Sand Springs Football Preview: Undefeated Sandites Travel to Muskogee Friday

The Class 6A-II No. 5 ranked Charles Page High School varsity football team 4-0, 1-0) will travel to unranked Muskogee (1-3, 1-0) Friday as they look for their first 5-0 start since 2012. The game will be Muskogee’s Homecoming.

The Sandites and Roughers will kick off at 7:00 p.m. in the Indian Bowl, located at 402 North S Street, Muskogee, OK 74403 on the campus of Alice Robertson Junior High. The visitors’ side is located on North Utah Street. General admission tickets are $5.00 for adults and $3.00 for students. Masks will be required in common areas.

Sand Springs

The Sandites are in their second year under Head Coach Bobby Klinck, who holds an all-time coaching record of 24-17. While Sand Springs was a perennial playoff contender from 2012 to 2017, they hit a rough patch of three losing seasons before Klinck’s arrival spurred them from 2-8 in 2019 to 7-5 last year.

Sand Springs has emerged undefeated through the first four games of the year. In the season opener they beat archrival Sapulpa 53-26, then they easily handled Bishop Kelley 34-13. Against defending Arkansas 4A State Champion Shiloh Christian they had to come from behind in a 40-33 shootout. In the district opener against Ponca City they won 30-13 in a gritty defensive battle.

Players to Watch

Ty Pennington (Sr. QB) is 65-100-973-1 passing with 11 touchdowns and is 54-176 rushing with two touchdowns.

Blake Jones (Sr. RB) is 83-608 rushing with seven touchdowns.

Brody Rutledge (Jr. WR) is 1-2-23-0 passing with 1 touchdown and 16-283 receiving with three touchdowns.

Keaton Campbell (Sr. WR) is 17-185 receiving with three touchdowns and averages 23 yards per kick return.

Jacob Blevins (Sr. WR) is 22-359 receiving with three touchdowns and averages 19 yards per kick return.

Landon Hendricks (Sr. DE) has 26 tackles, eight for loss, three sacks, one fumble recovery, four pass breakups, one blocked kick, two forced fumbles, and one safety.

Brooks Dudley (Sr. LB) has 34 tackles, 2.5 for loss, 1.5 sacks

Gabe Brown (Sr. LB) has has 24 tackles, three for loss, 1.5 sacks

Drake Fain (Sr. LB) has 32 tackles, one for loss, two fumble recoveries, and one recovery for a touchdown.

Logan Wolfe (Jr. K) is 15-of-18 on PATs and 2-of-2 on field goals with a long of 34 yards.

Muskogee

The Roughers are in their first season under Head Coach Travis Hill, who holds a 139-37 record in his career. Coincidentally, both Hill and Klinck were head coaches at East Central High School in Tulsa. Before taking over at Muskogee, he was already on the staff as Defensive Coordinator. Hill and Klinck have been assistant coaches at both Muskogee, and Broken Arrow. Sandite Offensive Line Coach Jason Medrano is also a former Muskogee assistant.

Muskogee, like Sand Springs two seasons ago, is trying to snap out of a recent funk following a long period of success. They went 0-7 last year and lost ten straight games before snapping the streak against Putnam City West last week. Putnam West is on their own streak of 28 losses in a row.

The Roughers went 8-3 in 2019, 6-5 in 2018, 5-5 in 2017, and 9-2 in 2016.

The History

Last season the Sandites rolled to a 45-14 Homecoming victory. The defense forced two turnovers and only allowed two scores on ten Rougher possessions.

In 2019 it was the Roughers who dominated in a 54-6 rout to improve to 5-0. The Roughers took a 47-0 lead before sending in the backups in the most lopsided game in the history of the series. 

Ty Pennington was 13-23-107-0 with one touchdown in 2019 and 20-32-251-0 with two touchdowns in 2020, plus another 64 yards and two touchdowns on the ground. Blake Jones was 16-80 rushing in 2019 and 13-104 for one touchdown in 2020. Ryan Shoemaker also had a big game last year with 104 receiving yards and a score.

Muskogee leads the all-time series 23-7 and has won three of the past four, but after snapping Muskogee’s 20-0 start in the series, the Sandites have won seven of the last ten meetings.

Muskogee has shut out the Sandites three times, and the Sandites have shut out the Roughers once. Muskogee’s biggest win was 54-6 in 2019, Sand Springs’s biggest win was 45-14 in 2020. The highest scoring game was a 57-21 Muskogee win in 2006.

1953: Muskogee 20-0.
1954: Muskogee 40-12.
1955: Muskogee 24-6.
1956: Muskogee 7-0.
1957: Muskogee 34-6.
1958: Muskogee 12-0.
1959: Muskogee 40-14.
1960: Muskogee 14-5.
1961: Muskogee 38-6.
1994: Muskogee 20-14 (OT).
1995: Muskogee 28-6.
2002: Muskogee 38-12 (A).
2003: Muskogee 37-14 (H).
2004: Muskogee 27-6 (Homecoming).
2005: Muskogee 47-25 (A).
2006: Muskogee 57-21 (H).
2007: Muskogee 49-21 (A).
2008: Muskogee 39-37 (H).
2009: Muskogee 37-29 (A).
2010: Muskogee 44-14 (A).
2011: Sand Springs 7-3 (H).
2012: Sand Springs 40-28 (A).
2013: Sand Springs 39-14 (H).
2014: Sand Springs 13-0 (A).
2015: Sand Springs 34-10 (H).
2016: Sand Springs 26-25 (A).
2017: Muskogee 40-34 (Homecoming).
2018: Muskogee 45-27 (H).
2019: Muskogee 54-6 (A).
2020: Sand Springs 45-14 (Homecoming).

Things to do in Muskogee

Honor Heights Park
1400 Honor Heights Drive
Muskogee, OK 74401

Three Rivers Museum
220 Elgin Street
Muskogee, OK 74401

Five Civilized Tribes Museum
1101 Honor Heights Drive
Muskogee, OK 74401

Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame
401 South 3rd Street
Muskogee, OK 74401

War Memorial Park
3500 Batfish Road
Muskogee, OK 74403

Thomas Foreman Historic Home
1419 West Okmulgee Avenue
Muskogee, OK 74401

Defense Spurs Sand Springs Football to 30-13 Homecoming Win Over Ponca City

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While other four-year-olds dream of being pilots, NFL players, or the President, Cooper White dreams of being on the Sandite flag crew. 

Cooper can often be seen running around the playground with his own flag, imagining he’s one of the Sand Springs baseball players who storm onto the field hoisting the four “CPHS” flags after touchdowns on Friday nights. 

Now he no longer has to imagine it. As the Sandites rolled to a 30-13 win over Ponca City Friday night on Homecoming, Cooper got to tote his own miniature flag across the turf while wearing an official crew-member t-shirt, presented to him by the baseball players before the game.

“He’s been coming to Sandite games since he was newborn, and he’s always been obsessed with the flag boys running onto the field,” said Cooper’s mom, Bailee White. “We watch YouTube videos of old games just so he can watch the flags. This is a dream come true.”

The Sandite football players can rest easy knowing their number-one fan will be back in the stands when they return home Friday, October 8th against Booker T. Washington.

A version of this story was originally published in the Tulsa World.

On a night when the typically lethal Sandite offense struggled, the defense stepped up and made some big plays to lead a second half comeback on Homecoming.

Down 13-10 late in the third quarter, junior linebacker Drake Fain saw the ball pop loose deep in Wildcat territory and scooped it up for a 20-yard touchdown return to take the lead. 

Class 6A-II No. 5 ranked Charles Page High School (4-0, 1-0) came away with four takeaways and rattled off 20 unanswered points to overcome Ponca City (1-3, 0-1) Friday night at Memorial Stadium.

“Dom (Ornelas) told me he hit it out,” said Fain. “I didn’t really see it. I was thinking ‘we need a touchdown right now.’ It was great for the team.”

“I couldn’t do it without my interior defensive linemen,” he added. “We call ‘em ‘Shake and Bake’ like Ricky Bobby. I love them dudes.”

Sand Springs had little difficulty moving the ball, amassing 410 yards, 22 first downs, and reaching the red zone eight times. They struggled with finishing, however, and turned the ball over on downs four times.

Fortunately, the defense was ready to make a statement. 

Landon Hendricks blocked a PAT in the first half, then forced a fumble in the third quarter that Brooks Dudley recovered. Ryder Barnes added an interception late in the third, then Hendricks added another takeaway late in the fourth. 

“That was just kind of organic how that happened,” said head coach Bobby Klinck. “We knew they were going to come out and kind of pound the ball and try to shorten the game. They had a great gameplan.”

“Coach (Scott) Harmon’s been doing this a long time, he’s a great coach and they caught us on a few things. Luckily we just had a few more playmakers help us out tonight.”

Ty Pennington was 16-of-30 passing for 197 yards and one touchdown on the night, a 64-yard catch-and-run by Jacob Blevins who had 142 yards on nine catches. 

Pennington also had two rushing scores and carried the ball 21 times for 89 yards. Blake Jones added 128 yards on 21 carries.

Sand Springs is now 4-0 for the first time since 2012 and will return to action Friday night at Muskogee (1-3, 1-0). Ponca City will host No. 2 Choctaw (3-1, 1-0).

Sandite Football upsets defending Arkansas State Champions 40-33

A version of this story was originally written for the Tulsa World.

For the first time since 2012, the Sand Springs Sandites are 3-0.

The Class 6A-II No. 5 ranked Charles Page High School football team rolled into Springdale with a big task in front of it. Repeating its last year’s win against the defending 4A State Champions from Shiloh Christian (2-1) wouldn’t be an easy task, but even down 14-0 early in the fourth quarter, the Sandites kept their cool and showed toughness.

“Our kids are from Sand Springs, so we know all about toughness,” said second-year head coach Bobby Klinck. “That’s a really freaking good football team that we just beat. I think we’re lucky to get away with a win, so we’re really pleased.”

As they should be. The Saints are ranked No. 1 in their class, and their only loss last season was 27-26 on the Sandites’ homefield. This time the visiting Sandites prevailed 40-33 behind a monumental effort from senior quarterback Ty Pennington.

Pennington finished the night with a career-high 331 yards and five touchdowns, passing 21-of-32 with one interception. The lone pick was only a tad high of his receiver, who tipped it up into Dax Widger’s hands to set up the Saints’ third score late in the first quarter.

“I’ve said it over and over again,” said Klinck. “He’s the best dang quarterback in the state. He suffers through drops sometimes with our guys, but he never flinches. That guy’s a dang winner. I’m constantly just saying, ‘put the ball in that dude’s hands. We’ve got the best dang quarterback in the state, let’s go get the dang first down.”

The Saints took a 14-0 lead behind a 2-yard run from Eli Wisdom and an 11-yard pass from Wisdom to Ben Baker, but the Sandites soon settled down and found their rhythm. It wasn’t Pennington who gave them their first score, however.

After running back Blake Jones did most of the work to move the chains, it was Brody Rutledge who tossed the first touchdown pass on a 23-yard trick play to Jacob Blevins.

“That’s all Coach (Lee) Kizzar,” said Klinck. “The trick play, that’s all our coaches. I’ve been really hands-off this year. I know I’ve hired great coaches so I let them coach. That’s all them.”

The backup quarterback and leading receiver finished the night with seven catches for 132 yards and one touchdown, a 33-yard pass from Pennington to make it 21-14 late in the first quarter.

“I’ve challenged that kid all through 7-on-7, he kind of had drop-itis during the summertime, and we challenged him,” Klinck said of Rutledge. “Now that guy’s become one our top receivers and I’m freaking proud of that kid.”

Keaton Campbell was the Sandites’ other top receiver with seven catches for 112 yards and two scores, a 49-yarder in the second quarter and a 21-yarder in the third. 

Also collecting passes for the Sandites was tight-end Ryan Shoemaker, who had three catches for 59 yards and two scores. 

Sand Springs trailed 21-20 in the second and stalled out in their own territory, but Kenneth Page recovered a muffed punt to extend the drive, and Pennington found Shoemaker for an eight-yard score. 

The Sandite defense got a turnover on downs to close the half 26-21.

Campbell’s next touchdown made it 32-21 but the Saints negated it three plays later on a 78-yard pass from Wisdom to Cooper Hutchinson, then took a 33-32 lead on a 14-yard screen to Arkansas-commit Kaden Henley. 

The Sandites got back on top with a 34-yard pass from Pennington to Shoemaker to start the fourth quarter, and Shoemaker also caught the two-point pass for the final points of the game.

“We’ve watched film, we knew they were going to come out with stuff we haven’t seen, so we just had to weather the storm,” said Klinck. “We’ve been down big before, so great job by our kids.”

“That’s an unbelievable football program. That’s a good team, they’re going to win it again. So for us to come here and really steal one from a really well-coached football team, that’s huge for our program.”

“That offense is great,” said Klinck. “They’ve been doing that for a long time. We knew it was going to be a slug fest. We knew it was last year. We had to just make one more play. ‘One more play,’ that’s what we kept saying.”

Sandite Football will return to action Friday at 7:00 p.m. with a district homecoming game against Ponca City (1-2) as the team looks to keep its winning streak alive.

Sandite Sports Weekly Roundup: Softball Rolls at Bixby Tournament

Down 5-4 and riding a four-game losing streak, the Sandites needed a spark in the first round of the Bixby tournament Friday morning.

JoLee McNally stepped up to the plate with two runners on and smacked a ground ball single to center field in the top of the sixth, bringing in Morgan Rector and Kinzie King to kick off a great weekend for the Charles Page High School softball team (9-7).

After taking down Newcastle 6-5, the Sandites got a huge 5-4 upset against title contender Edmond Memorial then steamrolled Union 17-2 and El Reno 11-2 before falling 4-1 to Broken Arrow in the final game. 

“They had an awesome weekend, I thought,” said head coach Shelli Brown. “The turnaround from Bartlesville where we left a lot of runner-on-base opportunities, I felt like this weekend they were able to get the runners on and push them across the plate. That was the difference.”

Prior to the tournament, the Sandites had a rough stretch of district road games at Stillwater, Jenks, Bixby, and Bartlesville. 

Thursday was a tough loss, as the Sandites had previously beaten Bartlesville 12-3 at home, and led 5-0 early before the Bruins surged back with seven runs in the bottom of the third.

Friday’s win over Edmond Memorial (19-4), however, showed that this team is still capable of beating anyone in the state on any given day. 

The Bulldogs took a 4-2 lead in the third inning, but the Sandites rallied in the bottom with RBI doubles from Lauren Hammock and Nataley Crawford, and Kelsi Hilton scored on a passed ball for the lead.

Crawford got the wins in the pitching circle against Edmond and Newcastle, Hilton got the win against Union, and Addie Hughes got the win against El Reno.

“Team effort for sure on the pitching,” said Brown. ”We’ve been kind of double-teaming, so I thought our pitchers did a really good job with that.”

The team’s bats also came alive during the tournament, with McNally, Hammock, Hilton, and Crawford all hitting over .500. McNally scored eight runs and four RBI and Hammock had seven runs and seven RBI over the five games.

“I’m just happy with them,” said Brown. “I told them let’s keep moving forward. I felt like we’ve made the turn a little bit here.”

The Sandites are currently 3-4 in district action, sitting fifth in the standings. They’ll be heavily favored in four of their remaining seven district games, and they’ll have home-field advantage in their rematches with Jenks, Stillwater, and Bixby.

The Sandites have hosted Regionals seven consecutive years but that streak could be in jeopardy if they don’t finish strong in district action.

“We need to focus one game at a time, win those games, and get ourselves in a good situation,” says Brown. “Whether we host or we go travel, we’re going to have to play good teams, and we’ve just got to be ready. I think it’s going to be about timing - peaking at the right time. We’re starting to get everybody back, starting to get everybody healthy, and starting to have that team chemistry that takes some time to develop.”

“I’ve seen both districts. Whether you host or you travel, you’re going to face some really good teams so I just want us to be ready for that.”

Cross Country

Sandite Cross Country traveled to the Sapulpa Chieftain meet on Saturday, September 4th.

Chloe Grona led the elementary girls to a second place finish in the one-mile, finishing in 5:54 for first place, a full 21 seconds ahead of the runner-up, and Josie Grona placed third in 6:23.

The elementary boys placed eighth, led by Canyon Carnahan in 25th place with a time of 7:26.

Junior high boys placed fifth in the one-mile, led by Taigh Wright in 11th with a time of 5:51.21. Junior high girls didn’t have a full team, but Maddyx Hampton placed 18th in 6:38.

The varsity girls didn’t have a full team, but Jazmin Lopez placed fifth in the two-mile run with a time of 13:57.

The varsity boys finished sixth, led by Alejandro Lopez in 11:52 for 25th place, and Dalton Wilcox in 11:55 for 26th.

On Saturday, September 11th, the high school and junior high teams traveled to Broken Arrow. The junior high boys placed sixth in the 1.5 mile run, but were the only team with a full lineup. 

Lopez led the varsity girls in 26th place with a 5K time of 22:22. Noah Hanlon led the boys in 18:56 for 42nd place. Hampton led the junior high girls with a 12:01 1.5-mile run for 33rd, and Wright led the junior high boys in 9:52 for 13th.

Football

The Class 6A-II No. 5 ranked Sandite football team (2-0) will look to remain undefeated when they travel to Arkansas 3A No. 1 Shiloh Christian (2-0). Both teams will be well-rested after bye weeks.

Last year Sand Springs hosted the first-ever meeting of the two teams and topped the Saints 27-26. It would be Shiloh’s only loss of the season as they went on to earn their eighth State Championship.

Volleyball

Class 6A No. 15 ranked Sand Springs (7-11) is riding a tough nine-match losing streak after traveling to the prestigious Heather Harkness Invitational in Edmond, one of the toughest tournaments in the state.

Sandite Volleyball fell 2-0 to No. 6 Deer Creek, 2-0 to No. 4 Edmond Memorial, 2-0 to OKC Storm, 3-2 to No. 10 Edmond North, and 3-0 to No. 16 Moore. 

Sand Springs will compete at the Owasso tournament this weekend with pool matches against Owasso, Edmond Memorial, and Ponca City.

Matthew Shelton is one of Sandite Football's secret weapons

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Matthew Shelton isn’t a very intimidating guy, six days a week. Sure he’s 6’2” and 245 pounds, but he’s also quiet, polite, and respectful. 

Except on Fridays. On Fridays, he’s the last person you want to see in front of you.

“He’s one of the quietest, most soft-spoken people I’ve ever met,” says Head Coach Bobby Klinck. “He just turns it on on gameday. It’s pretty neat to see. It’s kind of like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The kid does everything right, but on Friday’s he just turns it on.”

The senior lineman is one of the secret weapons of the highly ranked Charles Page High School football team, and his work paves the way for skill-position players to put up big numbers.

But he’s not a lifelong football player. The senior star and second-year starter didn’t take to the gridiron until his freshman year, but despite the late start, football success is in his blood.

“My dad was All-State Oklahoma at Kiefer. He was a pretty good linebacker,” says Shelton. “I loved watching it as a kid growing up and all my friends played.” It wasn’t easy getting a late start, however, and his first year spent a lot of time learning the ins and outs of football that lifelong players already had a handle on.

Shelton hopes to see his football career extend past this season if he gets an offer he likes at a good school. He’s interested in engineering, particularly computer engineering.

As far as the rest of the season goes, his goals are simply to “Get better, have a great team, have a good brotherhood.”

“I think we’re doing pretty good this year,” says Shelton. “I’ve gotten a lot better since last year.”

The Sandites are 2-0 to start the year, having beaten Sapulpa and Bishop Kelley convincingly. Now they look forward to a road trip at Shiloh Christian (Arkansas).

Sandite Football rolls Bishop Kelley 34-13, Blake Jones has career night

A version of this story was originally published in the Sand Springs Leader.

Just a week after rushing for a career-high 177 yards against Sapulpa, Blake Jones was at it again Friday night at Angelo Prassa Field. The senior running back racked up 224 yards and three touchdowns on 20 carries to lift Class 6A-II No. 5 ranked Sand Springs (2-0) to a 34-13 win against 5A No. 7 Bishop Kelley (0-2).

The Sandites took a 13-0 lead in the first quarter, scoring both of their touchdowns on back-to-back runs from Jones. After taking a handoff 36 yards to the house, he was set up for another 30-yard run after Ryder Barnes recovered the Sandites’ ensuing kickoff. 

Jones added his third score of the night on a 54-yard breakaway on the Sandites’ first play of the second half.

Senior quarterback Ty Pennington was held to an 11-19-123-0 passing performance with two touchdowns, connecting with Keaton Campbell on a five-yard toss to start the fourth quarter, then finding Kyle Morrall for 52 yards on the next possession.

Despite Jones’s big numbers, it was the defense that stole the show, holding the Comets to 209 yards overall. However, 96 of those yards came on a single run from quarterback Will Pickard in the third quarter. 

Outside of that run, the Comets averaged only 2.8 yards per play and accounted for only seven first downs, five of which came in the fourth quarter. In the first half the Comets managed only 34 yards.

The Sandite defense held Pickard to a 6-13-48-0 passing game and made eight tackles for loss while forcing seven punts, four three-and-outs, and a turnover on downs.

Gabe Brown led the team defensively with eight tackles, including three for loss with one sack. Charles Gaylord had seven tackles with three for loss, and Conner Light had six tackles with two for loss. 

Despite the end result, head coach Bobby Klinck still saw room for improvement.

“We’ve got to get much better,” said Klinck, postgame. “We’ve got to improve. Bishop Kelley’s a very good team and they caught us on a couple plays. We’ve got to get more physical and we can’t just give up long plays like that long touchdown.”

The Comet defense also showed strength with nine tackles for loss, and forced four punts. 

“They were bringing a bunch of guys off the line of scrimmage,” said Klinck. “They knew we were good at running the football, so they were bringing more than we had sometimes.”

Sandite football will get a bye week before traveling to Springdale, Arkansas Friday, September 17th. “We’re going to rest, heal up, and get ready to face a really tough Shiloh Christian team,” said Klinck.

Shiloh Christian will be looking for payback after the Sandites spoiled their otherwise perfect season last year. Sand Springs won the first-ever meeting between the two schools 27-26, but the Saints went on to finish 14-1 and won the Arkansas Class 3A State title. 

CPHS 34 BISHOP KELLEY 13

CPHS; 13; 0; 7; 14;-;34

Bishop Kelley; 0; 0; 7; 6;-;13

CPHS - Jones 36 run (Wolfe kick), 2:33

CPHS - Jones 30 run, 2:23

CPHS - Jones 54 run (Wolfe kick), 9:32

BK - Pickard 96 run (Davis kick), 9:16

CPHS - Campbell 5 pass from Pennington (Wolfe kick), 11:56

BK - Hensley 4 run, 7:44

CPHS - Morrall 52 pass from Pennington (Wolfe kick), 7:25

TEAM STATISTICS

First Downs - CPHS 13, BK 7. Rushes-Yards - CPHS 39-259, BK 28-157. Comp-Att-Int - CPHS 11-19-0, BK 7-14-0. Passing Yards - CPHS 123, BK 52. Fumbles-Lost - CPHS 0-0, BK 3-2. Penalty Yards - CPHS 4-20, BK 5-55. Records - CPHS 2-0, BK 0-2. Total Yards - CPHS 382, BK 209. Punts-Avg. - CPHS 4-30, BK 7-36.