Sandite Cross Country performs well at Broken Arrow, despite losing several runners to ACT

By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

The Charles Page High School varsity cross country team was missing some key runners in the Broken Arrow meet this past Saturday, but that didn't stop them from finishing in the upper-tier of competitors with several solid performances. ACT testing left the Sandites without the top two girls and several of the top boys. 

"The course was 300 meters short," said Head Coach Chris Corbin, "which means all of those great times don't mean as much.  Tough course and true distance this weekend at Holland Hall against some top teams should show us where we are with both varsity squads."

High School Girls 5K (4700)

22:07.52 Tiqvah Soap 16th Place
22:55.48 Sara Abbet 23rd Place
23:19.93 Nia Byrd 30th Place
23:32.62 Elizabeth Watts 33rd Place
23:58.65 Stephanie Genn 41st Place
24:00.78 Julia Lewis 42nd Place
26:32.68 Kaitlyn Walden 71st Place

High School Boys 5K (4700)

17:01.40 Aden Baughman 6th Place
18:00.11 Jacob Garbey 26th Place
18:15.90 Nelson Yazzie 31st Place
18:22.99 Kaegan Murray 33rd Place
18:32.68 Pierson Balsters 36th Place
19:52.15 Jaelyn Jackson 64th Place
25:11.27 Luis Rodriguez 93rd Place

Junior Varsity Boys 5K (4700)

2nd Place Jaden Weiser
5th Place Cooper Lynch
6th Place Phillip Elleman
13th Place Danny Murray
53rd Place Alex Newport
68th Place Omar Rodriguez
74th Place Cody Pulscher
75th Place Russell McCaskey
81st Place Josh Ivy
87th Place Kyle Starkey

Junior High Girls 2500 (2200)

9:39.90 Kalea Fleming 2nd Place
10:36.46 Kaitlynn Converse 15th Place
11:24.31 Kaylee Hall 35th Place
12:57.77 Sidney Cross 65th Place
13:22.34 Jolie Currie 69th Place

Junior High Boys 3200 (2900)

10:59.62 Blaine Baldridge 55th Place
11:03.11 Carter Young 60th Place
11:04.05 KJ Clark 62nd Place
11:41.56 Caleb James 78th Place
 

Junior Tiqvah Soap led the varsity girls team in their first 5K of the season with a 16th place finish in 22:07.52. The girls finished in fifth place out of eleven teams. Cheyenne Walden, who places first at almost every event, and Alex Davis, who was top-ten at the first two events this year, were absent.

Sophomore State Qualifier Aden Baughman led the boys for the second time this season with a 17:01.40 time for a sixth place finish. The boys also took fifth place out of thirteen teams. They were missing Landin Green, who led the Sandites last week, and Ian Baustert who was fourth among the team.

The JV boys nearly took first place for the third week in a row and were only one point away from doing so. With a full roster, they likely would have taken first. Jaden Weiser took second among JV, followed by Cooper Lynch in fifth and Phillip Elleman in sixth. Broken Arrow had problems with their timing system during the event and JV boys times are unavailable.

JV girls also ran, but results are unavailable due to technical issues. 

The Junior High girls came in sixth place of ten teams and were only two points away from fifth place. Eighth-grade student Kalea Fleming led the girls for the third-straight week, finishing in second place with a 9:39.90 time in the 2200m.

The Junior High Boys only had four runners and couldn't place.

Bartlesville High School will also be at the Holland Hall meet and will bring three runners who placed top five in last year's girls State Championship. Jenks will bring two top-five boys runners from last year's State Championship.

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Lady Sandite Volleyball upsets No. 14 Bixby Spartans 3-2

By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

The Charles Page High School varsity volleyball team is continuing to impress in what could quite possibly be one of the best years in Sandite Volleyball history. It's been a long time since the girls have had a winning season, and they currently hold a 20-11 record and are ranked sixteenth by the OSSAA Coaches' Poll, despite the fact that just last week they upset the No. 10 Union Redskins (8-10). This past weekend the Lady Sandites went 6-2 at the Catoosa Port City Classic, and Tuesday they scored yet another upset over the No. 14 Bixby Lady Spartans (10-10).

At the Port City Classic this weekend, the Sandites defeated 5A No. 11 Claremore (12-16) 2-0 (25-23, 25-16), 4A No. 8 Catoosa (14-15) 2-0 (25-12, 25-16), 5A No. 5 Collinsville (17-6) 2-1 (25-22, 14-25, 15-12), 5A No. 7 Coweta 2-1 (23-25, 25-12, 15-4), 4A No. 1 Metro Christian (27-6) 2-0 (25-23, 25-19) and 5A No. 6 Shawnee 2-1 (21-25, 25-22, 15-11). They lost 2-0 to 4A No. 3 Victory Christian (18-5) in pool play with close sets of 25-23 and 25-21, and were eliminated in bracket play with a rematch against Metro Christian who won 2-0 with sets of 25-19 and 25-16.

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Located at the 41st St. and H97 intersection, next to Super Save.

The Sandites were neck and neck with the Spartans for most of the match Tuesday, sometimes giving up the lead, but always competing. The Sandites sided out on a service error to start the game 1-0 and Lee Leslie set up Gloria Mutiri for a kill. Rachel Fisher returned the favor for the Spartans, but Mutiri tacked on another, followed by two Spartan errors, then Mutiri and Makenna Cypert combined on a block for the 6-1 advantage.

Bixby had the edge from there and battled back to tie it up at 10-10 with a kill from Fisher. Fisher and Mutiri both wore 21 on their uniform and the two were in a shootout for most of the match.

After Fisher briefly gave her team the 11-10 lead, the Sandites went on a run with a pair of kills from Leslie, a shot from Mutiri, and an ace from Devree Youngblood to make it 15-11. The Spartans tried to keep up from there, but the Sandites pulled ahead for a 25-18 win. Leslie scored a pair back-to-back aces late in the match and Mutiri added one as well.

The second set was marred by errors for the Sandites who handed Bixby nearly as many points as they earned. The first four Spartan points of the set were from Sandite errors, but the home team quickly took an 8-4 lead with kills from Mutiri and Holly Kersgieter after cleaning up the errors. 

The Spartans started to play then and scored a series of kills of their own and capped it off with an ace from Kendra Horowitz to tie it at 8-8. The teams exchanged a pair of service errors and continued to battle closely till Mutiri and Kersgeiter gave their team a 12-10 edge, followed by a pair of Spartan faults. 

Bixby tied it up again at 15-15 as Kayla Little and Sophie Childs combined to block one of Mutiri's hard-hitting spikes. The Sandites briefly trailed after Gaby Justus took the lead for the Spartans, but Kersgieter scored an ace to tie it at 21-21. The Sandites gave up three-straight errors from there, however, and Little notched the game-winner at 25-22 to tie the match.

The third set also went to the Spartans who benefited from thirteen Sandite errors. Tori Holt entered the game for the Spartans and notched five kills in the set. Sand Springs trailed by as much as 17-11 midway through the game before battling back to tie it up at 23-23 with an ace from Kendall Wise. Bixby came out of a timeout to score on a hit from Little and a Sandite error clinched the game for the Spartans to take the 2-1 lead.

The Sandites cleaned up their act a bit in the fourth set and the Spartans had to put in extra effort for a match-best eighteen kills. The game got off to a good start with an ace from Baylee Mudd followed by three-straight Spartan errors. The Spartans tied things up at 8-8, but Sand Springs went back on the run and held the lead till Holt hit an ace at 14-14. 

Youngblood took the lead back from the Spartans at 17-17 and Kersgieter scored back-to-back kills for the lead. The game tied up four more times from there and went into extra points. Tied at 24-24, Mutiri took the lead, Little tied it up then took the lead for the Spartans. A Spartan collision tied things up and a consecutive contact call gave the Sandites the lead. The set ended as Justus sent a spike out of bounds and the Sandites secured the win at 28-26. 

The final set was a "never count yourself out" type of game as the Spartans took the early lead and held it to the very end. Bixby lead by as much as 8-4 after Little scored three-straight, but the Sandites got within a point at 10-9 after back-to-back kills from Mutiri. Mudd built a campfire on a tipped ball to make it 12-11 and a Spartan error tied the match. The Spartans committed another pair of errors and Madison Burris set up Mutiri for the game-winner, 15-12. 

Mutiri lead in scoring for the Sandites with 30 kills, followed by Kersgieter with 15, Leslie with 8, and Youngblood with 7. Fisher and Little split the scoring for Bixby with 18 kills each, followed by Holt with 9, Justus with 7, and Childs with 6. Burris was the leading setter for the Sandites with 20 assists, followed by MaKenzie Ward with 19. 

The Lady Sandites have only six matches left this season before the Regional playoffs. They'll return to action Thursday at Booker T. Washington (8-16). Freshmen start at 4:00 p.m., followed by JV at 5:00 and Varsity at 6:00. 

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.

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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

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

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

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.