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). 

Spartan Football Train Runs Over Sandites, 67-3

If anyone was expecting a close rematch of the 2015 State Finals in Friday night’s game between 6A-II No. 5 Sand Springs (1-1) and Bixby, they were sorely disappointed.

The top-ranked Spartans (3-0) easily rolled to their 52nd consecutive win, 67-3, in their home opener against their former 6A-II rivals.

Austin Havens was 12-of-15 passing for 158 yards and three touchdowns, and starter Connor Kirby was 3-of-4 for 135 yards and two touchdowns, with another score on the ground.

“We’ve got packages for each of those guys,” said Spartan coach Loren Montgomery. “So it just kind of depends on what the defense is giving us, how they’re lining up to the different personnel packages. We try to roll in a lot of people.”

The Spartans took a 25-0 lead in the first quarter and steamrolled to a 53-0 halftime lead to put to bed any thoughts of an upset.

“I was pleased, obviously, with the way we played defense, particularly in the first half,” said Spartan coach Loren Montgomery.

Bixby held the Sandites to only 56 yards and three first downs in the first half, while coming away with two interceptions.

“I felt like we were clean early in the first quarter and a half or so, protected the football pretty well, executed our stuff,” said Montgomery. “I would have liked to have seen us run the ball a little bit better, but I was proud. We had a lot of guys step up and make plays.”

Bixby racked up 186 yards on 34 carries from 11 different backs, led by Jett Turner with 4 carries for 53 yards.

After forcing a punt on the Sandites’ opening drive, the Spartans needed only two plays to get on the board with a 62-yard pass from Connor Kirby to Kordell Gouldsby. Kirby ran in the PAT for an 8-0 lead.

Sam McCormick picked off Marek Matheson at the Sandites’ 12-yard line, setting up a 31-yard field goal from Levi Hoffman.

A quick three-and-out for the Sandites led to a 71-yard scoring strike from Kirby to Luke Hasz, followed by an encore on the two-point conversion.

Tyson Williams got the Spartan defense on the board with a 35-yard pick six, but the Sandites managed to block Hoffman’s kick to make it 25-0 after the first quarter.

Bixby opened the second stanza with a 10-play, 67-yard march, capped by a 1-yard run from Kirby. Joshua Newkirk recovered Hoffman’s onside kick and Austin Havens found Hasz for a 9-yard score three plays later.

Havens added a 31-yard touchdown strike to McCormick and Hasz scored on a 17-yard reverse to end the half.

In the second half Christian Kaiser scored on a 12-yard shovel pass from Havens to make it 60-0.

Kyle Morrall recovered a muffed punt to set up a 28-yard field goal from Jonathan Daniels to avert the shutout, and the Spartans scored their final touchdown on a 37-yard run by Turner.

Matheson ended the night 5-of-10 passing for 30 yards and two picks and the Sandites turned to freshman Easton Webb midway through the second quarter.

Webb was 6-of-11 for 59 yards. Jacob Blevins led the receiving corps with 5 catches for 50 yards.

The Sandites were limited to only 23 rushing yards on 27 carries.

Luke Hasz was the star for the Spartans with three catches for 93 yards and had 13 yards rushing for three total TDs.

Despite Bixby’s total dominance, there were still some mistakes to clean up before the Spartans start district play September 23rd at No. 9 Norman North (2-0).

“We put the ball on the ground a little too much,” said Montgomery. “We need to work better on protecting the football. I thought we did a little bit better job of it tonight, and got a little sloppy at times.”

“We need to become more efficient and continue to grow and develop an identity as a football team.”

The Spartans also expect to get back Arkansas-commit Dylan Hasz in time for the trip to Norman, who was out with a minor injury.

“We were missing three starters tonight, so hopefully this bye week will give us a chance to get a little bit healthy and get some guys back out on the field,” said Montgomery.

Sand Springs will return home next Friday with a non-district game against No. 10 Ponca City (0-2).

Sandite Football rolls Bishop Kelley 34-13, Blake Jones has career night

A version of this story was originally published in the Sand Springs Leader.

Just a week after rushing for a career-high 177 yards against Sapulpa, Blake Jones was at it again Friday night at Angelo Prassa Field. The senior running back racked up 224 yards and three touchdowns on 20 carries to lift Class 6A-II No. 5 ranked Sand Springs (2-0) to a 34-13 win against 5A No. 7 Bishop Kelley (0-2).

The Sandites took a 13-0 lead in the first quarter, scoring both of their touchdowns on back-to-back runs from Jones. After taking a handoff 36 yards to the house, he was set up for another 30-yard run after Ryder Barnes recovered the Sandites’ ensuing kickoff. 

Jones added his third score of the night on a 54-yard breakaway on the Sandites’ first play of the second half.

Senior quarterback Ty Pennington was held to an 11-19-123-0 passing performance with two touchdowns, connecting with Keaton Campbell on a five-yard toss to start the fourth quarter, then finding Kyle Morrall for 52 yards on the next possession.

Despite Jones’s big numbers, it was the defense that stole the show, holding the Comets to 209 yards overall. However, 96 of those yards came on a single run from quarterback Will Pickard in the third quarter. 

Outside of that run, the Comets averaged only 2.8 yards per play and accounted for only seven first downs, five of which came in the fourth quarter. In the first half the Comets managed only 34 yards.

The Sandite defense held Pickard to a 6-13-48-0 passing game and made eight tackles for loss while forcing seven punts, four three-and-outs, and a turnover on downs.

Gabe Brown led the team defensively with eight tackles, including three for loss with one sack. Charles Gaylord had seven tackles with three for loss, and Conner Light had six tackles with two for loss. 

Despite the end result, head coach Bobby Klinck still saw room for improvement.

“We’ve got to get much better,” said Klinck, postgame. “We’ve got to improve. Bishop Kelley’s a very good team and they caught us on a couple plays. We’ve got to get more physical and we can’t just give up long plays like that long touchdown.”

The Comet defense also showed strength with nine tackles for loss, and forced four punts. 

“They were bringing a bunch of guys off the line of scrimmage,” said Klinck. “They knew we were good at running the football, so they were bringing more than we had sometimes.”

Sandite football will get a bye week before traveling to Springdale, Arkansas Friday, September 17th. “We’re going to rest, heal up, and get ready to face a really tough Shiloh Christian team,” said Klinck.

Shiloh Christian will be looking for payback after the Sandites spoiled their otherwise perfect season last year. Sand Springs won the first-ever meeting between the two schools 27-26, but the Saints went on to finish 14-1 and won the Arkansas Class 3A State title. 

CPHS 34 BISHOP KELLEY 13

CPHS; 13; 0; 7; 14;-;34

Bishop Kelley; 0; 0; 7; 6;-;13

CPHS - Jones 36 run (Wolfe kick), 2:33

CPHS - Jones 30 run, 2:23

CPHS - Jones 54 run (Wolfe kick), 9:32

BK - Pickard 96 run (Davis kick), 9:16

CPHS - Campbell 5 pass from Pennington (Wolfe kick), 11:56

BK - Hensley 4 run, 7:44

CPHS - Morrall 52 pass from Pennington (Wolfe kick), 7:25

TEAM STATISTICS

First Downs - CPHS 13, BK 7. Rushes-Yards - CPHS 39-259, BK 28-157. Comp-Att-Int - CPHS 11-19-0, BK 7-14-0. Passing Yards - CPHS 123, BK 52. Fumbles-Lost - CPHS 0-0, BK 3-2. Penalty Yards - CPHS 4-20, BK 5-55. Records - CPHS 2-0, BK 0-2. Total Yards - CPHS 382, BK 209. Punts-Avg. - CPHS 4-30, BK 7-36.