning coach from Guthrie, Rafe Watkins, has spent the last season rebuilding Muskogee's program, and it looks like the move has paid off. The Roughers are 2-0 to start the season for the first time since 2007 and did so against solid teams. They defeated Midwest City 16-12 in week one and McAlester 51-13 in week two. 

This week they'll travel to Bentonville for a 7:00 p.m. game.

The Pick: Bentonville 41-18

No. 4 Midwest City Bombers (5) vs Del City

Midwest City is two in the hole, but both losses were to top-five teams, and both were by a touchdown or less. 16-12 to Muskogee and 21-14 to Booker T. The Bombers will take on 5A No. 6 Del City (2-0) on the road Friday at 7:00 p.m.

The Pick: Midwest City 33-15

No. 5 Choctaw Yellowjackets (9) vs Putnam North

Choctaw (2-0) has relied entirely on its offense this season, winning its first two games by an average score of 49-42. In week one they were the leading team in a 52-42 shootout with Sapulpa, and in week two they scored a major 45-41 upset over the Sandites, coming from behind with a minute left. The pass-heavy offense will help Choctaw to prevail against many teams in 6A-II, but they'll need to develop their defense before the playoffs if they want to take down Bixby or Booker T. 

The Pick: Choctaw 55-33

No. 6 Sand Springs Sandites (2) vs No. 11 Putnam West Patriots (14)

The Charles Page High School football team (0-2) bit off more than they could chew in week one with a 56-21 loss to Arkansas 5A back-to-back State Champions Pulaski Academy (1-1). Last week they led a shootout with No. 9 Choctaw for the entire game before giving up a last minute touchdown for a 45-41 loss. Sr. QB Hunter Greathouse holds a 27-55-389-2 passing record with 2 touchdowns, and Jr. RB Payton Scott has 57 carries for 343 yards and 3 touchdowns. The Sandites are reloading on defense behind Sr. Delvin Jordan, but retain a powerful O-line lead by Nathan Simonton, Danny Ropp, Michael Carper, and Lincoln Adams. 

The Sandites look to get in the win column with their home-opener Friday at 7:00 p.m. against Putnam City West (2-0).

The Patriots are looking to compete this year after going 4-6 last season for their best record in over a decade. They got off to a great start with a 43-14 win over 5A Duncan (1-2), then defeated in-town rivals from 6A-I Putnam North (0-2) 16-5 in week two. 

The Pick: Sand Springs 46-19

No. 7 Lawton Wolverines (8) vs Lawton Eisenhower

The Wolverines (0-2) are off to a rough start, dropping a 56-41 shootout to No. 3 Carl Albert (2-0) and a 35-28 loss to in-town rivals 5A No. 1 Lawton MacArthur (2-0). They still have strength of schedule in their favor, and are likely to get in the win column against 5A rivals Lawton Ike (0-2).

The Pick: Lawton 37-10

No. 9 Bartlesville Bruins (6) 

The Bruins (1-2) lost a lot of talent in their starting QB, lead RB, and most of their starting defense and is unlikely to pose the threat they did last year. They won their season opener 27-24 over 5A McAlester, but dropped a 59-14 beatdown to 6A-I No. 9 Owasso (1-2) and 27-7 to 4A No. 4 Cascia Hall (2-0). Bartlesville has a bye week this week and will return to action September 23rd against Muskogee.

No. 10 Enid Plainsmen (12) vs Bishop McGuinness

The Plainsmen (2-0) are recovering from a 3-7 season with a pair of wins, 22-19 over 5A No. 10 Guthrie (1-2) and 42-31 over Ponca City (1-2). This week they'll have their toughest opponent yet in 5A No. 7 Bishop McGuinness (1-1). 

The Pick: Enid 20-19

No. 12 Deer Creek Antlers (11) vs Edmond Memorial

Edmond Deer Creek (0-2) went 8-4 last season in 5A before stepping up a division. They lost their season opener 52-13 to No. 6 Southmoore (1-1), then lost the first game of Edlam 47-31 to No. 3 Edmond Santa Fe (3-0). Despite being winless, they have scheduling strength in their favor. This week they'll finish out their in-town rivalry series against Edmond Memorial (2-1) Friday at 7:00 p.m.

The Pick: Deer Creek 24-19

No. 13 Stillwater Pioneers (10) vs Mustang

Stillwater (1-1) slated nothing but 6A-I teams for their pre-conference schedule and fared well against Edmond Memorial (2-1) for a 24-7 win in week one, but fell 16-7 to No. 10 Moore (1-1) last week. This week they'll have an even tougher opponent in No. 7 Mustang (2-0). Mustang will have the home field advantage this Friday at 7:00 p.m.

The Pick: Mustang 39-19

No. 14 Sapulpa Chieftains (13) vs Bishop Kelley

Sapulpa (0-2) looks to new leadership in the former Sand Springs defensive coordinator Robert Borgstadt. Borgstadt is in his first year at the head coaching position, and the Chieftains are already competing. They lost their season opener 24-21 to 5A Duncan (1-2) and got in a shootout with Choctaw (2-0) but fell 52-42. The fast-paced offense benefits from double-threat QB Cameron Elder with a 49-72-522-3 passing record and 3 touchdowns in addition to his 33 carries for 129 yards and 3 touchdowns on the ground. 

The Chieftains will play a home game Friday at 7:00 p.m. against 5A No.8 Bishop Kelley (1-1).

The Pick: Bishop Kelley 

Ponca City Wildcats (15)

The Wilcats (1-2) employ a solid QB in Brice McDougal who's 58-104-729-3 for 5 touchdowns already this season, but are hurting in the run game. Both of their first two opponents hung 42 points on them. Edmond Memorial (2-1) won 42-6 and Enid (2-0) won 42-31, but the Wildcats did manage a 9-0 win against 5A No. 10 Guthrie (1-2). The Wildcats got an early start on the season and will take a bye this week.

Editorial: How the 6A split saved 6A football

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By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

Oklahoma high school football experienced a dramatic and controversial change in the fall of 2013 when the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association (OSSAA) announced a split in Class 6A. The 16 highest-enrollment schools would be separated from the lower 16 and each division would play for their own State Title.

The reason for the decision was simple. Population. The current enrollment of Broken Arrow High School is 4,872. The enrollment of Booker T Washington? 1,317. The difference between the top of 6A and the bottom of 6A is greater than the top of 5A and the smallest schools in the State. Schools like BA, Union, Jenks, and Owasso have four times the talent pool to draw from. While the majority of the Hornet starters play both sides of the ball and never get a break, the Redskins have a roster larger than some colleges and have backups for their backups.

Class 6A was created in 1992 and the inaugural Championship was won by Norman. Jenks won it in ’93, Midwest City went back-to-back from ’94-95, and nobody but Jenks or Union has won it since. More often than not, the State Championship game has simply been a rematch between the Backyard Bowl rivals. Since the inception of 6A, Jenks leads the series with 14 titles to Union’s 7, and only 2 other teams have ever won.

Clearly population isn’t the only deciding factor, otherwise Broken Arrow would have won it every year. But there’s no denying the significance it plays. 6A teams were judged by their ability to turn a winning record, not by their ability to win State Titles. That was irrelevant. Nobody won State Titles but Jenks and Union.

In the 22 seasons that Sand Springs played the 6A division, they earned a total record of 98-131 and only managed 7 winning seasons with 7 playoff appearances. In five of those years they were eliminated by top-four-enrollment schools. The other years it was by top-ten schools. Since the 6A split, the Sandites have gone 15-11, made the playoffs both years, and actually won playoff games for the first time since 1997. In 2015, the Sandites made their first State Final appearance since 1966.

While the problems with the 6A split were clear—increased travel, “easier” brackets—the solution has proved to be a game-changer for the 16 schools who now feel like they actually have a legitimate chance. The culture around Sand Springs football has changed, and it’s not an isolated event.

The Class 6A-II conversation begins with two-time reigning State Champions, the Bixby Spartans. Bixby was an annual contender in Class 5A without fail. They weren’t part of the inaugural class of 6A. They didn’t move over until 2010. Prior to that, they had six-straight winning seasons with ten-straight playoff appearances. In their first year of 6A they finished the regular season 5-5, their worst record since 2003, and were eliminated in round one by Jenks. For the next two years they posted losing records and didn’t make the playoffs again till the 6A split. In a single year, the 6A powerhouses had killed the football culture at Bixby. They were lucky that they only had to live through it for four years before the split. In 2014, the Spartans were once again playing teams at their size, and they went 12-1 for their first ever State Title. Their only loss? A season-opening non-conference game against Jenks. Jenks won that one 66-20. The Spartans defended their title in 2015 and are currently ranked number one in 2016. After two straight winning seasons and State Titles, the Spartans challenged Jenks in their season opener and nearly won it, 38-34.

Booker T Washington has always had a culture of winning, with eight State Championships including two recently in 2008 and 2010 at the 5A level. The Hornets only had to play two seasons of 6A football, both ending in first round devastating playoff defeats at the hands of the Big Four. As soon as 6A split, they were back in it with a 7-game winning streak and a 10-2 season in 2014. Last year they went undefeated in the regular season and earned the number one rank before Sand Springs defeated them in the semi-finals. This year the Hornets are laying the foundation to take their program to the next level with College Hall of Fame member Brad Calip taking over as Head Coach and former University of Tulsa Head Coach Bill Blankenship volunteering with the quarterbacks and offensive coaching. The Hornets have stepped up their pre-conference scheduling with 6A No. 5 Edmond Santa Fe and Florida-based private school IMG Academy which is currently ranked No. 2 in the nation with an entire roster of division-I commits.

Bartlesville was part of the first class of 6A, and went 0-10 in the first two years. They didn’t post a winning record till 2002, when they were doubled down on by Union 54-27 in the first round of the playoffs. Their next winning record wouldn’t come till 2008, and that was only due to a forfeiture by Jenks due to OSSAA sanctions. In 2009 they gave it a real run and even defeated Owasso, but still couldn’t fend off Jenks, BA, and Southmoore. In 2010 they had another winning record at 7-4. Their losses were to the Big Four. Since the 6A split they’ve made the playoffs both years and finished last season with only two losses. They held the No. 1 rank briefly after defeating Bixby, before falling to BTW two weeks later.

The success stories continue from there. The evidence is undeniable, the 6A split has saved 6A football. While critics of the sixteen-team bracket call it a JV division, the reality is that the top teams in 6A-II never could compete with the Big Four when they were in 6A, but now they could. Bixby nearly defeated 6A No. 1 Jenks in a pre-conference battle. BTW almost defeated 6A No. 5 Edmond Santa Fe. Sand Springs has begun scheduling real opponents like Arkansas State Champion Pulaski Academy, instead of their past habit of lighting up Nathan Hale, who has lost 37-straight games. Muskogee has brought in 5A State Championship coach Rafe Watkins from Guthrie and is now a real contender for the first time in years. Putnam City West is confidently rebuilding their program after a decade of losing seasons. Sapulpa brought on former Sand Springs Defensive Coordinator Robert Borgstadt as head coach to rebuild their ailing program.

Success breeds success. Is the 16-team bracket the best way to go? Who knows? Maybe one day there will be a full 32 schools the size of BA and we can re-institute the 32-team standard. Maybe we should split all the other classes into 16-team divisions as well. Or maybe we should call Bixby and Jenks Division Champions instead of State Champions and have them play each other for the true 6A State Championship. There’s many things we could try; some could work, and some won’t. But the fact is, 6A football is more competitive than it has ever been, and almost every school in the Class is now vying to be the next big deal. The Big Four monopoly hasn’t been broken, but at least 16 teams now feel like they have a real shot.

Choctaw stuns Sandites in come-from-behind 45-41 shootout

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Photo: Morgan Miller

By: Virgil Noah, Staff Writer

The No. 2 Charles Page High School Varsity Football team (0-2) came into their non-district contest with the No. 9 Choctaw Yellowjackets (2-0) looking to get things going offensively after only managing to score 21 points in their season opening loss to Pulaski Academy. They succeeded, scoring 41 points in the game but it would not be enough as the team fell 45-41 to the Yellowjackets. 

The contest was a back and forth battle all game, with the Sandites threatening to pull away multiple times, but the Jackets kept clawing their way back into it.  

The teams traded possessions until near the end of the first period when Payton Scott, who was the game's workhorse for the visitors, capped an 8 play, 66 yard drive with a 6 yard touchdown run. Kasey Bales tacked on the extra point and the Sandites lead 7-0. On the ensuing Choctaw possession Senior quarterback Dylan Weaver threw a pass into the waiting arms of defensive back Cody Motes who scampered 36 yards up the sideline for the pick 6 and the lead was 14-0. 

Choctaw got on the board with a touchdown pass from Weaver, and the Sandites answered on the first play of the second quarter on a touchdown pass from Dalton Morgan to Bales.  

Another touchdown toss from Weaver, and a rushing touchdown by running back JD Kolb tied the game at 21. Second-year quarterback Hunter Greathouse scored on a quarterback sneak with 0:33 left in the first half but Bales's PAT was blocked. On the last play of the first half, Jacket kicker Liam Jones made a 32 yard field goal and the game went to intermission with the home team trailing 27-24.  

Scott found pay dirt again in the third, this time from 23 yards out to extend the Page lead to 10 points, but Kolb cut it back to 3 quickly with a run of his own. The Sandite offense faced a fourth and 15 deep in Choctaw territory, and elected to go for the conversion. It proved to be a smart decision as Greathouse connected with Caleb Wash for a 25 yard touchdown and increased the lead to 41-31. Kolb ran 21 yards for his fourth touchdown of the game just 30 seconds later and put the pressure back on Sand Springs. 

Choctaw snagged an interception on the ensuing Sandite drive, but Jerry Lyons forced a fumble and got the Sandites the ball back in Yellowjacket territory with under four minutes remaining.  

With 1:16 remaining Choctaw stuffed a fourth down run by Scott to give their offense one more attempt at scoring, and they made the most of it. On fourth and 5, Weaver completed a pass to Kolb who broke a tackle short of the first down marker, and turned on the jets up the sideline for a 78 yard touchdown, his fifth of the game.  

Down four points with just 0:49 seconds left, Greathouse lead the offense back on the field. With 0:10 left he completed a pass to Wash for 45 yards down to the Choctaw 13-yard-line. Greathouse attempted two throws to the end zone, the first broken up, and the second just past the fingertips of Bales and the game ended.

Scott lead the way for Sand Springs, carrying the ball 39 times for 239 yards and two scores. Greathouse passed 14-29-251-1 for one touchdown, and also scored a touchdown rushing. Bales lead the way receiving with 5 receptions for 72 yards and a touchdown. Delvin Jordan took a beating, going down twice, but rejoining each time to lead the Sandite defense in tackles.

Charles Page will host their first game of the season Friday at 7:00 p.m., in a non-district match-up with Putnam City West  (2-0). Choctaw will take on Putnam North (0-2) in a non-district battle Friday at 7:00 in Putnam City.