Sand Springs Weekly Sports Roundup: Baseball Starts Season With Wins

This story was originally written for the Sand Springs Leader.

Baseball

The Sandite baseball team is off to a strong start on the season, winning its first two games 11-0 against Shawnee and 9-2 against Yukon. 

Jabe Schlehuber and Kayden Campbell combined for eight strikeouts in a no-hitter against the Wolves in Friday’s season-opener. Dom Ornelas went three-for-three at the plate with a double and a home run for 5 RBI.

Schlehuber went four-for-four at the plate on Saturday with two doubles and a homer, and Ornelas and Keaton Campbell also hit home runs.

Boys Basketball

The Sandites wrapped up a 5-18 season with a 69-54 loss at Putnam City West in the Regional playoffs. Cale Askew scored 14 points, Ethan Oakley scored 12, and JD Dickson added 10.

Soccer

The Lady Sandite soccer team won its opening week of matches, coming back from a 2-0 halftime deficit to beat NOAH 4-3 on Tuesday before routing Coweta 5-1 on Thursday.

Karsen Lynch scored two goals, and Lauren Foster and Lainey Stanfill also scored against NOAH. Ava Watts posted a hat trick against Coweta and Stanfill scored twice. Christina Thompson got the wins at goalie.

The boys are still looking for their first win of the Brent Lollis era, falling 4-2 to NOAH and 2-0 to Coweta.

Golf

The boys golf team placed sixth at the Olive Wildcats Golf Classic in Sapulpa. Mason Ward shot 81 to tie for tenth, Seth Benton shot 87, Drew Paden 93, Zack Downey 93, Hunter Brenner 99, Sidney Horton 101, Jacob Halpain 116. Madison Chambers shot 114 as the lone Lady Sandite.

Tennis

The boys tennis team placed 16th at the Jenks tournament led by Connor Shipman with a 13th finish in #2 Singles.

Track and Field

The Sand Springs girls placed 10th and the boys took 15th at the season-opening Owasso Track Invitational.

Freshman star Lainey Stanfill placed fifth in the 100-meter dash with a time of 12.79 and was third in the 200 in 26.69. Jazmin Lopez paced fifth in the 800 in 2:33.38.

Bowling

The Sand Springs boys bowling team placed second at Regionals and third at State.

Girls Powerlifting

The girls powerlifting team placed second at the North Regional with Jaden Jordan winning squat, deadlift, and overall at heavyweight. Jordan squatted 335, deadlifted 380, and benched 155 to qualify for State. Madison Thompson placed fourth at 198 and Mikah Hampton placed fifth at 108 to qualify. 

Sand Springs Girls Basketball wins Area Championship 50-46 against Putnam City West

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This story was originally written for the Sand Springs Leader.

For the seventeenth time in school history and the first time since 2019, the Sand Springs girls basketball team is headed to State. 

The 6A-East No. 2 Lady Sandites (22-3) won their seventh Area Championship in school history 52-46 against No. 3 Putnam City West (19-6) in front of a rowdy Thursday night crowd at Will Rogers High School.

The Patriots trailed 46-35 halfway through the final period but clawed their way back to make it a one-score game in the closing moments. 

Hailey Jackson scored an easy layup for the last bucket of the game on a pass from Leyshia Morris with 19 seconds to play, then the Sandites got a turnover with 12 seconds remaining when Kierra Brown was whistled for palming the ball.

Morris inbounded the ball to Journey Armstead who ran out the clock and cemented her team in the Sandite history books.

It was an emotional night for Sand Springs coach Josh Berry, who got his head coaching start at Rogers in 2010. This will be his first trip to State with a girls’ team since taking the Ropers there in 2011.

“This is a big moment for me, for them,” said Berry. “I’m proud. I told them to just leave it all out there and I think they did that.”

Sand Springs never once trailed in the game and the Patriots only tied it once at 8-8 late in the first quarter. Kiaryn Taylor made a buzzer-beating putback to end the first stanza 12-8.

Sakauri Wilson scored five free throws in a nine-point run early in the second quarter that gave the Sandites their first double-digit lead at 21-10, and they took a comfortable 29-21 advantage into the locker room.

Putnam West hit the gas in the fourth quarter and won the second half, but the Sandites did just enough to stay on top. 

The highly physical game saw 42 fouls, including 24 in the first half. Caya Smith fouled out with 1:43 in the third quarter and Shamar Bert fouled out with 1:09 left to play. 

“I thought we did what we needed to do to win,” said Berry. “I don’t think it was the prettiest game on either side, but I’ll take the win whatever which way we can get it.”

No Sandites fouled out of the game, but most of the team was in foul trouble, and Wilson and Jackson ended the night with four apiece.

“I trust the ones that are coming in off the bench,” said Berry. “They can go in and they can do what they need to do when we do get in foul trouble. We’ve got a little bit of depth over there.” 

All seven Sandites who saw action earned their way into the scorebook, led by Jackson with 16 points and 6 rebounds, and Armstead with 14 points and 10 rebounds.

“That’s what I told them, we’ve got to do it by committee. That’s the beauty of this year’s team; it’s not just one person that has to score all the points. A lot of them are able to do it, and so we’re just proud of them.”

Brooklyn Fisher scored 16 apiece to lead the Patriots, followed by Brown with 13. 

Sand Springs will return to action Thursday, March 10th at the University of Oklahoma’s Lloyd Noble Center in Norman, where they’ll begin the hunt for their first gold ball since 1994.

Putnam West will play No. 9 Stillwater (13-13) in the Area consolation finals Saturday at 3:00 p.m. at Will Rogers. Stillwater won its Area game 75-73 over No. 5 Tahlequah (22-3). 

CPHS 50 PCW 46
1Q: CPHS 12-8.
2Q: CPHS 17-13.
3Q: PCW 10-9.
4Q: PCW 15-12.
Free Throws: CPHS 19-of-29, PCW 10-of-22.
Field Goals: CPHS 15-of-47, PCW 16-of-52.
Offensive Rebounds: CPHS 11, PCW 9.
Defensive Rebounds: CPHS 28, PCW 18.
Total Rebounds: CPHS 39, PCW 27.
Steals: CPHS 4, PCW 9.
Blocks: CPHS 2, PCW 2.
Fouls: CPHS 19, PCW 23.

Scoring: (CPHS) Jackson 16, Armstead 14, Wilson 8, T. Morris 7, L. Morris 2, Taylor 2, Kirkendoll 1. (PCW) Fisher 16, Brown 13, Bert 9, McHenry-Guzman 4, Smith 2, Ray 2.

Lady Sandite Basketball wins Regional Championship, 47-35 against Putnam City North

This story was originally written for the Sand Springs Leader

For the first time under head coach Josh Berry, the Lady Sandites are Regional Champions.

The 6A-East No. 2 Lady Sandites (21-3) won their ninth consecutive game and eighth Regional title in school history, 47-35 against No. 7 Putnam City North (12-11) Tuesday night at the Ed Dubie Field House.

“It’s very big,” said Berry. “Anytime you can go and get a Regional title in a tough game, it’s big. It’s big for the program, it’s big for the girls, it’s big for the seniors.”

The Lady Sandites won three Regional titles in a row from 2017 to 2019, but this is the first for any current member of the team.

Down 16-5 after the first quarter, the Sandites dominated the Panthers 16-2 in the second quarter and never trailed again, taking a 21-18 lead into the half on a buzzer-beating three-pointer from Sakauri Wilson.

“We just weren’t playing very hard in the beginning,” said Berry. “They played harder, they made shots. It’s the playoffs, everybody can play. It’s going to be a game of runs. They can make their runs, but we have to make our runs and make sure we’re the last ones to make a run.”

Paris Hardwick scored seven points in the first quarter for the Panthers, but was held to a pair of free throws in the second. 

Journey Armstead scored six for Sand Springs in the third quarter and the home team took a 34-24 lead into the final stanza. 

Putnam cut the deficit to 40-33 with 1:31 to play, but Auhnesty Hawkins fouled out and sent Wilson to the free throw line for two. 

Wilson went five-of-six on free throws in the final minutes and ended the night with a season-best 13 points and five rebounds.

Armstead led the Sandites with 15 points and eight rebounds, and Hailey Jackson added nine points and eight rebounds. Hardwick led the Panthers with 15 points.

“They’re good,” Berry said of Wilson and Armstead. “They’re great ball handlers so they’re able to control it down the stretch.”

“Our bigs tonight, they controlled the paint later on. Yanni (Taiona Morris) made some big shots for us to kind of get us there, and we had some good contributions off the bench when Layne (Kirkendoll) got in foul trouble, so I think it was a good team effort.”

The Lady Sandites will return to action Thursday at 6:30 p.m. in the Area Championship. They will play No. 3 Putnam City West (19-5) at Will Rogers High School. Coincidentally, Berry also coached two seasons at Rogers early in his career.

Putnam North will play in the Area consolation bracket Thursday at 8:00 p.m. against No. 11 Owasso (11-13) in an elimination game at Cleveland High School.

CPHS 47 PCN 35
1Q: PCN 16-5.
2Q: CPHS 16-2.
3Q: CPHS 13-6.
4Q: CPHS 13-11.
Free Throws: CPHS 15-of-23, PCN 5-of-9.
Field Goals: CPHS 14-of-40, PCN 14-of-41.
Offensive Rebounds: CPHS 12, PCN 10.
Defensive Rebounds: CPHS 18, PCN 14.
Total Rebounds: CPHS 30, PCN 24.
Steals: CPHS 7, PCN 4.
Blocks: CPHS 0, PCN 2.
Fouls: CPHS 12, PCN 18.

Scoring: (CPHS) Armstead 15, Wilson 13, Jackson 9, T. Morris 5, L. Morris 2, Taylor 2, Kirkendoll 1. (PCN) Hardwick 15, Mcloud 6, Powell 6, Geretta 2, Hawkins 2, Vicks 2, Sykes 2.

Sand Springs Sports Roundup: Girls Basketball wins first playoff

This story was originally written for the Sand Springs Leader.

Inclement weather couldn’t stymie the Sandites for long, and the Charles Page High School girls basketball team rolled to a 70-50 win against Muskogee in the first round of the regional playoffs Saturday night at the Ed Dubie Field House.

In a game that was originally scheduled for Thursday, the 6A-East No. 2 Sandites (20-3) won their eighth consecutive game to extend their season by an extra week against No. 15 Muskogee (2-14).

“They’re a good team,” said head coach Josh Berry. “They make shots and they don’t quit. You look at their record and you don’t see what they really are. They’re well-coached and they’re going to play hard.”

The Roughers held pace with the Sandites throughout the first half, entering the second quarter 12-12 and leading by as much as 23-19.

Journey Armstead and Kiaryn Taylor hit back-to-back three pointers to end the first half with a 35-29 advantage, however, and the Sandites never trailed again.

“We had everybody in foul trouble in the first half, but once we got in and got settled down, I think everything took care of itself,” said Berry. 

The two teams combined for 37 fouls overall and 22 in the first half, with 45 free throw opportunities. Muskogee made the most of their trips to the charity stripe, shooting 14-of-18, while the Sandites went 18-of-27.

Zhayn Mayes scored 17 to lead the Roughers, followed by Akira Eubanks with 16, but the Sandites had three double-digit scorers.

Armstead led all scorers with 20 points, followed by Hailey Jackson with 15 and Taiona Morris with 10. Morris also collected a team-high five steals, and Layne Kirkendoll added 9 points with 9 rebounds. 

“Layne did good tonight,” said Berry. “Kiaryn played well, Yanni (Taiona Morris) played well. It’s about that - different people stepping up and finding a way to win and I think we did that tonight. I think that’s a team effort.”

Next up for the Sandites will be a rematch with No. 7 Putnam City North (12-10), who won its game 53-47 in double overtime against No. 10 Ponca City (9-12). 

The Lady Sandites previously beat the Panthers 50-33 at the Jenks/Union tournament in January.

“Hopefully we guard and don’t let them shoot some open shots, and make some shots,” said Berry. 

“Tonight we made some shots and we haven’t done that in a long time either. We made quite a few threes. We need to continue to do that, continue to share the basketball, and play for each other.”

The regional championship will be played Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. at Sand Springs, and both teams will advance to the area playoffs.

Boys Basketball

The No. 14 Sand Springs boys (5-17) had their Regional playoff game postponed to Monday at 8:00 p.m. The Sandites will play No. 3 Putnam City West (17-5) in an elimination game.

Wrestling

Mitchell Smith (30-7) placed third in the 145-pound bracket at the OSSAA 6A State Championship on Saturday. It was the junior’s third trip to state but his first medal, and he was the only Sandite to earn a medal.

Smith won his first match 2-1 but gave up a 7-4 decision to West Champion Layton Schneider in the semifinals. In consolation he won 6-3 against Bixby’s Caden Kelley and 3-2 against Yukon’s Boston Powell.

David Ritchey and Zander Grigsby both won their wrestle-in matches, Carter Goodman won his quarterfinal, and Blake Jones won a consolation match to help the team to a 13th place finish overall.

Six of the Sandites’ state qualifiers will return next year, with Jones being the lone senior. Jones wrapped up his career with an 82-42 record as a four-time State qualifier. 

Track and Field

Several Sandite alums competed in the Summit League Indoor Championship for Oral Roberts University on Saturday. 

Aden Baughman placed 8th in the 800 meter run. Joel Mackey placed 14th in the 60 meter and 15th in the 200. Mitchell Mefford placed 14th in the weight throw. 

Soccer 

The Lady Sandite soccer team is off to a strong start in preseason action, winning 4-0 against Sapulpa before sweeping the Skiatook scrimmage tournament and outscoring their foes 11-0. They suffered their first loss 1-0 at Owasso. 

The season will officially begin March 1st at home with non-district matches against Tulsa NOAH. The girls will play at 6:00 p.m. followed by the boys at 8:00 p.m.

Baseball

Sandite baseball took its first preseason loss, 13-5, at Owasso. The Sandites previously routed Glenpool 16-5, Tahlequah 8-0, and Lawton MacArthur 11-0, and tied Westmoore 2-2. Their season will begin March 1st at Guthrie.

Sandite Basketball: Girls on a roll, boys not so much

This story was originally written for the Sand Springs Leader.

If this week’s scoreboard has been any indication of the weeks to come, the Sand Springs girls’ basketball team should be poised to make a deep playoff run.

The 6A-East No. 2 Sandites (19-3) never trailed once in their three games, rolling to dominant wins against No. 11 Owasso, No. 6 Broken Arrow, and No. 14 Bartlesville to wrap up the regular season.

“I think we’re playing better basketball,” head coach Josh Berry said after a 63-34 senior night win against the Bruins (4-18).

“I think we’ve still got a lot of things to clean up before the playoffs, but I like the direction that we’re going.”

The Sandites scored 23 points in a row in the first half and led 36-11 by halftime. The second string played most of the second half, and 10 different Sandites made their way into the scorebook.

“I like the way that everybody’s stepping up and playing different parts,” said Berry. “If we can do that, where we get different scoring, different rebounding, different assists from different people, then I think we’ve got a good chance.”

Sophomore Taiona Morris led the team for the first time this season with a career-high 16 points.

“She’s going to be special,” said Berry. “I think she gets more and more confidence every time we go out there.”

Eight Sandites combined for 17 steals in a stifling defensive effort led by Sakauri Wilson with 5 and Morris with 4. Layne Kirkendoll added 4 blocks.

“I thought we just needed to speed it up a little bit,” said Berry. “They did a good job of rotating and being there for the steals. We just caught them on that.”

Journey Armstead scored 22 points in a Monday night rout of Owasso (10-13), followed by Hailey Jackson with 19 points and 10 rebounds for her third double-double of the season, and Wilson with 11 points.

On Tuesday the Sandites bullied Broken Arrow 53-20, giving up only four points in each of the first three quarters while holding the Tigers (13-9) to their lowest scoring output since 2011.

Armstead and Jackson scored 13 points apiece in that game.

The Lady Sandites finished the season second in the Frontier Valley Conference, their best performance since winning the league in 2019.

The Sandites will return to action Thursday at 8:00 p.m. when they host No. 15 Muskogee (2-13) in the first game of the Regional tournament. 

The Sandites previously beat Muskogee 56-43, but Berry isn’t going to let his team overlook the Roughers.

“One game at a time,” said Berry. “It’s Muskogee. That’s the only thing we think about from here on out. We just take them one game at a time and don’t take anybody lightly.”

Boys Basketball

The No. 14 Sandites (5-17) are on a seven-game losing streak after falling 68-31 to Owasso, 55-37 to Broken Arrow, and 87-77 to Bartlesville.

Despite the loss, the Sandites actually played one of their best games of the season on Senior Night. Four Sandites scored double digits and three had double-doubles in their highest scoring output of the year.

Jason Clark and Ethan Oakley led the Sandites with 19 points apiece, and Oakley added 11 rebounds in his season-best performance. Cale Askew and JD Dickson both scored 14 points with 11 rebounds apiece. Askew’s performance was also a career best.

The boys will travel to No. 3 Putnam City West (17-5) Friday at 8:00 p.m. in the Regional playoffs.

Sandites roll Patriots 44-7 on Senior Night, Jones scores 3 TDs

A version of this story was originally written for the Tulsa World.

Senior Night at Memorial Stadium was all about recognizing the 23 football players who have spent four years building a huge legacy in Sand Springs, but head coach Bobby Klinck wasn’t yet ready to talk legacy after the game.

“Some coaches and some players are getting a little bit nostalgic or whatever, but we’ve got a lot left to play for,” said Klinck. “So you know, once the season’s truly over, maybe I’ll look back and see that, but their legacy is not done yet.”

Instead, it’s all eyes on the playoffs. 

Class 6A-II No. 6 Charles Page High School (7-3, 4-3) rolled to an easy 44-7 district win over an outclassed Putnam City West (0-10, 0-7), dealing the Patriots their 34th consecutive loss.

The game marked the final time that many of the players would compete on their home turf and served as a tune-up before the Sandites travel to No. 4 Del City (9-1) next week.

Sand Springs took a 31-0 lead into the half and sent in the backups in the fourth quarter with a 44-0 advantage.

Ty Pennington was 18-of-22 passing for 293 yards and two touchdowns, and added a third score on the ground. 

Jacob Blevins had eight catches for 121 yards and a touchdown, while Brody Rutledge caught three passes for 74 yards and the first score of the game.

Blake Jones saw his most productive game since suffering a mild injury four weeks ago, and carried the ball 13 times for 63 yards and three touchdowns. His second score of the night came with a helpful push from lineman Owen Higgins, who powered him through a handful of defenders for the final few yards.

Kenneth Page racked up 100 yards on the ground, mostly in the fourth quarter, to lead the team’s seven rushers.

Jonathan Daniels handled most of the kicking duties, going four-for-four on extra points, and added a 35-yard field goal to end the first half. Logan Wolfe also kicked a PAT for the Sandites.

Defensively the team was led by Conner Light with eight tackles and two sacks. Alex Turner forced a fumble that Jabe Schlehuber recovered, and Drake Fain had an interception.

The Patriots struggled in most aspects of the game, but had an ace up their sleeve in three-star Baylor-commit Corey Gordon, who had eight catches for 223 yards, and a touchdown in the fourth quarter. 

“Definitely satisfied, glad we’re healthy, glad we were able to make some explosive plays,” said Klinck. “Little disappointed in the personal foul, that was a point of emphasis last week, so we need to do better because next week in Del City those are going to really hurt us. But all in all, happy for the win, happy for the seniors, but we’ve got a lot left to play for.”

This season marks the Sandites’ second winning record and second postseason trip in their two years under Klinck. It’s the team’s first 7-3 regular season finish since 2014 technically, though they would have been 7-2 in 2015 had they not forfeited two wins due to an OSSAA violation.

Next week’s trip to Del City will mark the first ever meeting between the Sandites and Eagles. Del City has won nine consecutive games since a season-opening loss to Booker T. Washington.

“They do a really good job of running the football and then defensively they’re very sound, so we’ve got our work cut out for us,” said Klinck. “It’s going to be a physical football game, so we’ve got to bring our lunch pail and come ready to go.”