Football Preview: Sandites Headed to Choctaw for Playoff Quarterfinals
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The Class 6A-II No. 5 ranked Charles Page High School football team (8-3) will look to extend its season by another week when it travels to No. 3 Choctaw (7-2) Friday night.
Sand Springs is in pursuit of its first State title since 1966 and first finals appearance since 2015. The Sandites have been turned away in the semis twice since then, including against Choctaw last season. The Sandites’ only losses this season have come to 6A-I No. 1 Bixby, then-No. 1 Muskogee, and current No. 1 Stillwater.
The Yellowjackets have also qualified for the playoffs four consecutive years, only failing to make it past the quarterfinals once. They finished as State Runners-Up last season and in 2020 and are looking to earn their first gold ball since 1960 when they were still in Class B.
Sand Springs is coming off a 56-24 rout of Lawton (3-8) and riding a five-game win streak while Choctaw had a first-round bye following its 48-13 rout of Ponca City (6-5) in Week 10.
The game will be held at Bill Jensen Field on the campus of Choctaw High School at 14300 NE 10th St. in Choctaw. Gates open at 6:00 p.m. Tickets are $7 for general admission, including adults, students, and seniors.
The Series
Choctaw leads the series 7-2 all-time and has won the past five consecutive meetings.
The teams first met in 1992, with the Yellowjackets dealing the Sandites a 21-14 loss. In 1993 backup tailback Shawn Moore scored three touchdowns in the second half to lift the Sandites to a 31-18 victory.
The teams didn’t meet again until 2000 when the Yellowjackets won a 37-0 district shutout, but the Sandites won 29-6 the next year.
Since then, it’s been all Choctaw. The Yellowjackets won a pair of close non-district games 45-41 in 2016 and 21-20 in 2017, then won district games 34-9 in 2020 and 41-28 in 2021.
Last year the Yellowjackets won 48-29 in the quarterfinals en route to a State Runner-Up finish.
Steele Wasel, now at Akron, was 23-of-33 passing for 453 yards and six touchdowns to defeat the Sandites.
Choctaw stormed out to a 34-9 lead but the Sandites battled close with a 21-20 second half behind Easton Webb’s 19-of-33 passing performance for a career high 257 yards and four touchdowns.
Last Week
Eight Sandites had receptions, six had carries, seven had touchdowns, and 32 made plays on defense as the Sandites throttled Lawton in the highest-scoring playoff game in Sandite history.
The Sandites held the Wolverines to negative yardage in a 27-0 first quarter and outgained Lawton by 200 yards in a 50-6 first half.
Easton Webb was 7-of-7 passing for 207 yards and three TDs while backup QB Jace Arnold was 5-of-6 for 67 yards with two total TDs.
Dom Forbes had three receptions for 49 yards and a TD and Caleb Goodman had two receptions for 82 yards and a TD.
Kenneth Page had five carries for 45 yards and a TD plus a 65-yard TD catch. Ali McCoy needed only two carries for 41 yards and a TD.
Dawson Puckett was six-for-six on PATs, had two catches for 30 yards and a TD, ran in a two-point conversion, and averaged 41 yards per punt.
The defense was led by Owen Floyd and Gatlin Gunn with nine tackles apiece. Gunn had four tackles for loss while Floyd had three for loss and a 22-yard pick six. Landyn Barnes and Kambren Foster also had interceptions and Keagan Gilman had a fumble recovery.
On the Season
Sand Springs has established itself as a dominant team in the trenches, averaging 174 rushing yards per game while passing for 124.
Webb is 76-of-114 passing for 1040 yards, 9 TDs, and 6 INTs with 2 rushing TDs. Goodman has 41 catches for 602 yards and 5 TDs.
Page has 162 carries for 920 yards and 13 TDs plus 3 TD receptions. McCoy has 94 carries for 772 yards and 10 TDs plus 1 TD reception.
Puckett is 41-of-44 on PATs and 3-of-5 on field goals with a career-long of 42 yards.
The defense is led by Gunn with 81 tackles, Floyd with 75, Dallas Elifrits with 64, Alex Dudley with 58, and Hunter Wilson with 55. Gunn and Dudley have a team-best three interceptions apiece.
