Sand Springs Football sabotages Muskogee Homecoming 48-34

A version of this story was originally written for the Sand Springs Leader.

It’s hard to say if a Sand Springs football player had ever returned a kick 99 yards for a touchdown before Friday night. But the loyal Sand Springs fans who traveled to Muskogee on October 1st almost got to see the rare feat twice.

With the game tied up at 13-13 early in the second quarter, junior return-man Jabe Schlehuber took the ball from the one-yard line to the house, but had it called all the way back for holding at the 16-yard line.

“I was mad,” said Schlehuber. “We went and scored though on that drive. It was alright, it made up for it. But I had to get redemption, I had to get another one.”

So, on the opening play of the second half, he did it again, and this time it held up. The Sandites took a 34-20 lead en route to a 48-34 win at the Indian Bowl, and all three sides of the ball made their way onto the scoreboard.

Class 6A-II No. 5 Charles Page High School improved to 5-0 for the first time since 2012, and more importantly, they’re 2-0 in district play. Unranked Muskogee dropped to 1-4 overall and 1-1 in district action.

Since kicks can’t be returned from the end zone in high school ball, it’s safe to say Schlehuber at the very least tied the school record for longest kick return. It’s certainly possible he’s the only Sandite to have done so. “That’s crazy,” he said after the game. “That’s my first varsity touchdown, that’s kind of cool.” 

He wasn’t the only star on the night, however. The always lethal Sandite offense put up huge numbers, and the defense made their way onto the scoreboard for the second straight week.

Ty Pennington was 14-of-18 passing for 192 yards and two touchdowns, with 13 carries for 94 yards and two more touchdowns. 

Jacob Blevins led the receiving corps with five catches for 71 yards and one touchdown, and Ryan Shoemaker had three catches for 34 yards and two scores. Blake Jones had 23 carries for 138 yards and one catch for 45 yards. Brody Rutledge had three catches for 36 yards and also threw a 26-yard touchdown strike to Blevins.

6’4” defensive end Landon Hendricks led the defense with seven tackles, including three for negative yards, two sacks, a pass deflection, and a forced fumble. The senior has recorded three forced fumbles in the past two games, and two have been returned for touchdowns. This time it was Gabe Brown who scooped it up and carried it 75 yards for a 48-27 lead.

“What an unbelievable play,” said Sandites head coach Bobby Klinck. “And then Gabe Brown picking that up, he looked like a dang running back scooping that thing up.”

Muskogee didn’t look like a team that was coming off only its first win in two seasons, however. In their first under head coach Travis Hill they appear to be trending in the right direction. 

“I’ve coached at Muskogee and those kids are horribly talented and they’re coached very well by Coach Hill and his staff,” said Klinck. “So I knew it was going to be a dogfight. We were just lucky that we had a few more plays than them.”

Freshman quarterback Jamarian Ficklin looked like a veteran, passing 18-of-28 for 355 yards and three touchdowns. 

“I’m not going to look forward to playing him the next three years,” said Klinck. “They’re a young football team and each week they get better and better.”

Jayden Bell led the Muskogee receiving corps with five catches for 123 yards and two scores, followed by Anthony Watson with five catches for 117. Kayden McGee and Isaiah Givens also caught touchdown passes, and Walker Newton aired out a 74-yard touchdown pass to Bell on a trick play. 

“That whole dang team is going to be back next year,” said Klinck. “They’re doing things really well over here at Muskogee. We’re very fortunate to come away with a win and we’re looking forward to the next challenge.”

“Wins are like plane landings, there’s no such thing as a bad one. That’s the way we look at it. That was a huge win for districts. Competition is really going to start ramping up. We knew Muskogee was going to be good, it was going to be a good test and to get us ready for this next stretch of probably the top three teams in the state right now.”

Things will only get rougher from here for the Sandites, who will host No. 3 Booker T. Washington (4-1, 1-1) next Friday. The Hornets are fresh off a 66-0 shutout of Bartlesville. Then they travel to No. 1 Bixby (5-0, 2-0) before returning home against No. 2 Choctaw (4-1, 2-0).

Sand Springs Football Preview: Undefeated Sandites Travel to Muskogee Friday

The Class 6A-II No. 5 ranked Charles Page High School varsity football team 4-0, 1-0) will travel to unranked Muskogee (1-3, 1-0) Friday as they look for their first 5-0 start since 2012. The game will be Muskogee’s Homecoming.

The Sandites and Roughers will kick off at 7:00 p.m. in the Indian Bowl, located at 402 North S Street, Muskogee, OK 74403 on the campus of Alice Robertson Junior High. The visitors’ side is located on North Utah Street. General admission tickets are $5.00 for adults and $3.00 for students. Masks will be required in common areas.

Sand Springs

The Sandites are in their second year under Head Coach Bobby Klinck, who holds an all-time coaching record of 24-17. While Sand Springs was a perennial playoff contender from 2012 to 2017, they hit a rough patch of three losing seasons before Klinck’s arrival spurred them from 2-8 in 2019 to 7-5 last year.

Sand Springs has emerged undefeated through the first four games of the year. In the season opener they beat archrival Sapulpa 53-26, then they easily handled Bishop Kelley 34-13. Against defending Arkansas 4A State Champion Shiloh Christian they had to come from behind in a 40-33 shootout. In the district opener against Ponca City they won 30-13 in a gritty defensive battle.

Players to Watch

Ty Pennington (Sr. QB) is 65-100-973-1 passing with 11 touchdowns and is 54-176 rushing with two touchdowns.

Blake Jones (Sr. RB) is 83-608 rushing with seven touchdowns.

Brody Rutledge (Jr. WR) is 1-2-23-0 passing with 1 touchdown and 16-283 receiving with three touchdowns.

Keaton Campbell (Sr. WR) is 17-185 receiving with three touchdowns and averages 23 yards per kick return.

Jacob Blevins (Sr. WR) is 22-359 receiving with three touchdowns and averages 19 yards per kick return.

Landon Hendricks (Sr. DE) has 26 tackles, eight for loss, three sacks, one fumble recovery, four pass breakups, one blocked kick, two forced fumbles, and one safety.

Brooks Dudley (Sr. LB) has 34 tackles, 2.5 for loss, 1.5 sacks

Gabe Brown (Sr. LB) has has 24 tackles, three for loss, 1.5 sacks

Drake Fain (Sr. LB) has 32 tackles, one for loss, two fumble recoveries, and one recovery for a touchdown.

Logan Wolfe (Jr. K) is 15-of-18 on PATs and 2-of-2 on field goals with a long of 34 yards.

Muskogee

The Roughers are in their first season under Head Coach Travis Hill, who holds a 139-37 record in his career. Coincidentally, both Hill and Klinck were head coaches at East Central High School in Tulsa. Before taking over at Muskogee, he was already on the staff as Defensive Coordinator. Hill and Klinck have been assistant coaches at both Muskogee, and Broken Arrow. Sandite Offensive Line Coach Jason Medrano is also a former Muskogee assistant.

Muskogee, like Sand Springs two seasons ago, is trying to snap out of a recent funk following a long period of success. They went 0-7 last year and lost ten straight games before snapping the streak against Putnam City West last week. Putnam West is on their own streak of 28 losses in a row.

The Roughers went 8-3 in 2019, 6-5 in 2018, 5-5 in 2017, and 9-2 in 2016.

The History

Last season the Sandites rolled to a 45-14 Homecoming victory. The defense forced two turnovers and only allowed two scores on ten Rougher possessions.

In 2019 it was the Roughers who dominated in a 54-6 rout to improve to 5-0. The Roughers took a 47-0 lead before sending in the backups in the most lopsided game in the history of the series. 

Ty Pennington was 13-23-107-0 with one touchdown in 2019 and 20-32-251-0 with two touchdowns in 2020, plus another 64 yards and two touchdowns on the ground. Blake Jones was 16-80 rushing in 2019 and 13-104 for one touchdown in 2020. Ryan Shoemaker also had a big game last year with 104 receiving yards and a score.

Muskogee leads the all-time series 23-7 and has won three of the past four, but after snapping Muskogee’s 20-0 start in the series, the Sandites have won seven of the last ten meetings.

Muskogee has shut out the Sandites three times, and the Sandites have shut out the Roughers once. Muskogee’s biggest win was 54-6 in 2019, Sand Springs’s biggest win was 45-14 in 2020. The highest scoring game was a 57-21 Muskogee win in 2006.

1953: Muskogee 20-0.
1954: Muskogee 40-12.
1955: Muskogee 24-6.
1956: Muskogee 7-0.
1957: Muskogee 34-6.
1958: Muskogee 12-0.
1959: Muskogee 40-14.
1960: Muskogee 14-5.
1961: Muskogee 38-6.
1994: Muskogee 20-14 (OT).
1995: Muskogee 28-6.
2002: Muskogee 38-12 (A).
2003: Muskogee 37-14 (H).
2004: Muskogee 27-6 (Homecoming).
2005: Muskogee 47-25 (A).
2006: Muskogee 57-21 (H).
2007: Muskogee 49-21 (A).
2008: Muskogee 39-37 (H).
2009: Muskogee 37-29 (A).
2010: Muskogee 44-14 (A).
2011: Sand Springs 7-3 (H).
2012: Sand Springs 40-28 (A).
2013: Sand Springs 39-14 (H).
2014: Sand Springs 13-0 (A).
2015: Sand Springs 34-10 (H).
2016: Sand Springs 26-25 (A).
2017: Muskogee 40-34 (Homecoming).
2018: Muskogee 45-27 (H).
2019: Muskogee 54-6 (A).
2020: Sand Springs 45-14 (Homecoming).

Things to do in Muskogee

Honor Heights Park
1400 Honor Heights Drive
Muskogee, OK 74401

Three Rivers Museum
220 Elgin Street
Muskogee, OK 74401

Five Civilized Tribes Museum
1101 Honor Heights Drive
Muskogee, OK 74401

Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame
401 South 3rd Street
Muskogee, OK 74401

War Memorial Park
3500 Batfish Road
Muskogee, OK 74403

Thomas Foreman Historic Home
1419 West Okmulgee Avenue
Muskogee, OK 74401

Sandite Athletics Weekly Roundup: Softball upsets Bixby

A version of this story was originally written for the Sand Springs Leader.

Cross Country

The Sand Springs elementary cross country team competed at Bishop Kelley Tuesday, September 21st and took third place in a combined boys and girls run. Chloe Grona led the team with a second-place finish, running a 5:48 mile. Josie Grona placed seventh in 6:11 and Jacob Lovins placed eighth in 6:12.

Fast Pitch Softball

Sandite Softball (15-13) wrapped up district action with a 3-2 upset of Bixby Thursday, holding the Spartans scoreless after the first inning. 

JoLee McNally scored on a double from Lauren Hammock in the first inning, then hit a triple in the third inning and tied it up on a double from Avery Tanner. Kelsi Hilton scored the go-ahead run on a single from Morgan Rector in the sixth. 

Bixby put two runners on in the seventh, but Tanner scooped a groundball and made the throw to first to end the game. Hilton got the win in the pitcher’s circle with seven hits, two strikeouts, and three walks. 

Sand Springs then competed at the Tahlequah-NSU festival and went 1-3. 

Raegan Rector pitched a 10-5 win against Jay on Saturday, giving up only four hits and three walks with five strikeouts. Hilton led the offense, batting 2-of-3 for two runs, two RBI, and a double. 

The Sandites lost games of 11-4 to Tuttle, 6-0 to Moore, and 10-2 to Edmond Deer Creek. 

They will wrap up the regular season Thursday on the road at Oologah-Talala. Regional Assignments will be released Friday. 

Fishing 

The Charles Page High School fishing club competed at the Oklahoma Bass Nation trail events on Broken Bow Lake September 18th and 19th. 

Mack Taylor and Parker Haling placed ninth on Saturday, catching five fish weighing 8.77 pounds. Then on Sunday they caught five fish weighing 8.06 pounds for tenth place. They are currently sixth overall in this season’s standings. 

Nate Griffin and Jaxon Trotter caught two fish weighing 3.31 pounds on Saturday for 33rd place. 

The next OBN trail event will be October 16th on Skiatook Lake. 

Volleyball

Class 6A No. 16 Sand Springs (13-17 overall, 2-4 conference) went 3-3 last week, winning a 3-0 conference sweep of Muskogee on Tuesday before competing at the Bishop McGuinness tournament over the weekend.

In Tuesday’s match against Muskogee Payton Robbins scored 10 kills and five aces, Teyha Johnson recorded 19 assists, Jacelyn Smith scored eight kills, Charley Fahland made nine digs and scored four aces, and Layla Lenex had four blocks. All five of Robbins’s aces came in a 9-0 run during set two. The Sandites easily dismantled the Roughers 25-13, 25-9, and 25-11. 

In Oklahoma City the Sandites won 2-0 against Choctaw and Yukon, but fell 2-0 to Bishop McGuinness, Deer Creek, and Carl Albert.

Sandite Volleyball will return to action Thursday, September 30th with a conference match against Booker T. Washington at home. 

Defense Spurs Sand Springs Football to 30-13 Homecoming Win Over Ponca City

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While other four-year-olds dream of being pilots, NFL players, or the President, Cooper White dreams of being on the Sandite flag crew. 

Cooper can often be seen running around the playground with his own flag, imagining he’s one of the Sand Springs baseball players who storm onto the field hoisting the four “CPHS” flags after touchdowns on Friday nights. 

Now he no longer has to imagine it. As the Sandites rolled to a 30-13 win over Ponca City Friday night on Homecoming, Cooper got to tote his own miniature flag across the turf while wearing an official crew-member t-shirt, presented to him by the baseball players before the game.

“He’s been coming to Sandite games since he was newborn, and he’s always been obsessed with the flag boys running onto the field,” said Cooper’s mom, Bailee White. “We watch YouTube videos of old games just so he can watch the flags. This is a dream come true.”

The Sandite football players can rest easy knowing their number-one fan will be back in the stands when they return home Friday, October 8th against Booker T. Washington.

A version of this story was originally published in the Tulsa World.

On a night when the typically lethal Sandite offense struggled, the defense stepped up and made some big plays to lead a second half comeback on Homecoming.

Down 13-10 late in the third quarter, junior linebacker Drake Fain saw the ball pop loose deep in Wildcat territory and scooped it up for a 20-yard touchdown return to take the lead. 

Class 6A-II No. 5 ranked Charles Page High School (4-0, 1-0) came away with four takeaways and rattled off 20 unanswered points to overcome Ponca City (1-3, 0-1) Friday night at Memorial Stadium.

“Dom (Ornelas) told me he hit it out,” said Fain. “I didn’t really see it. I was thinking ‘we need a touchdown right now.’ It was great for the team.”

“I couldn’t do it without my interior defensive linemen,” he added. “We call ‘em ‘Shake and Bake’ like Ricky Bobby. I love them dudes.”

Sand Springs had little difficulty moving the ball, amassing 410 yards, 22 first downs, and reaching the red zone eight times. They struggled with finishing, however, and turned the ball over on downs four times.

Fortunately, the defense was ready to make a statement. 

Landon Hendricks blocked a PAT in the first half, then forced a fumble in the third quarter that Brooks Dudley recovered. Ryder Barnes added an interception late in the third, then Hendricks added another takeaway late in the fourth. 

“That was just kind of organic how that happened,” said head coach Bobby Klinck. “We knew they were going to come out and kind of pound the ball and try to shorten the game. They had a great gameplan.”

“Coach (Scott) Harmon’s been doing this a long time, he’s a great coach and they caught us on a few things. Luckily we just had a few more playmakers help us out tonight.”

Ty Pennington was 16-of-30 passing for 197 yards and one touchdown on the night, a 64-yard catch-and-run by Jacob Blevins who had 142 yards on nine catches. 

Pennington also had two rushing scores and carried the ball 21 times for 89 yards. Blake Jones added 128 yards on 21 carries.

Sand Springs is now 4-0 for the first time since 2012 and will return to action Friday night at Muskogee (1-3, 1-0). Ponca City will host No. 2 Choctaw (3-1, 1-0).

Averi Tippit is rising star on Sandite Volleyball team

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A version of this story was originally written for Vype.

Some people are born into their sport and continue a family tradition. Others find it at a young age and it’s all they’ve ever known. Averi Tippit, on the other hand, didn’t get into volleyball till she got to high school, though you wouldn’t know it from watching her play.

The Charles Page High School sophomore is already a rising young star on the varsity team thanks to her height, hard work, and her natural skill. 

“Everyone said I was tall,” says Tippit, on why she got into volleyball. “They said ‘you should play volleyball.’ I tried it and I liked it.” The rest is history.

“Volleyball takes over my life. I play all year round. My goals are definitely to be a good teammate and to have good energy with my team and just to be a team player. I’m working on keeping my attitude up and being consistent with hits and my tips and stuff.”

“Our last tournament in Oklahoma City, I think we all had a good dynamic. We were all working together as a team, and that was the best we’ve played by far. They’ve definitely been really supportive. When I’ve been down on myself they’ve helped me stay up and I really appreciate that.”

“Tippit’s done a good job for being so young and never playing before,” says Sand Springs head coach Derek Jackson. “Kind of stepping into a really big role as far as defense. As a right-sider her main job is to block. She’s going up against the best hitters that most teams have. For her to step into a tough position at a young age, hat’s off to her. I think she’ll develop into a pretty special player. She’s a good kid. She works her tail off and she has great character.”

As for the future, Tippit is hoping to play collegiate volleyball and dreams of playing at the Olympic level. She also wants to be a veterinarian and belongs to an animal science club.

Sand Springs Weekly Sports Roundup: Daton Fix wins World Team Trials, Carter Young flips to OSU

A version of this story was originally written for the Sand Springs Leader.

Varsity Cross Country traveled to Stillwater Saturday for the Cowboy Jamboree but neither the boys nor the girls had a complete lineup to earn a team place. The junior high and elementary teams competed at Holland Hall.

Jasmin Lopez led the varsity ladies in 64th place with a 5K time of 23:06. Alex Lopez led the boys in 130th place with a time of 19:33, followed by Noah Hanlon in 142nd with a time of 19:43.

Junior high boys placed seventh, led by Taigh Wright’s 12:28 two-mile run in 19th place. Junior high girls didn’t have a full lineup, but Maddyx Hampton placed 48th in 15:14.

The elementary boys placed second, led by Conner Williamson with a 6:11 mile for second place. The elementary girls placed fifth, led by Josie Grona with a 6:48 mile for sixth place.

Softball

Sand Springs (11-10, 5-6) went 2-2 in district action last week, winning a pair of 16-0 district double headers against the combined Tulsa Memorial / Booker T. Washington team before falling 9-3 to Jenks and 8-3 to Stillwater.

The Sandites needed only three innings apiece to run-rule the Tulsa team on Monday, out-hitting TPS 19-1 over the two games. 

Kelsi Hilton and Raeagn Rector combined for a no-hitter with six strikeouts in game one, and Hilton got the win. Nataley Crawford pitched all of game two and tossed six strikeouts with one hit.

The Sandites will host Bixby Thursday at 5:30 p.m. to wrap up district play.

Volleyball

The 6A No. 15 Sandites (10-14) went 3-3 overall last week and 2-3 at the Owasso tournament. They beat No. 14 Bartlesville 3-1 on the road Tuesday in conference action, then beat Ponca City 2-0 and Southmoore 3-1 in tournament play. They dropped matches of 2-0 to Owasso, 2-0 to Edmond Memorial, and 2-0 to Booker T. Washington.

Wrestling

Former 4X State Champion Sandite and current Oklahoma State wrestler Daton Fix won the 61kg freestyle world team trials in Lincoln, Nebraska. Fix outscored his opponents 41-5 with two technical falls to earn the right to represent the United States at the World Championships in Oslo, Norway this October.

In the Round of 16 he defeated Carter Young 13-2, then he beat 2018 NCAA Champion Seth Gross 11-0. In the semifinals he topped defending World Team member Tyler Graff 2-0 to earn a best-of-three finale against Nathan Tomasello. The 2015 NCAA Champion was no match for Fix, who won 8-3 and 7-0. 

After falling to Fix in his second match, Carter Young battled back to win the consolation bracket and place third. Young is also a former Sandite, winning a state title as a freshman at Sand Springs before transferring to Stillwater.

Young won his first match 8-6 over 2020 ACC Champion Jakob Camacho. In consolation he received a forfeit from Ethan Lizak, won 10-8 against 2016 NCAA Champion Nahshon Garrett, received a forfeit from Nick Suriano, then beat Graff 9-2 and Gross 15-12.

Young previously committed to and enrolled at Northwestern in Illinois, but he has now signed with Oklahoma State University instead.