Sandite Boys' Soccer season comes to an end at Deer Creek

/

By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

The Charles Page High School Boys' Soccer Team (3-12) saw their season come to a close in Edmond Thursday night as they were handily defeated 7-0 by the defending State Champions, No.18 nationally ranked Deer Creek (12-1). 

The boys finished the season with the same number of wins as last year, plus two more losses. In 2015 the boys started 0-4 before they found their first win, but this year they pulled off an impressive 4-0 shutout of Muskogee in the second game of the season.

They lost five straight from there, but placed sixth in the Edison Green and White Tournament after freshman Ethan Baxter scored a hat trick in a 4-1 defeat of Regent Prep. The third win this season is the most important game to win for a Sandite. The Highway 97 Rivalry went to Sand Springs in a 2-1 overtime victory Tuesday night. 

The Antlers wasted no time in getting on the board as sophomore Chris Smirlis notched a goal less than three minutes into the game. The game was a shooting melee, but Sandite keeper Edgar Soberano was all over it, picking up seven saves on thirteen shots before allowing a goal with 13 minutes remaining in the half. The Sandites finally got off their first shot of the game in the 32nd minute, but it was no where close.

The Antlers added another goal for the 3-0 lead with a little over five minutes in the half, then scored a fourth with only 0:50 seconds left. With moments left, Alex Hernandez fired off the second shot of the half for the Sandites from thirty yards out, but sent it wide left as the clock expired. Deer Creek added a PK 16 minutes into the second half for the 5-0 advantage. Tucker Brown added the sixth goal of the evening with 21 minutes to play, and from there Deer Creek sent in the backups to finish the night. The Antlers scored on a free kick with 16 minutes left and the rest of the night consisted of driving back and forth with neither team making any really close runs.

Redistricting really hurt the boys this season, who actually played better than last season in many ways. The tough district included two nationally ranked teams in Deer Creek and Union. The boys' season opener was also to a nationally ranked team, though East Central wasn't a district game. The boys were far better than their record indicated, as demonstrated by the fact Union and East Central each only beat the Sandites by two goals. Seven of the losses this season were decided by two goals or less.

Baxter led the team in scoring with 5 goals, followed by Andrew Morrison with 3, Kaleb Brooks with 2, Alex Hernandez with 2, Cade Loomin with 1, Cody Gurley with 1, and Ignacio Garcia with 1. 

The team will be graduating seven this year: Brooks, Lazaro Franco, Dylan Lambert, Simon Hollekve, Dalton Lane, and Hunter Jacob.

This season's photo galleries can be found at https://sanditepride.smugmug.com/2016-Soccer

Sandite of the Week: Ethan Baxter

/

By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

This week Sandite Pride would like to recognize Charles Page High School freshman Ethan Baxter as Sandite of the Week for his outstanding performance at the Tulsa Edison Green and White Tournament this past weekend.

Baxter leads his team in scoring this season with four goals, three of them coming in a single game this weekend. His hat trick led his team to a 4-1 victory over Regent Prep to snap a five-game losing streak. 

He scored his first goal of the season in a 4-0 shutout of Muskogee in the opening week. He scored his first goal of the Regent game on a header less than 8 minutes into the game, then added his second exactly 4 minutes later. 

The Sandites are now 2-7 for the season and came in 6th of 8 teams in the Edison Tournament.

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. Bylaws prevent the giving of the award to anyone for two 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 a three-person staff committee. 

Businesses or organizations seeking to sponsor the Sandite of the Week award may contact the above email for inquiries.

Ethan Baxter scores hat trick in 4-1 victory over Regent Prep

/ LaFortune Stadium/

Story and photo by: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

The Charles Page High School boys soccer team (2-6) snapped a five-game losing streak with a dominating 4-1 performance against Regent Prep (0-4) in round two of the Edison Green and White Tournament Friday afternoon. Freshman Ethan Baxter scored the first hat trick of the season for the Sandites and Kaleb Brooks added the exclamation point in the moral victory.

Sand Springs took the lead early on in the eighth minute off a Baxter header. The Rams tried to get off a shot three minutes later but Sandite keeper Ethan Tippit was quick with the save to maintain the lead. 

Baxter was back at it again on the next Sandite drive and scored another goal exactly four minutes after his first, this time on a wide open shot at center. Simon Hollekve got in a close battle with the Regent keeper that looked more like a wrestling match than a soccer match, but ultimately the Ram got the ball scooped up for the save. 

Tippit was all over the ball whenever the Rams actually got shots off, which was rare, but he unfortunately wasn't expecting his own teammates to make a go at him and Regent got on the board off a wild own-goal nine minutes into the second half. 

The Sandites took a few wide shots throughout the second half, none very close, till Baxter completed his hat trick with 5:20 to play. 

The Rams only got off one close shot in the second half, a powerful kick by Mitchell Love, but he was no match for the eager arms of Tippit. 

Baxter finally let another Sandite in on the scoring action as Cade Loomin set up Brooks for a 4-1 lead with 1:50 to play.

Baxter leads the team in scoring now with 4 goals for the season, followed by Andrew Morrison with 3, Brooks with 2, and Alex Hernandez, Loomin, and Cody Gurley with 1 each. 

Sand Springs will play Saturday at 1:15 for fifth place in the tournament. Their opponent has not been decided yet. The Lady Sandites (7-1) will play in the tournament championship round Saturday at 6:30 against Edison (3-4).

Brooklyn Eardley leads Lady Sandite Soccer to Edison Tournament finals

/

Story and photo by: Virgil Noah, Marketing Director

The Charles Page High School Girls soccer team (7-1) continued their winning ways in exciting fashion on day one of the Edison Green and White Tournament. The Sandite Girls defeated the Tulsa Memorial High School Lady Chargers 4-0 to get the ball rolling. Senior midfielder Brooklyn Eardley led the way for Sand Springs with a pair of goals and an assist, with juniors Kyndal Zicker and Megan Deshazo accounting for the other scores. 

As a result of the Sandites win and the Booker T. Washington High School Lady Hornets victory over the Regent Preparatory School Lady Rams, the two teams met for the second time in three days. BTW came in seeking to avenge the 2-0 loss they were dealt on Sand Springs's home turf. 

After a scoreless first half, things got going early in the second. Two minutes in, Lady Hornet midfielder Jae Harris crossed in a corner to Lauren Cousins whose shot deflected off of a Sand Springs defender and scored. Booker T. would hold the lead for a very short time though, as Eardley would spin around a defender and place a pass perfectly in stride to Deshazo who tapped the ball just past the outstretched arms of goalkeeper Lauren Ketchum. The Sandite girls would dominate possession for the rest of the half, but were unable to come up with another goal despite a few solid opportunities. Charles Page keeper Abigail Banks would stop the only shot that came her way in the second half, sending the game to penalty kicks tied 1-1. 

BTW led things off with a successful penalty kick and Zicker quickly tied it at 1 apiece. The second Lady Hornet PK hit the crossbar and Deshazo put the Sandites on top. A diving save by Banks put Sand Springs in prime position to seal things but a save on Jae Anthony-Wilson's penalty and a miss by Marissa Doll opened things back up for Washington who tied things up at 2 heading into the final round. The final kick for BTW was saved by Banks though, and Eardley sealed things for CPHS by calmly netting her shot for the win. 

The Lady Sandites will get a one-day break while the boys' tournament goes on, then will confront Edison, the host team, Saturday evening at 6:30 pm. The Lady Eagles are 3-4 for the season after defeating Pryor and Cascia Hall each 1-0 in the early rounds of the tournament.