CPHS Football: Defense paves the way to 26-21 victory at Yukon

The Sand Springs Gold Pride marching band set the tone for the Sandites throughout the night. (Photo: Morgan Miller).

CPHS 26 YHS 21
1Q 7-6 YHS
2Q 14-0 CPHS
3Q 7-0 YHS
4Q 7-6 YHS

Passing: CPHS 6-7-58-0, YHS 1-3-8-0.
Rushing: YHS 48-374, CPHS 43-252.
Plays-Offense: YHS 51-382, CPHS 50-310. 
First Downs: YHS 19, CPHS 13.
Penalties: CPHS 3-13, YHS 7-76. 
Fumbles/Lost: CPHS 3/0, YHS 1/1.

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The No. 7 ranked Charles Page High School football team (3-2) won a 26-21 thriller against 6A-I No. 9 Yukon (2-3) to improve to a winning record Friday night on the road. After a slow start and 7-6 first quarter deficit, the Sandites burned up the turf for 14 points in the second quarter and held a comfortable 20-7 halftime lead. The Millers surged back in the second half, however, and the game culminated in a controversial goal-line stand.

Yukon's defense came out sturdy on the opening drive, holding the Sandites to six yards and a punt. The offense was equally effective, marching 63 yards in eleven plays before scoring on a five-yard keeper from senior quarterback Perry Olsen. Cody Watson connected on the point-after kick and the home team led 7-0.

The Sandites wouldn’t be denied on their second possession, however, and went on a twenty-point run from there. They marched 74 yards in eight plays, entirely behind Payton Scott who scored on a two-yard carry. Jaden Weiser’s kick was blocked, however, and the Millers held the lead.

Yukon accrued only sixteen yards on their next possession before being forced to punt at the start of the second quarter. The Millers would manage only three plays in that stanza. Sand Springs ate up nine minutes, marching 76 yards before scoring on a three-yard run from Scott. Once again, Weiser's kick was blocked, but this time the Sandites led 12-7.

Braden Askew hit Antonio Washington for a loss of one on the Miller's first play, then Joel Mackey stripped Bryce Williams and returned the ball 24 yards to the Yukon redzone. 

Junior quarterback Caden Pennington found Braden Millican for nine yards and a first down, then recovered a fumbled hike for a three-yard touchdown run. He found the endzone again on a two-point run with 22 seconds left for the 20-7 advantage.

The third quarter belonged wholly to the home team. Yukon got the ball to start the half and marched 57 yards in six plays thanks to big runs from Olsen and Noah Davis. Davis capped the drive with a five yard run, followed by a kick from Watson.

Bryson Denton fumbled the kick at the two-yard line, recovered, and ended up with a 34-yard return. The offense was unable to capitalize, however, and netted only four yards before punting. Yukon marched from their 25 to the Sandites 19 before a 35-yard field goal attempt came up flat. The Sandites' corresponding drive was equally marred by disaster as they traveled 65 yards and made their own field goal attempt from the fifteen. Weiser's kick was blocked for the third time, and Caleb Hernandez returned it to the Yukon 31.

Yukon's next possession was a success as they marched 69 yards in fourteen plays, scoring on a four-yard run from Olsen. Watson's kick returned the Millers to the lead at 21-20.

The Sandites wasted no time on their next drive. Pennington found Kameron Adcock for eighteen yards, then Scott carried for fifteen. Pennington snagged another first down with an eight-yard screen to Millican, then scrambled for a ten-yard gain. From 24 yards out, Scott leaped a pile of bodies, broke a tackle, and took it to the house for the final score of the game. Pennington came up short on a two-point run, and the Millers needed only one touchdown with 2:10 to try for it. 

On their first play of the drive, Washington flipped the field, running 53 yards to the Sandite red zone. Olsen took it down to the one-yard line over four runs, but couldn't find the endzone. The Sandites thought they won it once and the whole team stormed the field before a neutral zone infraction prior to the snap gave the Millers one last play with no time on the clock and a half yard to go.

Olsen's O-line went toe-to-toe with the talented Sand Springs defense and once again came up short, giving the Sandites their most down-to-the-wire win of the season. 

Pennington improved on his passing percentage for the fifth-straight week, throwing 6-7-58-0, marking his first game of the year without an interception. 

The Sandites will return to district play next Friday with a road game against No. 15 Ponca City (1-4, 1-1) who just won their first game of the season with a 14-12 upset of No. 12 Bartlesville (1-4, 0-2)

Sand Springs Individual Statistics

Passing: Pennington 6-7-58-0.
Receiving: McCallie 1-23, Millican 3-17, K. Adcock 1-14, Mock 1-4.
Rushing: Scott 33-185, Nortey 2-34, Pennington 8-33. 
PAT: Weiser 0/2. 
Field Goals: Weiser 0/1.
Punting: Smith 2-60.
Kicking: Weiser 5-164.
Kick Returns: Denton 3-75, Bratcher 1-15. 
Tackles: Cramer 10, Fleischman 7, Edwards 7, Lyons 5, Denton 5, Fain 4, Askew 4, Finch 3, Adcock 2, Mackey 2, Cartwright 1, Wright 1.
Tackles for loss: Lyons 1-5, Askew 1-4, Fain 1-3, Edwards 1-1.
Sacks: Lyons 1-5.
Breakups: Mackey 1.
Forced Fumbles: Mackey 1.
Fumble Recoveries: Mackey 1-24. 
 

Yukon Individual Statistics

Passing: Olsen 1-3-8-0.
Receiving: Williams 1-8. 
Rushing: Olsen 18-101, Washington 6-100, Williams 3-62, Kenley 5-39, Burnett 6-35, Davis 5-22, Donoho 5-15.
PAT: Watson 2/2.
Field Goals: Watson 0/1.
Punting: Andraszek 1-28.
Kicking: Humphrey 4-223.
Punt Returns: Hernandez 1-8.
Kick Returns: Kenley 1-15, Andraszek 2-9.

CPHS Football: Sandites face big test on the road at 6A-I No. 9 Yukon

The No. 7 ranked Charles Page High School football team (2-2) will travel to 6A-I No. 9 Yukon (2-2) Friday evening for their final non-district game of the season as they hope to improve to a winning record for the first time this season. 

Last year the Sandites' season went nearly identically to this year, at least thus far. Last year Sand Springs was totaled by Pulaski Academy, lost a heart-breaker to Choctaw, won a close one against Putnam West, dominated Sapulpa, and heartily defeated the Millers to improve to 3-2. 

Just like last year, the Sandites went down 59-21 to nationally-ranked No. 21 Pulaski (4-0), were edged out 21-20 by No. 9 Choctaw (3-1), then doubled down on No. 13 Putnam (1-3) 28-14 and No. 14 Sapulpa (0-4) 31-16. If history continues to repeat itself, they should be in for a solid win today. 

Yukon, however, is having a much different season under first year Head Coach Jeremy Reed. Last year the Millers went 0-10 under Brian Sauser, but Reed snapped the fourteen game losing streak in week two with a 38-31 win at No. 6 Norman North (3-1).

Reed turned around the 5A Altus program from a 3-7 season in 2014 to an 8-3 year in 2015 and a 2016 State Championship and 13-1 record before leaving for Lake Hamilton, Arkansas. He coached Hamilton to a 6-5 record before returning to Oklahoma. He got his coaching start in Sand Springs as the offensive coordinator in 2006 when the Sandites went 4-6 under Head Coach Brad Odom. The team averaged 26.5 points per game that season.

The Millers took a 31-14 hit in their season opener at No. 7 Mustang (2-1), but followed up the Norman North win with a 28-7 victory over Southmoore (0-4) before falling 56-20 in their district opener against No. 4 Broken Arrow (1-3).

The Sandites are a run-heavy team this year, averaging 259 yards per game with 222 of that coming from Payton Scott. The 5'5" senior running back has carried 126 times this season for 889 yards and eleven touchdowns. Just last week he set a career record of 352 yards on only 29 carries. He also has four catches for 96 yards and one touchdown this year, plus three kick returns for 91 yards. 

Junior quarterback Caden Pennington is steadily improving in the pass game. He sits at 19-50-239-4 this year with two touchdowns, but his passing percentage has gone up every week. He passed for a career-best 6-12-145-1 record against Putnam West two weeks ago.

Hayden Cramer has led a stout Sandite defense with 36 tackles this season, plus a six-yard interception return. Kameron Adcock and Bryson Denton both have forced fumbles. Braden Askew has two interceptions with eleven yards in returns and one fumble recovery. Jerry Lyons has an interception and a forced fumble, plus two sacks for twelve yards. 

First-year kicker Jaden Weiser is 13 of 14 on extra points and kicked his first field goal last week from 25 yards. He has booted kickoffs as far as 59 yards, but averages 36 yards due to several onside and squib kicks.

Click here to Virgil Noah's story from last year's game against Yukon.

Sandite Pride has unanimously picked Sand Springs with Virgil Noah predicting a 42-13 blowout and Scott Emigh calling a much closer 35-28 Sandite win.

CPHS Softball: Elizabeth Luttrell hits four RBI in 12-1 win over Skiatook

Charles Page High School junior Elizabeth Luttrell had a perfect night batting as the Lady Sandites (20-7) rolled to a 12-1 victory over Skiatook (13-18). The first baseman landed three hits on three at-bats, scoring one run and four RBI to account for a third of the Sandites' offense. 

Sand Springs jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning. Kimi Presnell walked, Makenna Skaggs singled, both stole bases, and Presnell scored on a sacrifice bunt from Sabrina Usher. Skaggs scored soon after on a single from Jacie Taber. Presnell was in on the next score as well, doubling to bring in Luttrell.

The Sandites loaded the bases in the third inning with singles from Taber and Usher and a walk from Jensen Arnold. Cameron Clemons was hit by pitch to walk in Usher, then all three runners scored on a double from Luttrell for the 7-1 advantage.

The fourth inning saw the home team take a double-digit lead. Taber doubled to bring in Skaggs and Usher, Felicity Horn singled to score Taber, Madelyn Blair singled to score Horn, and Luttrell singled to score Clemons. 

The Bulldogs managed two singles in the top of the fifth, but couldn't find home plate and the Sandites secured the run-rule victory. 

Blair (5-3 season, 18-5 career) recorded three strikeouts, four walks, and three hits in the five inning game.

The Lady Sandites will return to action Thursday with a home game against Bartlesville (16-18).

CPHS Volleyball: No. 14 Sandites fall 3-0 to No. 9 Broken Arrow

The No. 14 ranked Charles Page High School volleyball team (10-18) has hit a rough patch lately, going 2-4 at the Stillwater Tournament this past weekend and suffering a 3-0 sweep at No. 9 Broken Arrow (16-12) Tuesday evening.

BAHS 3 CPHS 0
Set One: 25-15 BAHS
Set Two: 25-10 BAHS
Set Three: 25-21 BAHS

Kills: BAHS 31, CPHS 14.
Blocks: BAHS 5, CPHS 3.
Aces: BAHS 7, CPHS 1.
Service Errors: BAHS 8, CPHS 6.

(CPHS Only)
Kills: Mutiri 9, Burris 2, Campfield 1, Neely 1, Cypert 1.
Assists: Burris 10.
Aces: Madison Ward 1.
Blocks: Mutiri 3.
Digs: Mutiri 3, Burris 2.

The Sandites fell in straight sets to No. 8 Union (19-10), No. 12 Westmoore (15-12) and No. 5 Stillwater (23-7). They lost 3-1 to No. 17 Southmoore (10-17) who they had previously defeated in straight sets at the Broken Arrow Tournament. On Saturday they prevailed 3-0 against Bartlesville (4-22) and the Stillwater Junior Varsity.

Tuesday was another tough match against Broken Arrow, and though the first two sets were blowouts, the Sandites finished on a high night with a close loss in game three. 

After Madison Ward served an ace to start off the night, the home team won the next eight rallies before turning the ball over on a service error. Kansas State University-commit Gloria Mutiri scored a block and a kill, and the Sandites battled back to a 9-7 deficit. The home team slowly began to creep further and further ahead, however, and wrapped things up at 25-15. 

The second set was even more of a blowout as the Tigers jumped out to a 5-0 lead. Sand Springs tried to hang tight early on with a kill from Makenna Cypert and a block from Mutiri to make it 8-5, but after turning the ball over on a service error, the Sandites lost seven straight rallies for a double-digit deficit. Eventually the home team prevailed 25-10.

The third set was far more competitive as the Sandites found their rhythm and hung tight with their foes throughout. The set tied nine times and the Sandites led for 23 rallies by as much as three points before the home team won four straight to flip the script from 20-18 to 22-20 in their favor. Mutiri cut it back to a one-point deficit but Broken Arrow won three straight to close out 25-21 and complete the sweep.

The Lady Sandites will travel to 5A No. 10 Claremore (15-12) on Thursday in their last match before the final rankings come out Monday. They will host No. 18 Muskogee (18-14) on Monday, Sapulpa (4-13) on Tuesday, and Ponca City (11-11) on Thursday. The Regional pairings will be released Wednesday. 

CPHS Volleyball: Gloria Mutiri commits to Kansas State University

Charles Page High School volleyball standout Gloria Mutiri has announced her decision to play collegiate ball for Kansas State University in Manhattan. The 6'2" senior previously committed to Ohio State University in September of last year before decommitting this August to look for a school closer to home. 

Mutiri has been the leading scorer for the Sandites for the past four years, and is also a star on the Lady Sandite State Semifinalist Basketball team that won the Frontier Valley Conference last year. She is currently averaging 4.5 kills per set this season, not including the Stillwater tournament played this past weekend. Her season stats currently stand at 309 kills, 58 blocks, 64 digs, and 22 aces. 

Kansas State is currently 8-7 overall and 1-1 in the Big 12 Conference. The Wildcats are in their seventeenth season under Head Coach Suzie Fritz, who has amassed a 316-178 record in her time with the program. Last year the team went 21-10, tied for fourth in the Big 12, and made the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Their last conference title came in 2003. 

The Big 12 is a highly competitive volleyball conference with three of their nine teams ranked at present time. Texas is currently fifth, Kansas is eleventh, Iowa State is eighteenth. Baylor also received votes and currently holds a 12-3 record. Kansas State is in a bit of a rebuilding year after graduating five starters, but the Wildcats have only one senior in their current starting lineup, setting them up for an experienced unit in the coming year. 

Kyle and Kale Hilligoss place 2nd of 115 boats at OBN Season Opener

The Charles Page High School  fishing teams got off to a great start this weekend at the Oklahoma Bass Nation Season Opener on Lake Tenkiller. Two teams finished in the top five on Saturday and several had impressive performances both Saturday and Sunday. 

115 boats signed up for the first and second trail events of the year. The two-day event counts as two separate tournaments towards the trail standings.

The sport is sponsored by Bassmaster and is not officially recognized by the Oklahoma Secondary Schools Activities Association (OSSAA). Sand Springs Public Schools does not provide funding for the teams, who rely on private sponsorships to pay for tournament entry, equipment, and supplies. Each team consists of two student anglers and one adult coach/pilot. 

Kyle and Kale Hilligoss were Saturday's runners-up with four fish weighing 10.73 pounds, just 0.08 pounds behind the winners from Noble. The performance was the best of their BASS career, beating a 6th place finish at a tournament in June by 0.27 pounds. Not far behind the Hilligosses was Reese David and Mack Taylor with three fish weighing 5.44 pounds for a fifth place finish in their career debut. Braden Millican and Ty Steelman placed 31st on Saturday with one fish weighing 2.34 pounds, Seth Kearns and Cole Scott placed 36th with one fish weighing 2.06 pounds.

Millican and Steelman led on Sunday with two fish weighing four pounds for 12th place, followed by the Hilligosses with a 3.19 pound fish for 14th place. Taylor and David caught one fish weighing 2.11 pounds for 29th place, Hunter Hilger and Noah Daczewitz caught a 1.61 pound fish for 39th place, Kearns and Scott caught a 1.49 pound fish for 40th place, and John Miller and Caden Pennington caught a 1.13 pound fish for 46th place. 

Team Hilligoss sits in third place in the State standings, followed by Taylor/David in ninth, Millican/Steelman in thirteenth, Keans/Scott in 24th, Hilger/Daczewitz in 60th, and Miller/Pennington in 71st.

The next OBN event won't be held until May 5th with another two-day, two-tournament weekend on Lake Texoma.