CPHS Wrestling: Sandites miss out on Dual State but roll Union 50-22 in season finale
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The Charles Page High School wrestling team wrapped up a disappointing dual season with a 4-6 record last week, but finished on a high note with a 50-22 drubbing of Class 6A No. 7 ranked Union (5-3).
The Sandites are unranked and will be missing from the Dual State tournament for the first time since 2015 after failing to win their district. They rolled to a 63-15 win against Muskogee (2-4) but split the matches 7-7 against Ponca City (3-0), who won 37-33 on bonus points.
The Sandites struggled with an unusually tough schedule this season in which they took on almost exclusively top-tier opponents. Their losses came to now-No. 5 Stillwater, No. 4 Bixby, No. 3 Edmond North, No. 2 Mustang, and 5A No. 1 Collinsville. Although Ponca City is unranked, that can primarily be attributed to a late start on the season, with only one dual prior to districts. The teams Sand Springs lost to have a combined record of 51-4.
Sapulpa (3-3), who hasn’t beaten the Sandites since 2013, canceled their district appearances due to COVID-19, and the Sandites also missed out on the Owasso Ram Duals where they usually pick up a handful of wins.
On the 19th the Sandites traveled to Mustang for a three-way meet against Mustang (18-2) and Edmond North (13-0). They were severely shorthanded and had to forfeit three weight classes in each dual.
Mitchell Smith, Blake Jones, and Sango Whitehorn all recorded pins in a 51-22 loss to Edmond North, and Brooks Dudley got a 14-0 major decision. Jones and Whitehorn also got pins against Mustang, while Shane Wolf and Smith earned decisions in the 54-24 loss.
In Tuesday’s dual against Muskogee they received five forfeits and went 6-3 in the remaining matches with pins from Harley Newberry, Ethan Norton, Chase White, Mason Harris, and Zander Grigsby.
The dual against Ponca was an even 7-7 split but the Wildcats earned five pins to the Sandites’ four. Four of Ponca’s falls came in the first six matches as the home team stormed out to a 24-6 lead. Blake Jones evened it up a bit with a pin at 160, but returning State Qualifiers Gabe Roland and Landon Newlin made it 34-12.
Whitehorn, Dudley, and Harris kept the team alive with three straight falls, but Chris Kiser clinched the Wildcat win with a 7-3 decision at 106 pounds. Wolf, Jesse Moore, and Ethan Norton all won decisions for the Sandites.
Sand Springs was firing on all cylinders in their Homecoming dual against Union, earning six pins and a technical fall. Union won only four matches, all of which came at the hands of returning State Qualifiers, and they never led.
Wolf earned a 17-2 third-period technical fall at 113 but a pin from Riley Trickett at 132 pulled the Redskins as close as 11-10. Ethan Norton won a 6-3 decision, and the next eight matches were all decided by pin. Noah Smith and Gavin Koehler got the bonus points for Union, while Smith, Jones, White, Whitehorn, Dudley, and Harris powered to the win.
The last time the Sandites finished the year without a winning record was a 6-6 performance in the 2005-2006 season. They haven’t had a losing record since at least 1986, which is as far back as Sandite Pride’s records go. Sandite fans can rest assured things will likely get back to normal next year when quarantines and COVID-19 are (hopefully) no longer a factor.
