Class 6A-II No. 10 ranked Charles Page High School (3-6, 2-4) travels to No. 5 Booker T. Washington (6-3, 5-1) to wrap up the regular season, but despite their losing record, their season might not end there.
This will be the Sandites’ first losing season since 2011, but thanks to circular losses, there’s still a slim chance that they could extend their six-year playoff run with a little help from Ponca City. Technically they could also finish with a winning record if they win out for the gold ball. Stranger things have happened.
Bixby, Booker T., and Muskogee have the top three spots on lock, but the bottom berth is still open for discussion. Sapulpa will more than likely win it, but with two key upsets the Sandites could sneak past them.
First, Sand Springs has to beat Booker T. Second, Ponca City has to knock off Sapulpa. Neither is likely, and the latter is far less likely than the former, but neither is impossible.
Sapulpa owns the No. 5 offense and the Wildcats are tenth in defense. Sapulpa has the No. 9 defense against Ponca’s No. 13 offense. Far from an even matchup.
In the long shot chance that Ponca City upsets Sapulpa, it’ll drop the Chieftains to 3-4 in district play. If Sand Springs beats Booker T., they’ll improve to 3-4. Bartlesville and Shawnee will play each other in Week Ten, and the winner will improve to 3-4, creating a three-way tie for the playoff berth.
Sapulpa beat both Bartlesville and Shawnee. Sand Springs beat Sapulpa but lost to Bartlesville and Shawnee. The head-to-head record will be 1-1 for all three teams, leaving the tie-breaker to district points. That’s where Sand Springs has the edge. Bartlesville could only finish with -19 at most. Shawnee could only finish with -33 at most. If Sapulpa loses by only a single point they’ll have -24. If Sand Springs wins by only a single point they’ll have -3 to clench the playoff berth.
The Sandites won’t have any say on what goes down in Sapulpa, but they can do their part by upsetting the defending State Champions at 7:00 p.m. in Tulsa.
SE Williams Stadium
1514 East Zion Street
Tulsa, Oklahoma 74106
OSSAA 6A-II District 2 Standings
6-0 Bixby (89 district points)
5-1 Booker T. Washington (61)
4-2 Muskogee (32)
3-3 Sapulpa (-23)
2-4 Bartlesville (-34)
2-4 Shawnee (-48)
2-4 Sand Springs (-4)
0-6 Ponca City (-73)
Last Week
Sand Springs put together four quarters of good football for the third time this season thanks to a dominant performance from the offensive line, propelling Caden Pennington to a career-best performance. Pennington was 8-9-123-0 by air for one touchdown and 28-212 on the ground for six scores.
The Sandites amassed 474 yards, 351 on the ground, in their highest-scoring performance of the season. The defense surrendered 303 yards to the No. 5 offense in 6A-II, forcing three punts and one turnover on downs to hold the Chieftains to their season average.
Booker T. Washington had a lackluster performance against a winless Ponca City, suffering a 7-0 first half shutout before rallying with 27 unanswered points in the second half. Defensively they gave up only 91 yards on four receptions and 50 yards on 38 carries.
This Season
The Sandites have had a tough year with three come-from-behind losses. They have no problem scoring and no problem getting stops, but both sides of the ball have a hard time finishing. They led Muskogee to start the fourth quarter, led Bartlesville till the final five seconds, and lost to Shawnee in overtime. Despite the rough start, they have been heavy competitors in the majority of their games and their hard work paid off with a Week Nine Senior Night rivalry upset. They could just as easily be 6-3, 5-1 right now.
The Hornets got off to a rough start and didn’t improve to a winning record till Week Seven, though only one of their losses came at the hands of an Oklahoma team. A major second-half team, they average only two points in the first quarter, ten in the first half, and 22 in the second half. They’ve suffered seven first-quarter shutouts and came back to win four of those. They suffered four first-half shutouts and came back to win one of those.
