Cash Lucas Sparks Sandites to 25-21 Comeback Win at Tahlequah

Cash Lucas recovered two fumbles Friday night at Doc Wadley Stadium. The second was the spark his team needed to overcome a 21-6 second quarter deficit.

No. 7 Sand Springs (3-2, 1-1) scored 19 unanswered points for a 25-21 victory over No. 8 Tahlequah (2-3, 1-1)  in its first district win of the season.

“Any time you get a road win in 6A Oklahoma high school football, you’ve got to celebrate that,” said Sand Springs coach Bobby Klinck.

The Sandite defense got burned by a 67-yard hook and ladder on the first play from scrimmage when Brody Younger tossed a short pass to Race Stopp, who pitched it to Brayden Northington for the score. 

That one play accounted for nearly a quarter of the Tigers’ offense, however, and the Sandites held Tahlequah to only 65 yards in the second half.

Back-to-back sacks from Dallas Elifrits and Waylon Jeffers put a stop to Tahlequah’s last chance drive late in the fourth and the Sandites escaped with a win.

“I’m more proud of how they responded to some tough plays like that first razzle dazzle,” said Klinck.

“People are going to come after us now. We’re not the same old Sand Springs. People see us as a marquee win, so we’ve got to be ready for that kind of stuff. I’m really proud of the way our guys respond.”

After Tahlequah’s opening score the Sandites put together a 10-play, 56-yard march, but Dylan Leep broke up Easton Webb’s fourth-down pass attempt in the end zone.

Lucas recovered a fumble deep in Tiger territory, but a 28-yard field goal attempt by Jonathan Daniels was no good and the Tigers responded with a 10-play, 80-yard scoring march. 

Younger found Northington wide open on a 9-yard touchdown pass, but the Sandites responded with a 31-yard pass from Webb to Kenneth Page to end the quarter with points on the board. Brody Rutledge’s two-point pass attempt was broken up, however.

Tahlequah opened the second period with an eight-play, 61-yard drive that ended in controversy. A short pass to Eli Gibson appeared to be broken up by Gatlin Gunn, but no whistle was blown.

A full four seconds after everyone else had turned their backs on the ball, Stopp realized it was still live and scooped it up for the touchdown.

After a Sandite turnover on downs and Lucas’s second fumble recovery of the night, the Sandites brought out some trickery of their own.

With 4:47 left in the half, Webb threw a lateral to running back Ali McCoy, who played quarterback in junior high, and the sophomore aired out a 49-yard touchdown pass to Brody Rutledge.

“Anybody on this team - we trust them,” said Klinck. “We put them through a lot around here and we put them through a lot so they make these types of play.”

Rutledge ran the ball for an extra 20 yards after contact, tiptoed the sideline, and dived into the pylon for the score to showcase his athleticism.

“What can you say about him? I mean, he’s just done everything right not only with his talent, but with his work ethic and the way he’s done everything,” said Klinck. “I couldn’t be happier for that young man. It’s all paying off for him.”

A three-and-out set the Sandites up for a 47-yard scoring run by Page, but Jacob Blevins was stopped short on a two-point pass from Rutledge and Tahlequah took a 21-19 lead into the half.

Webb gave his team the lead once and for all on the opening drive of the second half with a three-yard QB draw.

The freshman quarterback ended the night 14-of-24 passing for 201 yards and two total touchdowns. 

Blevins was his top receiver with nine catches for 134 yards, and Page had 32 carries for 208 yards in addition to his 44 receiving yards.

Defensively the team was led by Elifrits, Gunn, and RJ Smittick with six tackles each. Lucas added five. 

Most impactful for the Sandites was their clean performance. After back-to-back games with 150+ yards in penalties, the team only had 30 yards against the Tigers with no unsportsmanlike flags.

“It was a concerted effort to try to eliminate those things,” said Klinck. “We had a nice talk on Sunday and we had to change a few things to make sure that we’re disciplined.”

Younger gave an exemplary performance for the Tigers, going 14-of-17 for 176 passing yards and added 31 more on the ground.

“I just want to give a shoutout to Coach Gilbert over there at Tahlequah,” said Klinck. “I’ve gone against him for a long time and he’s nothing but class. He’s one heck of a football coach and he had those guys ready to play tonight.”

“They’re a team that moved up, but they’re no stranger to big-time football. We knew we were going to get their best shot.”

Next up for the Sandites will be a home test against No. 1 Stillwater (5-0, 2-0). The Pioneers lead the series 31-12-1, winning the most recent meeting 49-17 in the 2020 quarterfinals.

“We’ll look at the tape and make some adjustments, see what we can do, and we’ll get back after it,” said Klinck.

“We’ve got to be ourselves. They’re going to do some different things defensively. We’ve just got to be ourselves and get after it.”

Tahlequah will look to get back to .500 with a road game at No. 6 Muskogee (5-0, 2-0).

Sand Springs;6;13;6;0–;25
Tahlequah;14;7;0;0–;21

1Q: THS - Northington 67 pass from Younger (Jimerson kick), 11:45
1Q: THS - Northington 9 pass from Younger (Jimerson kick), 0:59
1Q: CPHS - Page 31 pass from Webb (pass failed), 0:00
2Q: THS - Stopp 4 fumble return (Jimerson kick), 8:35
2Q: CPHS - Rutledge 49 pass from McCoy (Daniels kick), 5:37
3Q: CPHS - Webb 3 run (pass failed), 6:13

TEAM STATISTICS

First Downs: CPHS 19, THS 13. Rushes-Yards: CPHS 44-201, THS 30-105. Comp-Att-Int: CPHS 14-24-0, THS 14-17-0. Passing Yards: CPHS 201, THS 176. Total Yards: CPHS 402, THS 281. Fumbles-Lost: CPHS 5-1, THS 6-2. Penalty Yards: CPHS 30, THS 65. Punts-AVG: CPHS 1-28, THS 4-36.5. Records: CPHS 3-2 (1-1), THS (2-3, 1-1).

Sandite Sports Weekly Roundup: Volleyball Sweeps Bartlesville on Senior Night

Cross Country

Freshman Taigh Wright led the varsity boys to a 10th place finish at the Holland Hall invitational, Saturday, September 17th. Wright ran the 5K in 19:45.14 for 37th place.

The varsity girls finished in 11th place, led by Kelsi Hilton with a 15th place performance in 22:47.78.

Wyatt Shaw led the junior high boys to a 9th place finish, running the two-mile in 12:59.93 for 30th place. Alliyah Watts placed 100th for the girls in 17:56.76.

The elementary boys took 8th place in the one-mile run, led by Kellen Adkins with a time of 6:35.03 for 8th. The elementary girls took 9th, led by Sophie Grona with a 7:33.32 mile for 10th place.

The Sandites competed at the OSU Cowboy Jamboree on Saturday, September 24th. Neither the boys nor girls had enough finishers to earn a team place.

Gracie Gibson led the girls with a time of 25:04.6 for 162nd place. Rafi Huff led the boys, finishing in 20:48.1 for 200th place.

Softball

The Charles Page High School softball team (20-14, 8-6) went 5-3 in a busy week, improving to third in district play.

The Sandites lost 8-4 to Bixby (12-15, 7-6) on Monday after committing an uncharacteristic six errors, but paid the Spartans back with a 7-2 road win on Thursday.

Addison Hughes (11-10) pitched both games, striking out eight on Monday and 11 on Thursday.

On Tuesday the Sandites won a district double-header against Putnam City North (8-22, 3-11). Kelsi Hilton (9-4) got the win in game one with four hits and five strikeouts and Hughes tossed eight strikeouts with two hits in the sequel.

Sand Springs played at the Tahlequah festival over the weekend, opening with a 5-2 loss to Edmond Deer Creek (25-9) but won the second game 4-2 against Moore (21-7).

Kenzie King was 2-for-3 at the plate against Moore with a run and two RBI.

On Saturday they won 9-2 against Fort Gibson (14-17) but lost 6-4 to Grove (20-7). Kelby Little was 3-for-3 against Fort Gibson with three RBI, and King had a team-high three runs.

Hilton and Little were both .474 at the plate on the week. Hilton led in slugging average at .789 with two doubles and two triples, and had a team-high five RBI. Morgan Rector led the team in runs with six.

Hughes maintained a 2.57 ERA in 32 ⅔ innings while Hilton had a 2.23 ERA in 15 ⅔ innings.

Sand Springs has two games left in the regular season: Monday at Sperry (21-7) and Thursday at home against Oologah (9-18). Regional tournament assignments should be released on Friday.

Volleyball

Sand Springs (11-14, 2-4) picked up its second conference win of the season on Tuesday in a 3-0 Senior Night sweep of Bartlesville (9-9, 2-4) but ended the week on a five match losing streak.

The Sandites competed in the Bishop McGuinness tournament over the weekend and lost to Edmond Deer Creek, Bishop McGuinness, Choctaw, and Yukon, with a second loss to Choctaw in the seventh place match.

Sand Springs will travel to Muskogee (8-7, 0-6) Tuesday and Booker T. Washington (8-11, 3-3) on Thursday.

Football

The junior high football teams continued their undefeated seasons with wins against Sapulpa on Tuesday. The freshmen won 48-6 and the eighth graders won 46-6 as both teams moved to 4-0.

Wrestling

The Church That Matters tailgate party raised $2660 for the wrestling program at Friday night’s Homecoming football game and the wrestling program pledged 50% to the family of Ethan Gibson to help with his funeral.

Sandites Drop District Opener to Muskogee

It was a tale of three games Friday night at Memorial Stadium. The No. 6 Muskogee Roughers improved to 4-0 for the first time since 2019 with a 48-26 win at No. 7 Sand Springs (2-2) to open district action. 

Muskogee stormed out to a 27-0 first quarter lead that could easily have turned into a blowout, but it was only 27-26 to start the fourth quarter.

Then the wheels came off the wagon for the resurgent Sandites who committed five penalties in the fourth quarter, surrendered an onside kick, and threw two interceptions. 

“I was very happy with our kids,” said second-year Muskogee coach Travis Hill, whose Roughers were 2-8 last season.

“They showed a lot of composure. It was a little emotional because when you work with a bunch of kids you get in environments that they have failed in before. So when they don’t fail, it’s very exciting.”

“Kudos to our kids, that’s what it’s all about. That’s what we’re all here for. It’s for those guys to go out and continue to grow up and use football as a tool to make them better people.”

Sophomore star Jamarian Ficklin ended the night 16-of-29 for 269 yards passing, with six touchdowns to one interception. 

“He’s special,” said Hill. “Jamarian Ficklin’s a quarterback. He’s not just an athlete. He’s the leader of our football team. Very, very special person. Not just a special football player, but a special person. Go look at his grades, go look at what he does off the field in the community.”

The Roughers forced three-and-outs on the Sandites’ first three possessions while scoring on their first four drives for a stunning 27-0 lead in the first quarter.

Ficklin scored on a 7-yard screen to Anthony Watson, a 61-yard strike to Kayden McGee, and a 51-yard throw to Brandon Tolbert. Ondraye Beasley added an 85-yard run for the only touchdown not thrown by Ficklin.

He then added a 61-yard scoring strike to McGee and a 51-yard touchdown to Tolbert to make it 21-0.

Jayden Bell’s two-point pass was broken up, however, and the Sandites began to build momentum.

Kenneth Page cashed in on a 17-yard run, then Kyle Morrall recovered a muffed kick to set up a two-yard scoring dive from Page.

Cody Cramer snagged a pick on the Roughers’ second-half opening possession and Easton Webb connected with Brody Rutledge soon after on a 26-yard touchdown.

Webb kept on a fourth-down one-yard plunge with six seconds left in the third, but Muskogee got back to its winning ways in the fourth.

Ficklin tossed a 62-yard score to Jayden Bell, then Sandite penalties resulted in an onside kick from the 30-yard line. 

Tolbert recovered the kick and Ficklin found Watson from nine yards out. Soon after he added a 20-yard strike to Beasley for the final points of the game.

Beasley ended the night with 103 yards on only four carries to go with 13 yards on two receptions. Bell led the Rougher receivers with three catches for 95 yards.

Sandite freshman Webb was 18-of-27 for 251 yards and three interceptions in his first varsity start and Page had 31 carries for 147 yards. Rutledge had five catches for 105 yards to lead the receiving corps. 

Sand Springs will return to action Friday at Tahlequah (2-2, 1-0) in its first meeting with the Tigers since 2007. Muskogee will host Putnam City West (2-2, 0-1) Friday.

Muskogee;27;0;0;21–;48
Sand Springs; 0;13;13;0–;26

1Q: Muskogee - Watson 7 pass from Ficklin (Armstrong kick), 7:39
1Q: Muskogee - McGee 61 pass from Ficklin (Armstrong kick), 6:06
1Q: Muskogee - Tolbert 51 pass from Ficklin (Armstrong kick), 3:28
1Q: Muskogee - Beasley 85 run (pass failed), 0:03
2Q: Sand Springs - Page 17 run (kick failed), 9:21
2Q: Sand Springs - Page 2 run (Daniels kick), 5:43
3Q: Sand Springs - Rutledge 26 pass from Webb (Daniels kick), 7:22
3Q: Sand Springs - Webb 1 run (pass failed) 0:06
4Q: Muskogee - Bell 62 pass from Ficklin (Armstrong kick), 10:29
4Q: Muskogee - Watson 9 pass from Ficklin (Armstrong kick), 9:40
4Q: Muskogee - Beasley 20 pass from Ficklin (Armstrong kick), 5:37

TEAM STATISTICS

First downs: MUS 9, SS 22. C-A-Y-I: Rushes-Yards: MUS 27-314, SS 50-161. Comp-Att-In: MUS 16-29-1, SS 18-27-3. Passing Yards: MUS 269, SS 251. Total Yards: MUS 460, SS 416. Fumbles-Lost: MUS 3-3, SS 5-3. Penalty Yards: MUS 65, SS 150. Punts-AVG: MUS 2-25.5, SS 3-42. Records: MUS 4-0 (1-0), SS 2-2 (0-1). 

Sandite Softball Goes 0-2 in Tough Week of District Play

Kelsi Hilton (7-3) went two-of-three at the plate and surrendered only three hits and one run from the pitcher’s circle against district-leading Jenks (22-4, 11–0) on Tuesday, but the Sandites fell 1-0.

On Thursday the Sandites (15-11, 5-5) suffered a 10-0, five-inning rout at the hands of Stillwater (17-8, 8-3).

The Sandites will host Bixby (11-11, 6-4) Monday at 5:30 p.m. for Youth Night and kids will receive free admission if they wear their team jersey or softball camp shirt.

On Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. the Sandites will host Putnam City North (7-15, 3-8) for a double-header. Teachers with ID will receive free admission

The Sandites will wrap up district play Thursday at Bixby.

Sandite Volleyball Downs Sapulpa 3-1

Sandite Volleyball defeats Sapulpa in Highway 97 Rivalry play.

The Highway 97 Rivalry trophy is back in Sand Springs.

The 6A No. 15 Sand Springs volleyball team (8-6, 1-4) recorded its first conference win of the season, 3-1, Tuesday night at 5A No. 6 Sapulpa (13-11, 1-4) in a thriller.

After losing the first set 25-18, the Sandites cleaned up their act and won the next three games 25-18, 25-17, and 25-18.

“My husband lost (the trophy) so I had to go get it back,” joked first-year head coach Skylar Jackson after the match. Jackson took the program over from her husband, Derek, who is now at Claremore.

Sapulpa stormed out to an insurmountable 9-1 lead in the first game after four consecutive Sandite attacks sailed out of bounds to kick off an eight-point run. 

The Sandites totaled 11 errors in the first set, while Stailee Heard and Wrigley Adkisson combined for nine kills. Jayden Smith tallied five kills for the Sandites. 

Game two was all tied up at 15-15 till the Sandites ran away with things late in the set. Sand Springs only committed six errors and that proved to be the difference maker. Payton Robbins recorded six kills and two aces for the Sandites.

In game three the Sandites only led 19-16 before winning six of the final seven rallies. Hannah McKelvey’s ace secured the win and this time it was Layla Lenex leading the set with five kills.

Robbins played her best in game four with seven kills and two aces and Lenex won a thrilling final rally on a tipped ball.

Six different Sandites recorded kills in the match, led by Robbins with 20, Lenex with 16, and Smith with 12.

“Our setters do a really great job of making sure all of our hitters are involved,” said Jackson. 

McKelvey recorded a team-high 24 assists and Allie Wright had 18. Olivia DeWitt had a team-high 17 digs and Evyn Morrow added 12.

Robbins was the star of the night with 16 digs and four aces to complement her attacking prowess. 

“She’s the calm in the middle of the storm,” said Jackson. “She’s not a real high emotional player. She doesn’t get real down, she doesn’t get real up. She’s kind of the even tone of our team, so for her to come out and have a good night is important. It’s really important for our team.”

Stailee Heard, an OSU basketball commit, led all scorers with 22 kills, but Adkisson was the only other Chieftain in double digits with 10.  

Sand Springs has now won eight of the last ten meetings with Sapulpa.

“This game is kind of big on its own because it is a rivalry, but we have a tough tournament coming up so it was even more important for us to gain some momentum before going into our tournament,” said Jackson.

The Sandites will play No. 6 Owasso (12-9) at 10:00 a.m. Friday in the first round of the Ram Invitational in a rematch of their 3-0 conference loss. 

They will also play No. 4 Edmond Memorial (16-4) and Southmoore (7-11) in Friday’s pool play. They previously defeated Southmoore 2-1 at the Sandite Invitational.

Bracket play will begin at 10:00 a.m. Saturday with two guaranteed matches.

Sandite Sports Weekly Roundup: Softball Places Third at Bixby Tournament

The Charles Page High School softball (15-9, 5-3) started a successful week with a pair of perfect games and ended it with a third-place finish at the Bixby tournament.

The Sandites celebrated Senior Night with a perfect double-header Tuesday against the combined team of Tulsa Memorial and Booker T. Washington (0-15, 0-7).

Kelsi Hilton (7-1) struck out 10 and the Sandites totaled 15 hits in a 20-0 game-one rout. Addie Hughes (8-8) struck out 10 and the Sandites recorded 13 hits in the 10-0 second game. 

The Sandites rode that momentum into a crucial 8-3 district win Thursday against Bartlesville (11-8, 3-4) behind a six-strikeout performance from Hughes. 

On Friday the Sandites rolled to a 14-0 shutout of Union (6-18) in the first round of the Bixby tournament. Hughes pitched a one-hitter with six strikeouts and Mikenna Stephens went 3-of-4 at the plate with four RBI.

Hilton struck out seven in a 4-2 win over El Reno (4-9) while also recording three RBI in the second game of the tournament.

The win streak came to a close in a 6-0 loss against Perry (24-5) Friday evening but the Sandites got back in the win column with a 5-1 victory over Raymore Peculiar (7-6) Saturday morning. 

To cap off the week, Hilton hit a walk-off RBI single to prevail 5-4 over Coweta (16-7) and pay back an August defeat. 

Hilton batted .583 on the week with a team-high 14 hits, three triples, 13 RBI, and 11 runs. Morgan Rector was .565 at the plate with 13 hits, six RBI, and 12 runs.

Hilton went 3-0 in the circle with a 1.44 ERA and Hughes was 4-1 with a 1.80 ERA.

Sand Springs will return to action Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. with a key district game at Jenks (19-3, 10-0), then will travel to Stillwater (14-6, 6-3) Thursday at 7:00 p.m.

Cross Country

Josie Grona led the Sandite elementary with a fourth-place finish at the Sapulpa Chieftain meet, Saturday, September 3rd. She ran the one-mile race in 6:23.36. Kellen Adkins was 18th to lead the boys in 6:47.05.

Kelsi Hilton led the varsity girls with a ninth place finish, running the two-mile in 13:29.31. Taigh Wright led the boys in 12:23.49.

Chloe Grona was runner-up in the junior high girls’ one-mile run, finishing in 5:59.85. Dax Wilcox was the top junior high boy, placing 14th in 5:54.46. 

On September 10th the Sandites took a depleted roster to Broken Arrow. 

Wright led the boys with a 50th place finish, running the 5K in 19:38.80. Gracie Gifford led the girls, finishing in 26:11.92 for 57th place. Melany Lamb led the junior high girls, placing 63rd in 37:08.79. 

Volleyball

The No. 15 Sandite volleyball team (7-6) snapped a five-match skid with a 3-0 sweep of Pryor (2-15) Tuesday night on the road. Sand Springs won 25-14, 25-10, and 25-14.

The Sandites will return to action Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. with a conference rivalry game at 5A No. 7 Sapulpa (13-10, 1-3). Sand Springs is 0-4 in conference action.

Football

The Sandite freshman class (2-0) continued an undefeated streak stretching back to its seventh grade season, winning 34-0 against Bartlesville. The eighth graders also moved to 2-0 with a 48-14 win against the Bruins. 

Wrestling

The first-year Lady Sandite wrestling program had a successful first meeting with prospective athletes. New coach Ty Bowling hopes to have as many as 20 girls in the program this season.