Sandites looking to continue streak at Stillwater

By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

After a 20-0 shutout of the 2014 6A-II defending State Champions from Bixby, Sand Springs will travel to its fourth-consecutive playoff appearance this Friday night at Stillwater.

The Sandites have a long tradition of losing to the Pioneers, but this year they’re the clear favorites to advance.

Charles Page has a deceptive 5-4 record this season after forfeiting two wins due to an ineligible player, and cancelling one game just before the half due to lightning. Sand Springs led Guthrie 18-7 when they called it a night.

Stillwater has a longer tradition of success than Sand Springs, but this year they’re only 5-5 and will need to make it to the Championship just to reach a winning record.

Sand Springs is riding high defensively, allowing only 111 points this season, their best record since 1997, and has scored 302 points against their opponents. Stillwater, meanwhile, has allowed more points than they’ve scored with a record of 246-276.

The only true losses for Sand Springs are #1 Booker T (9-0) and #2 Bartlesville (9-1), whereas Stillwater has losses to 5A unranked Deer Creek (7-3), 6A-I #6 Mustang (7-3), 6A-I unranked Edmond North (4-6), #5 Lawton (8-1), and #13 Putnam City West (4-6).

It hasn’t always been this clear-cut, however. Historically, Stillwater leads the series 30-11-1.

The two teams first met in 1934 and Sand Springs brought home a 13-6 win on their way to a 7-2-1 season finish. The Pioneers, however, recorded the first shut out of the series the following year in a low scoring 3-0 week 9 game. 1936 was a 0-0 tie, but Stillwater got the better of the Sandites for the next decade.

The biggest loss Stillwater ever dealt the Sandites was 70-6 during the 1-year tenure of Travis Rhodes in 1961. Sand Springs scored 6 points exactly in five-straight meetings from 1961-1975.

In 1977, Stillwater spoiled the Sandites’ perfect season in round two of the playoffs. Charles Page was ranked #1 in 3A under head coach AD James. Richie Schuler was the quarterback that year. Sand Springs beat Broken Arrow 14-7, defeated Highway 97 rival Sapulpa 21-7, upset #1 Owasso 20-9 on the Rams’ home-field, and shut out three teams to secure their seventh district title before the Pioneers brought an end to the magical season.

The first overtime game between the two teams was in 1978 and Stillwater edged out Sand Springs 29-26, then in 1979 Stillwater spoiled the Sandite homecoming with a 13-10 loss.

The Sandites finally rebounded in 1981 in the second year with Gary Quimby as head coach and Eric Haines at quarterback. Sand Springs went 5-5 in the regular season and secured their eighth district championship with a triple overtime win over Ponca City and a narrow 22-21 victory over the Pioneers.

The series now stood at 2-10-1 and in 1982 Sand Springs managed to repeat with a single-touchdown win at Pioneer Stadium under head-coach Chris Thurmond. It was one of only two wins that season.

The Pioneers spoiled yet another magical season for the Sandites in 1987, handing them their second loss of the season in week eight, 17-9. The first loss of the season was a 28-27 overtime defeat by Bartlesville. Those three teams shared a district title that year and the Sandites went 10-3 after beating Memorial and Norman in the playoffs before losing 14-10 to eventual state champion Lawton.

In 1989 Stillwater shut out Sand Springs 17-0, but in 1990 Sand Springs returned the favor. That year Sand Springs beat Broken Arrow 6-0, #6 Stillwater 13-0, and Ponca City 28-0 on their way to the playoffs. In the post-season, the Sandites beat #10 Union and #9 Jenks to earn a #5 ranking in the state before losing 24-7 to Putnam North in the semifinals for a final record of 9-4.

Sand Springs fended off the Pioneers 10-7 in 1991 for another playoff appearance, but Stillwater ran away with the next five meetings, including 12-0 and 14-0 shutouts in 1993 and 1995, respectively.

In 1997 Sand Springs upset #2 Stillwater 17-11 on their way to a perfect regular season, then beat #7 Broken Arrow and #11 Sapulpa in the playoffs before barely falling 10-7 to Yukon in the semifinals. It was the tenth and final district championship for Sand Springs.

Stillwater won a 28-0 shutout in 1998 and a 45-0 shutout in 2000 as part of a 6-meeting streak before a 37-16 loss in 2008 under Dustin Kinard. Sand Springs won 45-41 the following year, then lost 42-35 for homecoming in 2010, and 38-37 in 2011.

The Sandites are the reigning victors, however, with a 41-27 win in 2012 and a 44-41 win in 2013.

The 44-41 game in 2013 was the highest scoring game of the series, and the last several meetings have been shootouts.

Terrance Dixon of Sand Springs currently holds the record for most rushing yards ever recorded at Pioneer Stadium with 299 and three touchdowns (also a record) in the 45-41 win in 2009.

The 2009 game also set the record for longest touchdown pass recorded in Pioneer stadium (73 yard reception by Patrick Goggin from Darrack Harger) and longest interception return for touchdown (68 yards by Devlin McVicker).

Sandites are now on their longest playoff streak ever

By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

The Sand Springs varsity football team has had some great years, but they've always been fairly spaced out. 

The program started in 1919 under head coach Ivan Grover and went 6-2-1 in its first year. It's now in its 97th year and since then it's seen the playoffs 17 years and amassed a 13-20 post-season record and won its lone State Championship in 1966.

Since 2000, Sand Springs has seen the playoffs four years and won its first playoff game since 1997 last year at Midwest City.

A 5-2 district record this year has clinched Sand Springs a playoff berth for the fourth consecutive year, the fifth year since head coach Dustin Kinard took over the program in 2007. 

The program has seen a lot of improvements during Kinard's tenure. His first year on the job was also the first season at the newly remodeled Memorial Stadium. In 2008 he led his team to their first winning record and first playoff appearance since 1997. 

There were a few rough years after that; Sand Springs went 8-22 from 2009-2011, but since then it's been one of the better programs in the state. 

2012 saw the team's first 6-0 start since 1997, and in 2014 the Sandites beat the Midwest City Bombers by a single point in an frigid overtime win to advance to the semi-finals.

Overall, Kinard has a 45-49 record at Sand Springs, but it should turn into a winning record within a season or two if things continue the way they have been. In his 9th season, Kinard is currently the second-longest tenured coach in Sandite history, behind LD Baines who coached from 1983-1996.

The last few seasons have seen lots of notable achievements and 2015 was no different. This season marked the Sandites' fourth-consecutive winning record and fourth-consecutive playoffs appearance. Sand Springs handed Bixby their first shutout in seven years.

The biggest loss for the Sandites this season was by 17 points. The last time Sand Springs made it through a season without a loss larger than 21 points was in 1997. A 53 point win over Hale (that was later forfeited) gave Sand Springs their third consecutive season with a 50+ point win. So far Sand Springs has only allowed 111 points this season, the team's best defensive record since 1997.

A 4-0 record at home also gave Sand Springs their first perfect season at home since 1997. 

There's never been a better time to be a Sandite!

Join the Minutemen this Friday as they travel to #7 Stillwater (5-5). Kick off is at 7:00 PM at Pioneer Stadium.

*this article has been corrected at 8:34 AM Monday 11/9/15. It previously reflected the Stillwater game as scheduled for Saturday.  

*OSSAA has changed kickoff from 7:30 PM Friday to 7:00 PM. Article has been corrected to reflect this change.

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Sandites shut out Spartans 20-0 on path to playoffs

By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

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The #3 Charles Page (5-4, 5-2) varsity football team had a huge night, handing the #4 Bixby Spartans (6-4, 4-3) their first shutout in seven years in a dominating 20-0 showdown at Memorial Stadium Friday night.

The team as a whole put up one of their best performances of the season, but several players in particular stole the show. Junior quarterback Hunter Greathouse was 5-8-0-109 in the first half that included a 63-yard touchdown pass to Kasey Bales.

Jaxon Starling, Jacob Taber, and Delvin Jordan tied for a team-high six tackles each. Starling had four tackles-for-loss totaling 41 yards, including 3 sacks. Jordan had three tackles-for-loss totaling 12 yards, including one 12-yard sack, as well as a fumble recovery. Taber had one tackle-for-loss.

The whole Sandite defense was incredible. Parker Taylor also picked up a fumble recovery and Cruz Desjarlais had three pass break-ups.

The game was clear Sandite domination from the get-go. The second play of the first Spartan drive resulted in a fumble recovered by the Sandites less than thirty seconds into the game.

The home team used a mere seven plays to move the ball 70 yards, ending in a 30 yard touchdown run by Payton Scott. Kasey Bales missed the first PAT of the night, but Sand Springs had taken an early 6-0 lead with 8:28 left in the first quarter.

Bixby never even reached Sand Springs territory before having the punt the ball away, and Sand Springs wasted no time in finding the endzone once again. Greathouse connected to Bales on a screen and the versatile receiver went 63 yards for the touchdown, then kicked his own point-after for a 13-0 lead with 2:39 in the quarter.

The following Bixby drive was pushed back for a loss of seven yards thanks to a two-yard tackle-for-loss by Jordan and a five-yard sack by Gage Fain, and the Spartans were once again forced to punt.

Lane Lettich took the handoff at the Sandite 41 and got behind the incredible Sand Springs O-line as they knifed through the would-be Spartan phalanx for a gain of six yards. Payton Scott found a hole on the next play and the home team was sitting pretty at 3rd and 1 at the 50 as the first quarter came to a close.

Ten plays later, Greathouse found his way into the endzone on a 1-yard quarterback sneak for his second touchdown of the night. Bales put up the extra point, and Sand Springs had a 20-0 lead with 7:39 left in the half. Now Sand Springs had to defend that lead for another 31 minutes.

Not much happened in the remainder of the first half, but the Spartans found their rallying cry at half-time and came out with all pistons firing for the third quarter.

It was the secondary’s time to shine as they prevented a fourth-down conversion attempt in their redzone early in the quarter, then got no rest as they were up against a Spartan possession that lasted more than four minutes and came down to the wire.

Bixby was first and goal at the Sandite 6 when Taber picked up a nice 4-yard TFL, then Jordan recovered a fumble to give the D a brief rest.

It wouldn’t last long, however. Four plays later, the Spartans were back at it with a 39-yard pass from Tucker Pawley to Conner Walker that put them right back at the Sandite 7. A pass attempt fell incomplete, then #33 Cole Dixon collided with #33 Nic Roller and proved himself the tougher of the two with a tackle-for-loss as the third period expired.

Next, Delvin Jordan sacked Tanner Griffin for a loss of 9, then Starling put the quarterback right back on the ground for a loss of 5 to hand the ball back over to the offense.

The remainder of the fourth quarter was a back and forth game of tug-a-war and once again Bixby threatened with 1st and 10 at the 11 with under a minute to play, but the game was finally wrapped up as Roller fumbled near the goal-line and Taylor recovered it to give the Sandites final-possession.   

Despite the loss, several Bixby players put up impressive efforts. Griffin connected on 10 of 14 for 144 yards in the fourth quarter alone, for 218 overall.

Nic Roller is the #5 rusher in 6A with 1394 yards this season and 4425 career. Sand Springs held him to a meager 47 yards on 20 carries. The only other time this season he’s been held to such a low out-put was against Ponca when he only carried one time for twenty yards due to an injury.

This was the 24th meeting of the two teams, and Sand Springs was bloodthirsty after the Spartans beat them twice last season. This was only the second shutout of the series, the last time being 19-0 in 1997, also by Sand Springs. The series is split now with both teams sitting at 12 wins.

This win gave Sand Springs their first undefeated season at home in over a decade and their fourth consecutive winning record.

Next week Sand Springs will travel to #9 Stillwater (5-5, 4-2) for their fourth-consecutive playoff appearance. Sand Springs has a 10-28-1 record against the Pioneers. 

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Spartans at Sandites: Only 23 games in 93 years, but lots of bad blood

By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

The first time the Sandites met the Spartans was in 1922 under head coach A.R. Bateman. It was the final game of the season and Sand Springs went into the game with a 2-5-2 record. Bixby won 19-14.

Sand Springs got their payback in 1926, once again in the final game of the season, with a 30-12 win to finish the season with a 5-2-2 record.

The Sandites took the series lead in the final game of 1927 with a 20-6 win to finish the season 4-4-2.

The two teams didn’t meet again till 1978 in a preseason scrimmage that the Sandites won.

In 1980 under first-year head coach Gary Quimby, Sand Springs traveled to Bixby and brought home a 10-7 victory in the second game of the season. Eric Haines was the quarterback and the team went on to finish with a 5-5 record. That year also saw an overtime upset of #1 ranked Union in week 3 and 18-0 shutout of Sapulpa at the Chieftain homecoming in week 4.

The following year, however, the Spartans beat Sand Springs on their home turf with a 14-12 win, then in '82 beat us 32-6. The 1982 team was coached by Chris Thurmond.

In 1983 Bixby beat Sand Springs 21-4, the first year of Sandite coaching legend LD Baines and took a 4-3 series lead.

By 1984 Baines had turned the program around and quarterback Shawn Morand led the Sandites to a 5-3 home win, then a 14-3 road win in '85.

The series took a seven-year hiatus before resuming at Memorial Stadium in 1992 where Bixby won 20-17 in overtime to even the series back out at 5-5.

In 1993 Delvin Jordan, Sr. was the quarterback and Sand Springs won 26-20 on the road. Jordan was named offensive player of the week by the Tulsa World. That year the Sandites went 7-4 and saw the season end in a 24-7 loss to Jenks in the playoffs.

Sand Springs managed only four wins in 1994, but still managed to smoke the Spartans 33-7 for a 7-5 series lead.

In 1995 Current Girls Head Basketball Coach Dustin Morrow was the quarterback as the Sandites went 6-4 in the regular season, but lost 17-10 to Bixby.

1996 and 1997 were magic years for Sand Springs and both saw substantial wins over the Spartans. 140 pound Keith Hooks was QB and the season started with a 28-7 win in 96 and the first shutout of the series 19-0 in 1997. Sand Springs made the playoffs both of those years and in 1997 went undefeated till the state semifinals where they finished the season with a 12-1 record.

In 1998 Archie Loehr took over the program from Baines and the Sandites went 5-5, starting the season with a 30-6 win against the Spartans.

In 1999 Sand Springs had a 10-6 lead, but their streak would come to an end with a 23-7 home loss.

Dustin Kinard became the Head Coach in 2007.

The rivalry took a hiatus until 2010 when Bixby handed the Sandites a 48-35 home loss to cap a disappointing 1-9 season.

In 2011 the program began to see some turnaround. Bixby defeated the Sandites 43-23 and the team ended with a 3-7 record, but five of those loses were by a touchdown or less.

By 2012, Sand Springs had reestablished itself as a force to be reckoned with. Cody Hale was a record-setting quarterback that year as our boys had their first 6-0 season start since 1997 that included a 21-7 week two victory over Bixby. It was also the last time the Sandites would defeat the Spartans.

In 2013 Bixby won 35-21 and Sand Springs finished with 6-5 record. Hale threw for 207 yards in that game.

In 2014 Class 6A was split into two divisions with each having their own playoffs and championship. The inequality between the top and bottom of 6A was greater than the inequality between 5A and A, and schools such as Broken Arrow had freshman classes larger than the entirety of Charles Page.

Last year, Sand Springs went 8-4 and won their first playoff game since 1997 in a 29-28 overtime win at Midwest City. In the final game of the regular season, Sand Springs barely lost 34-31 at Bixby, but were handily defeated 41-14 in the semifinals due to a string of injuries that left the starting quarterback, runningback, and kicker all unable to play. The starting nose-tackle was out for non-injury related reasons and the leading tackler had to fill in at QB leaving both sides of the ball drastically weakened. The Spartans would go on to win the inaugural 6A-II State Title over Lawton.

Bixby took the lead in the series and it now stands at 12-11 going into tonight’s game.

This season Sand Springs technically stands at 4-4, 4-2, though it should really be 7-2 overall. Two of those games were wins on the field that were forfeited due to an ineligible player, and one game against Guthrie was cancelled shortly before half time due to lightning. Sand Springs was leading that game 18-7 when it was called off. The only true losses for the Sandites were 24-7 at #2 Bartlesville and 17-14 at #1 Booker T Washington.

Bixby stands at 6-3, 4-2 and has losses to Jenks, Bartlesville, and Booker T.

Week 10 Rankings and Predictions

By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

#1 Booker T Washington (8-0, 6-0) District 1

#7 Muskogee (3-6, 3-3) District 1

Don't expect any surprises here. Muskogee's a far better team than they've been in recent years, but after being knocked out of playoff contention there's little likelihood that they'll find the motivation to upset the #1 undefeated team. Expect OSU-commit Justice Hill to rush for a couple hundred yards as usual and Dakari Willis will probably look to stretch his arm out a bit before the playoffs.

The pick: BTW 56, Muskogee 14

#2 Bartlesville (8-1, 5-1) District 1

#13 Claremore (2-7, 0-6) District 1

Bartlesville consistently gives up points, but also consistently scores substantially more. It'll be a blow out, but I doubt it'll be a shut out. The Zebras have had a rough time this season with injuries, but they've still got heart and won't go down without a fight. Between Colton Penrod and Jarron Hilger, however, it should be a clear Bruin victory.

The pick: Bville 48, Claremore 13.

#3 Charles Page (4-4, 4-2) District 1

#4 Bixby (6-3, 4-2) District 1

Bixby has fallen quite a bit from their early season performance and barely edged by Muskogee last week in overtime while Sand Springs was close to upsetting top-ranked Booker T. On paper, this should be a clear pick. However, there's a lot of bad blood between the Sandites and Spartans after Bixby injured several Sand Springs players last year and beat them twice--once in the regular season and once in the semifinals. Muskogee's players hadn't even made it home yet before Twitter was blowing up with Sandite tweets calling out Bixby last week. The playoffs are locked up for both teams, but they'll be battling for the #3 seed so it should be a shootout, just like last year's 34-31 week 10 game. Bixby has one of the best runningbacks in the state in Nic Roller and Sand Springs has the best defense so it should be a great matchup.

The pick: Sand Springs 41, Bixby 35.

#5 Lawton (7-1, 5-0) District 2

#11 Choctaw (5-4, 2-3) District 2

The Wolverines wrapped up a district championship last week against Midwest City and their only loss was a rivalry matchup against the undefeated #1 team in 5A. Choctaw is coming to do battle, however, as they need a win to hold onto a playoff berth. 

The pick: Lawton 48, Choctaw 24

#6 Midwest City (6-3, 4-2) District 2

Midwest City elected not to play a fourth non-district game and is taking a week off before the playoffs.

#8 Putnam City West (4-5, 2-3) District 2

#14 Enid (2-7, 1-4) District 2

It's down to the wire for PCW. The Patriots are already experiencing their best record since 2000, but after a big time upset by Eisenhower last week it still remains to be seen if they'll clinch their first playoff appearance since 1996. On paper, it should be locked up. But if Enid overcomes PCW like Ike did, then Choctaw will take the bottom seed in the playoffs.

The pick: PCW 47, Enid 35

#9 Stillwater (4-5, 3-2) District 2

#15 Eisenhower (1-8, 1-4) District 2

It's too late for Ike to reach the playoffs, but it's not too late for them to bump Stillwater down to the bottom seed and at least move up from the bottom rank of the division. The Eagles will be flying high after their 50-28 dominating upset @ PCW last week.

The pick: Stilly 38, Ike 35

#10 Ponca City (2-6, 1-5) District 1

#12 Sapulpa (2-6, 1-5) District 1

The Chieftains pulled off a narrow 1 point win last week against Claremore in the lowest scoring game of the season for 6A-II, but it was their first win since week 2 and it was an upset. Expect Dae Williams to cross the 1500 season rushing mark. Ponca doesn't have any huge stars like Williams, but they have a better talent-spread among the players. Keep your eyes on QB Conner Larson and the RB/WR combo of the Arita brothers. 

The pick: Ponca 35, Sapulpa 21

My Record

• Week 1: 10-2 (.833)
• Week 2: 12-2 (.857)
• Week 3: 6-3 (.666)
• Week 4: 6-2 (.750)
• Week 5: 5-3 (.625)
• Week 6: 8-0 (1.00)
• Week 7: 8-0 (1.00)
• Week 8: 7-1 (.875)
• Week 9: 6-2 (.750)
• Overall: 68-15 (.819)