Sandites show promise in 24-7 preseason loss at Jenks

This story was originally written for the Sand Springs Leader.

It would be easy to try and justify the Sandites’ 24-7 preseason loss to the defending 6A-1 State Champions from Jenks.

After all, the Trojan program has twice the enrollment of Sand Springs, a wealthier community, and a blue blood tradition that includes 18 gold balls. 

But third-year Charles Page High School coach Bobby Klinck doesn’t make excuses for his team and he doesn’t let them make excuses for themselves. 

“I was a little disappointed in the way we came out,” said Klinck. 

“Obviously it’s Jenks. They over-physicalled us a little bit, but what we’ve been trying to instill in these guys is a belief in themselves that no matter who we’re playing, you have an opportunity.”

Klinck doesn’t shy away from giants, hence why the Sandites eagerly scheduled Jenks in the preseason and 6A-1 No. 3 Bixby in the second game of the year. 

“We’re never going to back down and I want our guys to know what that looks like and feels like,” said Klinck.

“We’ve just got to keep grinding, keep pushing. We’re going to keep getting better. I’m never satisfied, but we’re gonna keep getting better.”

The Sandites enter next week’s season opener ranked fifth in Class 6A-2 at 5A No. 9 Sapulpa in the 96th installment of Highway 97 Rivalry. 

It still remains to be seen who will be under center for Sand Springs. 

The obvious front runner is Kiefer move-in Marek Matheson. The 6’2”, 225-pound senior showed confidence and promise as he led his new team on their first four series. 

Matheson was 2-of-4 passing for 15 yards and was sacked twice while the team primarily leaned on Kenneth Page’s 9 carries for 26 yards.

On the final drive of the game, they turned to freshman Easton Webb, who methodically led a 12-play, 65-yard scoring drive against a Trojan unit that had swapped out many of the starters. 

Webb was 6-of-9 for 43 yards and connected on a 14-yard touchdown to Brody Rutledge to avert the shutout. 

“(Matheson)’s been getting the majority of the reps with the ones, but just like anything, whoever’s the week one starter doesn’t mean they’ll be the starter the next week. That’s for every position. It’s a constant, competitive deal every week.”

Jenks’ quarterback Ike Owens was 7-of-10 passing for 98 yards and one score while Jaiden Carroll carried the ball nine times for 79 yards and two touchdowns. 

“We’ve got to become better tacklers, be more physical, and come better mentally prepared,” said Klinck. 

The Trojans scored on each of their drives in the two-quarter game that didn’t allow punt returns or rushing the kicker, and each team started their possessions at the 35-yard line in lieu of a kickoff. 

Jonathan Daniels averaged 38 yards per punt for the Sandites while Drake Fain, Carder Hoffman, Dallas Elifrits, and Dominic Ornelas led the defense. 

The Sandites played a clean game with no penalties or fumbles. 

“I think Kenneth (Page) did a better job running the ball and you know we’ve got two of the best receivers,” said Klinck, referencing Rutledge and Jacob Blevins.

“If we can give our quarterbacks time to get the ball off, we’ve got opportunities in jump ball situations. They’re going to make great catches for us this year.”

Sand Springs is coming off an 8-4 campaign and will see some new faces in district action. The Sandites’ district replaced Bixby, Ponca City, and Choctaw with Stillwater, U.S. Grant, and Tahlequah, while retaining Booker T. Washington, Muskogee, Bartlesville, and Putnam City West. 

The first home game of the year will be September 16th in a non-district battle against Ponca at 7:00 p.m.

Sandite Baseball's successful season comes to a close in Regional upset

This story was originally written for the Sand Springs Leader.

Trailing 13-12 in the bottom of the eighth, the Sandites loaded the bases with two outs and Nathan Gibson stepped up to the plate. 

The senior first-baseman grounded a 2-0 pitch to second for the fielder’s choice, and just like that, Sand Springs’ best season in a decade came to a close.

Charles Page High School (31-8) earned its highest win tally since 2012 this season and got to host a Regional playoff, but came up a run short to Enid (25-9) in a high-scoring elimination game.

“We won 31 games this year,” said head coach Matt Brown. “You always want to win the last one, but only one team gets to win the last one. These guys fought and battled hard - that’s what people are going to remember about them.”

The Sandites had to battle through every inch of the tournament, and barely won their first game 4-3 against Booker T. Washington (9-29) after trailing 3-1 till the bottom of the fifth.

Kayden Campbell (5-0) won that game on the mound with four strikeouts and only one hit in 3.1 innings.

In their first winner’s bracket game against Enid, the Plainsmen won 3-1 despite being out-hit eight to six. Jabe Schlehuber (6-2) went the distance on the mound with three strikeouts.

On day two the Sandite bats were on fire in an 8-0 loser’s bracket shutout of Washington. Gage Elliott got his first win of the season, throwing eight strikeouts in a seven-inning two-hitter. 

Gabe Glenn hit his fifth home run of the season and Brody Rutledge went 3-of-4 with a double and a triple.

The Sandites had to come from behind three times to force extra innings against the Plainsmen on Saturday and amassed 12 hits but surrendered 19 in the afternoon nail-biter. 

“These guys are the best Sand Springs team that’s played here in a long time,” said Brown. “They were never going to quit - that was never an option.”

Enid scored four in the top of the second, but Glenn hit his sixth homer of the year to get the home team on the board, then Brooks Dudley scored on an RBI single from Gibson in the bottom of the inning. 

Dom Ornelas added an RBI double and Rutledge scored on a flyout from Glenn to tie it in the third.

Back-to-back homers from Garrett Shull and McCage Hartling put the visitors right back on top, 7-4, in the fourth, but the Sandites soon flipped the script.

A bases-loaded walk, a sacrifice fly from Keaton Campbell, and a three-run homer from Ornelas put Sand Springs up 9-7.

Once again, the Plainsmen responded with four hits and two walks in the fifth to go up 11-9. Once again, the Sandites responded with a two-run homer from Glenn in the bottom of the seventh to keep the season alive.

But a win was not in the cards for the Sandites, who stranded loaded bases in the seventh and eighth innings. Enid added two more runs in the eighth and Ornelas’s tenth homer of the year was only able to cut it to 13-12.

Carson Seabolt (3-1) got the start and surrendered 13 hits with three strikeouts in 4.1 innings, but Eli Buxton (3-2) took the loss with six hits and four strikeouts in 3.2 innings.

“You’ve got to give credit to Enid,” said Brown. “Those guys played freaking good. Sometimes it be like that.”

The Sandites went on to graduate 11 seniors that night at the Mabee Center. Each of which helped elevate the program to one of its most successful seasons in school history.

“These guys set the bar,” said Brown. “It’s up to those guys that are coming behind them to keep it there.”

Track and Field

The Sand Springs track teams qualified for the State meet in five events, with both the boys and girls placing seventh at the 6A-East Regional Saturday at Jenks. 

Layne Kirkendoll qualified in both long and high jump, placing second in high jump at 5 ft. 4 in. and second in long jump at 18 ft. 2 in. 

The girls 4x800 relay team of Josie Myers, Gracie Gifford, Jazmin Lopez, and Kelsi Hilton qualified for State by placing third with a time of 10:45.32. 

Jestin Rawlins placed fifth in discus with a distance of 148 ft. 5 in. to qualify for State and Matthew Shelton placed sixth in shot put with a distance of 46 ft. 11 in. to qualify.

Lopez also placed fifth in the 800-meter run in 2:32.16, and Hilton was sixth in the 3200 in 13:15.24. 

Dalton Wilcox placed fourth in the 800 in 2:05.31, Noah Hanlon placed fourth in the 3200 in 10:52.37, and Caleb Goodman placed sixth in 300 Hurdles in 43 seconds. 

The boys 4x200 relay team placed fifth in 1:39.99. 

Sandite Baseball clinches home Regional, Layne Kirkendoll wins Conference Championship

This story was originally written for the Sand Springs Leader.

For the first time since 2011, the Charles Page High School baseball team (29-6, 11-3) has clinched a home regional tournament after winning its final two district games last week.

The Sandites won 4-0 against Putnam City North (8-27, 3-11) Monday at home before steamrolling the Panthers 25-7 Tuesday on the road.

Jabe Schlehuber (6-1) tossed a complete game one-hitter on Monday with 10 strikeouts and Keaton Campbell scored one run and two RBI.

Dom Ornelas blasted his team-leading eighth home run of the season on Tuesday and the Sandites talled 20 hits in their highest-scoring game since 2016. Eli Buxton (3-1) threw six strikeouts against two hits in three innings.

On Thursday the Sandites paid back an 8-0 loss from earlier in the season by defeating Highway 97 rival Sapulpa 18-5. 

Kayden Campbell (4-0) threw three strikeouts and allowed two hits against the Chieftains (26-9) for the win, and Keaton Campbell and Ty Pennington both hit home runs to lead a 16-hit Sandite effort.

The regular season ended in a 4-3 loss to Westmoore (25-10) on Saturday. Buxton took his first loss of the year, throwing three hits and three strikeouts in 1.1 innings. 

Five pitchers combined to allow only five hits in the loss, and the Sandites managed 10 hits of their own but stranded nine runners.

Fishing

Hunter Spencer and Hayden Lowrance won first place in the Oklahoma Bass Nation youth event on Keystone Lake, Sunday, April 24th. The duo caught five fish totaling 16.54 pounds, including the 4.37-pound big bass.

Caden Strawn and Drew Turner were runners-up with five fish weighing 16.47 pounds, including a 3.93 pounder. 

In the high school division the Sandites were led by Mack Taylor and Parker Haling with five fish weighing 13.15 pounds for ninth place.

Eli Rogers and Caden Shea placed 10th with five fish weighing 13.09 pounds. Nathan Griffin and Jaxon Trotter placed 11th with five fish weighing 12.87 pounds. 

Gabriel Castellano and Dallas Elifrits were 32nd with three fish weighing 7.07 pounds. Cruz Norris and Gunnar Casey were 56th with a 3.05-pound fish.

Disc Golf

40 players turned out for the Sand Springs Showcase PDGA C-Tier one-round tournament at Case DiscGolfPark on Sunday, April 24th. 

Tyler Oakes won the Open division with a 51, Hueston Kratz won Advanced with a 52, Sonny Dalesandro won Intermediate with a 49, Joshua Pauley won Recreational with a 55, and Joshua Loustaunau won Novice with a 56.

Samantha Russell won Advanced Women with a 69, Jimmy Haase won Amateur Masters 40+ with a 56, Jude Henry won Amateur Masters 50+ with a 61, and Shane Chester won Junior 15U with a 69.

Softball

The CPHS slow pitch softball team ended the season with a 7-14 record after falling 10-2 to Guthrie and 19-1 to Jenks at Regionals on Wednesday.

Golf

Zane Downey scored an 81 and Mason Ward shot 84 to lead the Sandites at the Skiatook tournament on Wednesday. Seth Benton scored 89, Drew Paden scored 91, and Cameron Villines scored 94.

The girls ended their season Tuesday at the Ponca City regional tournament. Gina Foster shot 110 and Madison Chambers scored 112.

Track and Field

The Sand Springs boys took 10th and the girls placed eighth at the Frontier Valley Conference track meet at Union High School on Friday with one champion.

Layne Kirkendoll won the long jump at 19 ft. 1.5 in. to break her own school record of 18 ft. 8 in. She also placed fourth in the high jump at 5 ft. 2 in.

Matthew Shelton placed fourth in shot put at 46 ft. 10 in. Jestin Rawlins placed sixth in discus at 139 ft. 6 in. The girls 4x800 relay team placed fourth in 11:04.84.

Tennis

The CPHS girls tennis team split with Sapulpa on Thursday. Sapulpa won the Singles match, but Caitlin Shipman and Daffaney Snyder won 6-2, 7-5 in Doubles.

Sand Springs football downs Del City on the road 21-17, Pennington sets another record

This story was originally written for the Tulsa World.

Any coach will tell you, when it comes to the playoffs, your record doesn’t matter. What matters is going 1-0 every week.

The No. 6 Sand Springs football team (8-3) is 1-0 for the second straight year after taking down No. 4 Del City (9-2) on the road, and will get a familiar opponent next week.

The Sandites’ 21-17 upset of the District One Champions will put them on neutral territory against No. 7 Edmond Deer Creek (9-2) who they beat 34-29 in last season’s playoffs. The Antlers pulled off a 36-29 upset of their own against No. 2 Choctaw (8-3).

“We’re just on a mission, we’re highly favored,” said Sandites head coach Bobby Klinck. “What an unbelievable football team Del City has. Hard-nosed kids. What a good job the coaches have done over here, but man that’s a big one.”

The Eagles took to the ground for most of the game, and drove 51 yards on their opening possession before Dominic Ornelas made a third-down tackle for loss in the red zone to force a 31-yard field goal from Stanley Johnson.

The Sandites responded three plays later with a 79-yard touchdown pass from Ty Pennington to Brody Rutledge, and the score stayed 7-3 till the fourth quarter. 

The Eagles took the lead twice in the final stanza, once on a five-yard plunge by quarterback Virgil Yates, and once on a 55-yard breakaway run by Ethan Lawrence.

But both times, the Sandites responded. Pennington put the Sandites up 14-10 with a 40-yard pass to Keaton Campbell, then took the final lead at 21-17 on a two-yard run, pushed from behind by his O-line.

The third quarter started on a sour note after the heavily recruited Kanijal Thomas picked off Pennington in the end zone, but that didn’t get the star quarterback down.

“I just try to focus on my next drive after a mistake like that and just don’t look back on it,” said Pennington.

In the fourth quarter alone, he was 5-of-5 passing for 95 yards and ran the ball 11 times for 34 yards. 

“Why wouldn’t I put it in the best quarterback in the state’s hands right there,” asked Klinck. “There’s not another guy in the locker room who wanted it anywhere else. He proved again he’s the best quarterback in the whole frickin state and we’re going to ride that dude.”

Pennington ended the night 13-of-20 passing for 221 yards, setting the school’s single season passing record unofficially at 2,532 yards. He already holds the school records in career passing yardage, career passing touchdowns, single season passing touchdowns, and career total touchdowns.

Always humble though, Pennington always has more to say about his receivers and his linemen than about himself. 

“Man, there is no better feeling. That’s the greatest feeling in the world. I just trust my guys that they’re going to do the right thing, I trust what my coaches are telling me, and I trust my guys to go make the plays.”

“Any game could possibly be the last time I play with these dudes and I’ve played with them a whole lot so it’s definitely a motivation.”

The Sandite defense was clutch against an Eagle unit that averaged 40 points per game coming into the night. Drake Fain tallied 12 tackles and Brooks Dudley had 11 as the Sandites forced two punts and two turnovers on downs. 

“We had to stop the run,” said Klinck. “We had to commit to it, and we had to trust our secondary when they took shots to make a play.”

“We have unbelievable players, unbelievable coaches. We’ve got great players in Sand Springs. We are not good coaches without great players. It’s all about those dang kids and the effort and the heart they give.”

Rutledge was 4-121 receiving and Campbell was 3-51. Blake Jones had 16 carries for 44 yards for the Sandites, and Jonathan Daniels was 3-of-3 on PATs. Click here to view the full statistics.

Sandites fall 37-32, Ty Pennington sets Sand Springs passing record

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

Usually when a football team takes a knee to run out the clock, that means the game’s over. But with 1:21 left to play, Dominic Ornelas burst through the Booker T. Washington line and snatched a takeaway to give the host Sandites one last shot.

Unfortunately for the Sandites, the Hornets would also get a sudden takeaway in the dying moments, as Micah Tease snagged a fumble from Jacob Blevins just 16 seconds later, and this time the offensive line held up to the hungry Sandites.

Class 6A-II No. 3 Booker T. Washington (5-1, 2-1) led for most of the ballgame, but never comfortably, and held on for a 37-32 win at previously undefeated No. 4 Charles Page (5-1, 2-1). 

A far departure from last year’s 49-0 rout at S.E. Williams Stadium.

“Every time we’ve been out here it’s usually tough,” said Hornets head coach Jonathon Brown. “I’ve been out here eight years, and every time we come over here it’s usually a tough game. Coach (Bobby) Klinck is doing a hell of a job of building that team in his image. They’re hard-nosed and they fight and they do a hell of a job, so I’m proud of them and it was a hell of a game.”

“I think it’s just another year in the program and all the off-season stuff and just them being in our system more,” said Klinck. “We’re a little more familiar with what we’re doing. We told them that this game was going to be a measuring stick for our program and where we’re at. It would have been really nice to come away with a win, but I was very proud of the way we competed and we weren’t scared for sure, so that was very great to see.”

“When people describe Sand Springs it’s ‘they play hard, they’re disciplined and tough,’” said Klinck. “Nobody ever says ‘well they’ve got good football players.’ I think we proved last night that we’ve got good football players. I’ll say it again, Ty Pennington’s the best quarterback in the state and he proved it going against a secondary that’s got two or three Division I guys in there. Our receivers are getting open as well. We’ve got good football players at Sand Springs. That’s a huge takeaway that I took away from it.”

Pennington was 14-of-27 for 270 yards and two passing scores, and had 62 rushing yards with two more touchdowns. His Hornet counterpart Lathan Boone was 21-of-29 passing for 253 yards and three touchdowns.

Pennington’s yardage was enough to set the Sand Springs career passing record at 5,061, surpassing his own quarterback coach, Darrack Harger.

“If anybody’s going to do it, I’m glad it’s that guy,” said Harger. “I’ve told him for the past three years that my goal for him was to beat my record. That dude is a baller and he’s going to go on to the next level and do all kinds of great things.”

The visiting Hornets took the lead on their first possession with a 25-yard strike from Boone to Tease, but the Sandites quickly responded.

After completing a 22-yard pass to Brody Rutledge to set the new school record, Pennington dove in for a one-yard touchdown to tie it up. He then found Blevins for a 30-yard score to take the 13-7 lead, but Logan Wolfe’s kick was blocked.

Deon McKinney, Jr. tied it up for the Hornets on an 11-yard run, but Charles Gaylord blocked Jackson Marsh’s kick to pay back the Hornets. 

Boone gave the visitors the lead soon after on a 17-yard fourth-down strike to Demitrius Prudom and the Hornets went to the locker room up 20-13 at the half.

The Sandites got possession to start the third quarter and Pennington walked untouched into the end zone on a 13-yard draw, and Jonathan Daniels kicked the point after to tie it up.

McKinney Jr. put the visitors right back on top five plays later with a 43-yard run late in the third, then Marsh kicked a 36-yard field goal early in the fourth to make it 30-20.

Kenneth Page entered the game for Sand Springs after star running back Blake Jones left with an injury in the first quarter, and scored his first varsity touchdown on a 13-yard run, but Daniels’ kick missed off the left upright. 

The Hornets retaliated with a 40-yard pass from Boone to Tease, then the Sandites struck right back with a 9-yard throw from Pennington to Keaton Campbell. A two-point pass came up a yard short, and the final score settled at 37-32.

Rutledge led the Sandite receiving corps with 94 yards, followed by Blevins with 81 and Campbell with 73. Page rushed for 49 yards on 12 carries. Drake Fain led the defense with 14 tackles, Gabe Brown had six tackles and a sack, and Conner Light had seven tackles with two for loss.

Jones’s undisclosed injury isn’t expected to be season-ending, but Klinck is confident in Page’s ability to perform while Jones is out. 

“For a sophomore he was pretty dang impressive. I was scared about ball security, we’ve done so well with our ball security. He did a fantastic job. Great for him to get some early varsity action. I hate how it happened, but Blake’s a tough kid and he’ll come back, and it’s good to have a guy like Kenneth Page to fill in for the time being.”

Klinck was also impressed with his receivers’ ability to compete against one of the best secondary units in the state. 

“Brody Rutledge, Keaton (Campbell), and Jacob Blevins. Great route runners, good hands, we’ve got speed and size. Ty’s able to fit it into windows and they make big plays. Again, as a coaching staff, we learned that our guys can make plays against the best in the state, so we’re going to take that moving forward into the rest of the season.”

Sand Springs will have another tall task Thursday at No. 1 Bixby (6-0, 3-0), who just beat No. 2 Choctaw 70-7. The Spartans have won 42 consecutive games and three State titles in a row. 

“We’re going to show up,” said Klinck. “Our kids aren’t going to back down, our coaches certainly won’t. We’re going to try to put a game plan together where it gives our guys a chance to be successful, but it’s really up to them to go make the plays. I do hope and I do feel like we got a confidence boost from playing a really good Booker T. Washington team that’s very fast, has really good skill players, and I think we found some things out defensively and offensively and kind of figured out who we are and what our identity is. We’re going to take this next week and really push that on our kids. We’ll see what happens on Thursday, we’re excited.”

Booker T. Washington knocks off Sand Springs 37-32

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

Usually when a football team takes a knee to run out the clock, that means the game’s over. But with 1:21 left to play, Dominic Ornelas burst through the Booker T. Washington line and snatched a takeaway to give the host Sandites one last shot.

Fortunately for the Hornets, they would also get a sudden takeaway in the dying moments, as Micah Tease snagged a fumble from Jacob Blevins just 16 seconds later, and this time the offensive line held up to the hungry Sandites.

Class 6A-II No. 3 Booker T. Washington (5-1, 2-1) led for most of the ballgame, but never comfortably, and held on for a 37-32 win at previously undefeated No. 4 Charles Page (5-1, 2-1). 

“I just told our team to keep fighting, keep going out there and making plays,” said Hornets head coach Jonathon Brown. “It was just a hell of a win.”

A far departure from last year’s 49-0 home field rout. 

“Every time we’ve been out here it’s usually tough,” said Brown. “I’ve been out here eight years, and every time we come over here it’s usually a tough game. Coach Klinck is doing a hell of a job of building that team in his image. They’re hard-nosed and they fight and they do a hell of a job, so I’m proud of them and it was a hell of a game.”

Despite the defensive reputation that both teams have built, it was their offenses that shined.

Junior Hornet quarterback Lathan Boone was 21-of-29 passing for 253 yards and three touchdowns, while his Sandite counterpart was 14-of-27 for 270 yards and two passing scores.

“I thought the best pass he threw was the last one to Micah Tease,” said Brown, of Boone. “So composed. He just went back and let it go. That’s a credit to the offensive staff and the quarterback coach getting him ready. He’s truly becoming a leader. The game is starting to slow down for him and he’s doing a hell of a job.”

Meanwhile the Sandite quarterback had a bit of a consolation prize, as he set the Sand Springs career passing record at 5,061, surpassing his own quarterback coach, Darrack Harger.

“If anybody’s going to do it, I’m glad it’s that guy,” said Harger. “I’ve told him for the past three years that my goal for him was to beat my record. That dude is a baller and he’s going to go on to the next level and do all kinds of great things.”

Pennington also had 62 rushing yards and two more touchdowns on the ground.

In addition to Tease’s defensive takeaway to seal the game, he also had a huge hand in the offense, racking up 98 yards on five catches with two touchdowns, including a 40-yarder for the 37-26 lead with 4:57 to play. 

Sand Springs will have another tall task next week at No. 1 Bixby (6-0, 3-0) while the Hornets will host Putnam City West (0-6, 0-3).