Sand Springs Boys Drop Conference Opener to Owasso 47-44 in OT

Photo by Charity Wickett. Click here to view full photo gallery.

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

The Charles Page High School boys’ basketball team (2-1 overall, 0-1 conference) suffered their first loss of the season Tuesday, December 7th at the Ed Dubie Field House in a 47-44 overtime battle with No. 9 Owasso (3-1, 1-0). 

The No. 18 Sandites rallied from a 29-18 third-quarter deficit to take their only lead of the game at 37-36 late in the fourth quarter on a layup from Jason Clark.

Caleb Leslie’s fifth three-pointer of the night put the Rams back on top, but Ethan Oakley sank a pair of free throws with six seconds left to force the extra period. 

Caden Fry scored five straight points to start the four-minute overtime. A three from Kooper Kelly and a layup from Oakley kept the home team’s hopes alive, but EJ Lewis hit the back end of a one-and-one with six seconds remaining and Clark’s last-second three-point shot was no good.

“I’m proud of our heart and effort,” said head coach Eric Savage. “That’s got to be one thing we hang our hat on every night, and I thought they did that. It comes down to how well we execute at times.”

“Layups and free throws, it’s pretty basic. You make layups, you make your free throws, shoot a decent percentage, you win the game.” 

The Sandites were only 6-of-14 from the charity stripe and 10-of-26 from two-point range against the Rams.

JD Dickson led the home team with 15 points and four rebounds, followed by Ethan Oakley with 10 points and three boards. 

Sand Springs will take a week off to prepare for a conference road game at No. 4 Jenks (4-0, 1-0). The two teams split meetings last year, with Jenks winning a conference overtime game, but the Sandites got payback with an upset at Regionals. 

Jenks leads the series 8-7 in the Eric Savage era but the Sandites have won seven of the last nine. 

Scoring: (CPHS) Dickson 15, Oakley 10, Kelly 9, Clark 5, Askew 3, Brockman 1, Holland 1. (OHS) Leslie 15, Fry 10, Lewis 8, Clifton 5, Mann 4, Harbaugh 3, Manuel 2. 

Sand Springs won the junior varsity game 42-39 behind Collin Shope’s 18 points. Alijah Roper scored 8, Blake Johnson scored 6, and Michael Foster and Mark Lair scored 5 each.

Clark scores 21, Sandites knock off NOAH 66-48

Photo by Charity Wickett. Click here to view the complete photo gallery.

The first time the Sand Springs boys’ basketball team played NOAH  it had to make a 16-point comeback to win its season opener. But two weeks later the No. 20 ranked Sandites (2-0) never trailed by more than six points and picked up a 66-48 win Friday night at the Ed Dubie Field House.

In a close first quarter that saw five lead changes, the Jaguars (3-3) began to pull away with nine-straight points down the stretch, but a putback from Cale Askew made it 15-11 at the buzzer.

The second quarter was all Sandites.

Jason Clark scored on a steal and assist from Askew, then Kooper Kelly and Clark hit back-to-back threes and the home team never trailed again. Kade Holland’s two-point jump shot made it 32-20 at the half.

Sand Springs continued to pull away in the third quarter and the scoring was evenly spread with seven Sandites hitting paydirt. 

The home team went up 52-35 to start the final stanza and never slowed down, leading by as much as 66-44 before the Jaguars ended the game on a 4-0 run from the charity stripe. 

Clark led all scorers with 21 points, four rebounds, and four assists, followed by JD Dickson with 13 points and Kelly with ten points. 

Sand Springs will kick off Frontier Valley Conference action Tuesday with a home game against No. 6 Owasso (0-0). The No. 12 Lady Sandites will open their season at 6:30 p.m. against the unranked Lady Rams (0-0) followed by the boys game. 

Scoring: (CPHS) Clark 21, Dickson 13, Kelly 10, Askew 7, Holland 5, Oakley 4, Foster 3, Brockman 2, Jones 1. (NOAH) Ian Hislop 13, Wagner 12, Connor Hislop 10, Edwards 4, Bell 4, Garner 3, Goldman 2.

Meet the Sandites wrestling dual is smashing success

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For the first time in the Jarrod Patterson era, the doors were open to the public for the Charles Page High School wrestling team’s ranking matches, and it was quite the spectacle.

The Sandites and Keystone Kids wrestling club teamed up Thursday night at Clyde Boyd Middle School to host Meet the Sandites, as Sand Springs wrestlers at the elementary, junior high, and high school levels all settled who was the best in each weight class.

Sand Springs used to open the ranking matches to the public back when Kelly Smith was head coach, but the tradition ended around 2016. Smith retired in 2019, but is now back on the team as an assistant as his son, Mitchell, enters his junior year.

“We’re excited to have him back,” said Patterson. “We were just kind of talking, and he said that was one thing they used to do that kind of got kids excited, so I was kind of excited to bring it back.”

“It seems like it worked out awesome. It seemed like they got a lot of fan support, and it’s good from the youth all the way up to high school.” 

The stands were certainly packed as the action went on simultaneously across three mats. On the varsity mat, the black team defeated the white in an evenly matched dual. 

Many recognizable faces returned to mat duty, including state qualifiers Mitchell Smith and Brooks Dudley, who won their matches by fall. Missing were Blake Jones and Mason Harris, who are recovering from football injuries.

“We’ve got a couple kids that are injured, but once we get through those injuries I think we should be pretty good,” said Patterson. “We’ve got a good group. They’re all hard-working kids from freshmen to seniors, so I think we’ve got some good leadership in there that will help us in the long haul.”

The Sandites graduated only one starter last year and added lots of talented junior high up-and-comers to give the team some extra depth and competitiveness at every weight range.

“We’re pretty solid all the way through, so as long as we can stay healthy and just battle and continue to get better we should be a really solid team,” said Patterson.

“We’ll have three freshmen in there who have a chance at getting in the lineup. Our 106-pounder is David Ritchey, then Colt Hood will be in there some at 113, and Jaxon “Scout” Trotter will be in there at 138.”

They will lean on seniors Shane Wolf, Colton Luker, Ethan Norton, Sammy Naugle, Jones, and Dudley for leadership.

Last year the Sandites finished the season a surprising 4-6, snapping a 14-year streak of winning records, primarily due to COVID-related quarantines, injuries, and canceled duals. They still brought home four first-place tournament medals, however, and qualified four for the State tournament.

Varsity will kick off the season Friday at the Perry Tournament of Champions, and will battle Sapulpa in their first dual on Tuesday the 14th at 7:00 p.m. on the road.

The junior high team hosted its annual tournament Saturday at CBMS and the Gold team took home first prize, followed by the Black team in sixth place and the White team in 19th. The girls placed 12th in their division.

Dawson Briscoe won at 80 pounds with six pins, Kaden Pope won at 106 with six pins, Jace Simms won at 119 with three pins, and Bailey Copeland won 82 pounds for the girls with a pin and a 17-2 technical fall.

Hudson Sheppard, Jaden Allen, Waylon Jeffers, and Ryley Kester placed second. Jaxon Grigsby, Karsen Skaggs, Matthew Moore, Jackson Burdge, and Tanner Copeland placed third. Colt Hood, Caleb Childers, and Preston Reyna placed fourth

The Keystone Kids competed at Sperry and Owasso on Saturday. Weston Roberts, Ty Galloway, and Mylum Ache V won at the Owasso Ram Jam, while Julian Valdez, Hudson Waag, and Bailey Copeland won at the Sperry Smalltown Throwdown.

Sandite Girls Basketball poised for great season

There are only eight days left till the Charles Page High School girls’ basketball program tips off the season, and the Lady Sandites seem poised for what should be a great season.

Sand Springs is entering its third year under head coach Josh Berry, who guided the team to a 12-9 record last year and was 15-8 in his first season. 

The core of last year’s unit is intact after graduating only two seniors. While the Sandites will miss Bayleigh Cheney and Darrian Jordan, they won’t be short on talent.

84% of the team’s scoring power will return, including senior star Journey Armstead, who averaged 16.9 points and 4.2 rebounds per game last year, and Hailey Jackson, who averaged 9 points and 5 rebounds.

“Armstead is of course going to be big on that (leadership),” says Berry. “She brings playmaking ability. She makes shots when shots need to be made. She's just a playmaker all the way around for us, and of course, in the locker room, she’s a leader in that area too.”

“Then we’ve got Layne Kirkendoll. I think she’s going to be able to step into a bigger role. She’s gotten better every year that we’ve had her and I think she’s one of the smarter players that I’ve coached in a while. She knows where everybody needs to be. So I think those two are going to be really big on the vocal aspect of everything.”

“A big part of us being really good this year is going to be Hailey Jackson scoring. She has to step that role up and be a big scorer, and so does Sakauri Wilson. They have to step up and kind of take the pressure off of Journey to have to score so much.”

Wilson, Armstead’s sophomore sister, averaged 7 points and 2.6 steals per game last year.

The team is filled with upperclassmen, with Avery Tanner, Kirkendoll, and Leyshia Morris all in their senior years.

Girls’ basketball has been one of the most successful Sandite sports in recent years, with three consecutive Regional and Area Championships from 2017 to 2019. Last year the girls made it to the Area playoffs and beat Edmond Memorial before falling 36-33 to Midwest City.

“Our goal every year is to get better every day both individually and as a group,” says Berry. “ If we can do that then I think the rest will take care of itself. We do have a group here that’s pretty special, so if the ball bounces in the right direction, then you know, we’ve got a shot.”

“I think strength wise, defense is what we’re going to be really good at. I think that’s what we’re going to have to lay our hat on, is being there defensively.” Last year the girls averaged 10.5 steals per game.

“I do think we can play with anybody, we can beat anybody in the state. Now I do think we can lose to anybody if we don’t come ready to play. So you know, that’s kind of how I approach the girls all the time. Any given night we can win, any given night we can lose. It just depends on what type of energy we’re going to bring and what type of execution we’re going to bring.”

The girls will tip off the season Tuesday, December 7th with a Frontier Valley Conference home game against Owasso at 6:30 p.m., then will compete at the Tulsa Central tournament that weekend.

They will also compete at the Jenks/Union tournament in January, and will travel to Tampa Bay, Florida for a tournament over Christmas break.

“It’s something new for me, something I haven’t done with a group yet in my 13 years of coaching,” says Berry. “I just thought this was a group that’s been together a while, a special group that I wanted to reward them to be able to go out of town and hopefully go see some competition and hopefully be in another region for scholarship potentials. It’s a pretty good tournament, it’s going to be pretty big. There's going to be some good competition from all over the country.”

Sports Roundup: Final Football Stats, Wrestling "Meet the Sandites" coming up

The Charles Page High School varsity football team wrapped up the 2021 season a touchdown shy of the State finals, falling 20-17 to Edmond Deer Creek in the semifinals to cap off an 8-4 campaign.

The Sandites will be graduating a number of top contributors next spring, including three-year starting quarterback Ty Pennington, who rewrote the school record books in his senior season. 

Pennington set single-season records of 2,831 passing yards and 27 passing touchdowns, and career records of 6,455 passing yards, 54 passing TDs, and 77 total TDs. He also rushed for 1,306 yards and 23 TDs in his career. 

Blake Jones wrapped up his senior year with 164 carries for 945 yards and 11 TDs, and had 374 carries for 1,877 yards and 19 TDs in his career. 

Junior Jacob Blevins led the receiving corps with 64 catches for 981 yards and 8 TDs, followed by Keaton Campbell with 55 catches for 774 yards and 9 TDs. Brody Rutledge had 42 catches for 697 yards and 6 TDs, and Ryan Shoemaker had 23 catches for 295 yards and five TDs. 

Campbell concluded his career with 147 catches for 2,048 yards and 18 TDs, and Shoemaker had 44 catches for 521 yards and 5 TDs.

Junior star Drake Fain led the defense with 116 tackles, followed by several seniors. Brooks Dudley had 99 tackles, Conner Light had 74, Gabe Brown had 69, Ryder Barnes had 98, and Landon Hendricks had 66. Dudley had an impressive 338 tackles in his four-year career.

Hendicks had 21 tackles for loss, 7.5 sacks, 2 fumble recoveries, 3 forced fumbles, a safety, and 2 blocked kicks. Brown had 11.5 tackles for loss and 5 sacks. Barnes had 3 interceptions and 13 passes defended. Fain had a team-high 3 fumble recoveries. 

Jabe Schlehuber made his way into the school record books with a 99-yard kick return for a touchdown against Muskogee.

Junior kicker Jonathan Daniels was 13-of-16 on PAT kicks this season and 2-of-3 on field goals with a long of 35, while Logan Wolfe was 29-of-34 on PATs and 2-of-2 on field goals with a long of 34.  

The team will also have to replace senior linemen Matthew Shelton, Morgan Eubanks, and Owen Higgins, but will return Mason Harris and Marcus Sims.

Wrestling

The Charles Page High School wrestling team will be hosting Meet the Sandites Thursday, December 2nd at Clyde Boyd Middle School at 6:00 p.m. Fans will get to watch the youth, junior high, and varsity ranking matches. 

Sandite Football Season Ends in 20-17 Semifinal Loss to Deer Creek

This story was originally written for the Tulsa World.

It goes without saying that one team’s victory is inevitably another team’s heartbreak, especially when it comes to the playoffs. Sand Springs has taken some losses this season, but none hurt quite like the Sandites’ 20-17 semifinal battle with No. 4 Edmond Deer Creek (10-2)

“It’s alright if it hurts,” Charles Page High School head coach Bobby Klinck told his team after the game. “I’m feeling it too. It’s okay to feel upset, it’s okay to hurt, that means you gave it all you had. There’s a lot of things that’ll hurt a lot more than this, and you’ll look back and think that this was a hell of a ride.”

“You guys gave everything. This team is the foundation of what we’re fixing to do around here. You set the standard for what we’re doing here.”

Just two seasons removed from a 2-8 campaign, this group of Sandites has advanced in the playoffs each of the last two years, and their 8-4 mark this season is the best Sandite record since 2014. 

But it wasn’t enough to advance to the State Finals for the first time since 2015.

The Sandites rallied from a 13-3 halftime deficit and led 17-13 late in the third quarter, but key mistakes caught up with them and Deer Creek survived the momentum swing to score on an 11-yard touchdown pass from Brett Pense to Berkley Dalton with 1:54 remaining.

“Our guys, they give relentless effort every play,” said Antlers head coach Wade Standley. “Those guys continue to fight, continue to go. We survived the momentum swing and we found a way to win at the end. I’m so proud of these young men.”

It was quite the momentum swing.

Sandite quarterback Ty Pennington scored on a 1-yard push to open the half, then Gabe Brown strip sacked Pense deep in Sandite territory to set up a nine-play 85-yard drive where Pennington scored again on a two-yard run.

The Sandites forced a punt, then Jacob Blevins picked off a deflected Pense pass to set up a short field march.

Then the wheels came off the wagon.

At third and goal from the four-yard line, a bad snap pushed the Sandites back to the 17, and Jonathan Daniels’ field goal was blocked. 

Deer Creek scored the go-ahead touchdown on the ensuing drive, and the Sandites’ last-hope possession was derailed by two more bad snaps and Brittain Brewer sacked Pennington for a turnover on downs to seal the victory.

“It’s disappointing that we couldn’t finish,” said Klinck. “Hats off to Deer Creek man, that’s a heck of a football team. I wish we could have found a way to get it done at the end there.”

Uncharacteristic penalties by the Sandites led to much of the Antlers’ first-half success, as the Sandites gave up five first downs on 75 penalty yards. They also struggled to finish offensively, despite out-gaining the Antlers in yardage.

Daniels’ 20-yard field goal was their only score of the first half. Meanwhile the Antlers scored on a 5-yard run by Pense and field goals of 39 and 35 yards by Grayson Miller. 

The storied career of Pennington ended with a 21-of-36 passing performance with 280 yards, as well as 57 yards on the ground. Pennington re-wrote the record books for the Sandites throughout his three-year career as the starter. 

“He’s an unbelievable football player and he’s going to be sorely missed,” said Klinck. “I’m going to miss just seeing him in the facility, more than all the great plays that he made. And that goes for all these seniors. They’ve done such an unbelievable job. I’m just upset that we couldn’t get it done for them.”

“There’s so many guys that I’m going to remember. The first time I got here, I just asked them to trust me and to buy into what we’re selling, and they’ve done an unbelievable job. They’ve set a foundation here. People didn’t think a lot of this team going into the season, except us. We’re just a score away from making the State finals. So, unbelievable job by those seniors and everybody else.”