Sandites Win Highway 97 Rivalry 51-20 Against Sapulpa

The Sand Springs boys wrestling team is right where it wants to be heading into Christmas break.

The No. 8 Sandites are 3-0 in duals following a 51-20 victory against 5A No. 10 Sapulpa (1-2) Tuesday night at the Ed Dubie Field House.

Sand Springs won nine out of fourteen matches with six pins in its seventh-straight Highway 97 Rivalry win.

“Anytime you can beat your rivals it’s a good evening,” said first-year head coach Ty Bowling.

“Good start to December for us so far. We’re not in February yet so we’ve got plenty of time to get better and keep getting better every single week.”

Sapulpa won the opening match with a 3-0 decision by Christian Cue over Dawson Briscoe, but a forfeit at 113 put the Sandites ahead for the remainder of the evening.

Colt Hood pinned Jackson Mills in 28 seconds and Brady Moore won a 7-0 decision against Jackson Willingham before the Chieftains won their next match.

Kyle Brooks eked out a back-and-forth 6-4 decision over Preston Reyna, but the Sandites responded with three more bonus point wins

Jayden Pait and Jesse Moore pinned their opponents and Mitchell Smith received a forfeit to make it 33-6.

Blake Hurt won an 8-7 upset against Jaxon Trotter at 157 pounds, but Ethan White answered with a 32-second pin of Trey Henderson to clinch the dual for Sand Springs.

“It’s Ethan’s senior year,” said Bowling. “We’re working real hard to get him to the state tournament this year, hopefully to the podium.”

“He’s been putting in extra work and that’s his goal this year is to get to the state tournament and make a little noise there.”

Sapulpa won at 190 and 215, but Hudson Sheppard pinned Mason Williams in 38 seconds and Mason Harris pinned Taylor Anderson in 29 seconds to wrap up the evening.

“This year we’re working on our toughness and I think every single week we’ve gotten a little bit tougher,” said Bowling.

“We had two duals a couple of weeks ago then we rolled into a long two-day tournament. We dealt with sickness and soreness and getting our weight down, but we battled through things and each week we’re getting tougher and tougher and that’s kind of our theme for this year.”

Prior to the boys dual, Ty Davis pinned Elizabeth Corveler in a girls exhibition match.

The Sandites will return to action December 29th at the Diamond State Duals in Springdale, Arkansas.

Sandite Weekly Sports Roundup: Wrestling Dominates Season-Opening Duals

The Ty Bowling era opened with a bang this week as the No. 13 Sand Springs wrestling team won its first two duals convincingly Thursday at the Ed Dubie Field House before placing sixth out of 35 teams at the Mid America Nations in Enid over the weekend.

In the first dual of the season the Sandites rolled to a 49-18 win over 5A No. 8 Duncan (1-1), going 10-4 in individual matches with six wins by fall.

The teams traded blows to an 18-18 tie after seven matches before Mitchell Smith won a 10-1 major decision to kick off a seven-match win streak.

That streak carried over into the next dual as the Sandites opened with three-straight wins in a 60-12 romp against the defending Arkansas Dual State Champions from Rogers Heritage (4-2)

Colt Hood won a 9-2 decision against defending State Champion Ethan McCrary at 120 pounds to take a 12-0 lead before the visitors got on the board.

The Sandites only lost three matches, all by close decisions, two of which were to returning State placers.

Jaden Allen and Mason Harris both pinned returning State placers and the Sandites totalled eight wins by fall.

At the Enid tournament the Sandites finished with four wrestlers in the top four of their brackets.

David Ritchey placed third at 113 with two pins, Smith placed third at 150 with three pins, Mason Harris finished third at 285 with five pins, and Ethan White finished fourth at 165 with four pins.

Jaxon Trotter placed 7th, Jayden Pait 10th, Ali McCoy 11th, Dawson Briscoe 18th, Allen 18th, Hood 18th, Jackson Burdge 19th, Preston Reyna 22nd, Jace Simms 23rd, Brody Ensten 25th.

The Keystone Kids wrestling club placed third at the Rumble in the Jungle tournament in Coweta over the weekend.

Hudson Waag, Hagan Wolfenberger, Sutton Hawley, Ryder Richardson, Ayreson Reiss, Ryker Dawes, Collin Randall, Brackton Upton, and Kydon Harness all won their brackets.

Dance

The Charles Page High School dance team took second place in 6A Small School Hip Hop at the OSDTDA State Championship on Saturday and the JV/JH team won its division.

Baseball

Sand Springs varsity baseball coach Matt Brown was recognized as the OBCA Region 7 Coach of the Year following the Sandites’ 31-8 season in 2022.

“Coach of the Year awards don’t happen without the best assistant coaches, great players, amazing families, and supportive administration,” tweeted Brown.

Football

Brody Rutledge was named the 6A-II District 2 Wide Receiver of the Year after catching 51 passes for 748 yards and eight touchdowns this season, averaging 14.7 yards per pass. He also had 18 carries for 131 yards and a score.

Jacob Blevins was also named an All-District receiver with 47 catches for 659 yards and four total touchdowns.

Drake Fain was named an All-District linebacker with 101 tackles. RJ Smittick was named an All-District defensive back with 64 tackles and two fumble recoveries.

Dominic Ornelas and Charles Gaylord made the All-District defensive line. Ornelas had 14 tackles for loss and 7.5 sacks. Gaylord had 33 tackles and two fumble recoveries.

Jabe Schlehuber (WR/DB) and Cody Cramer (DB) received Honorable Mentions. Schlehuber had 27 catches for 369 yards and three touchdowns, as well as two interceptions. Cramer also had two interceptions to go with 57 tackles.

Sandites Place 5th at Union IceFighter Open with 7 Champions

The Sand Springs wrestling team took fifth place at the 31st annual Union IceFighter Open on Saturday with seven champions, three runners up, and 16 total medalists.

Jayden Pait and Jesse Moore won in the high school boys division; Laila Mirza won in high school girls; Jaxon Grigsby, Kaden Pope, Matthew Moore, and Corbin Wooley won in boys’ junior high.

Pait pinned his first opponent at 138 and won three straight decisions from there, beating Union’s Thomas Toteh 6-4 in the finals.

Moore pinned his first two foes at 150, then edged out Jaiden Johnson 2-1 in the semifinals before majoring Brett Cornett 10-2 in the finals.

Mirza pinned all four of her opponents at 120 pounds.

Grigsby pinned three of his four opponents at 98 points and outscored his opponents 27-6.

Pope recorded two pins and a tech fall at 119, outscoring his foes 35-0.

Moore had two falls at 126 and defeated defending junior high state champion Rayvon McClellan 6-3 in the finals.

Wooley pinned three of his opponents at 132 pounds and outscored his foes 24-5.

Gracie Young was runner up at 110; Kasen McAffrey was runner-up at 140; Sawyer Briscoe was runner-up at 89; and Chandler Copeland was runner-up at 80.

Kayden Worthington was third at 132 with five pins. Aayla Asher also placed third, and Brody Ensten, Kelsi Hilton, and Lyla Waldren placed fourth.

Volleyball

Charles Page High School senior Payton Robbins recently signed a letter of intent to play volleyball at Friends University in Wichita, Kansas.

Robbins set the known school record in single-season kills at 290 this season and led the team in aces.

She will be joining former Sand Springs teammates Tehya Johnson, Charley Fahland, and Kasidy Holland, who are all freshmen at the NAIA private school.

Sandite Wrestling Takes Down Owasso 42-36

This story was originally written for the Sand Springs Leader.

The 6A No. 15 ranked Sandite wrestling team (7-3) won a 42-36 upset against No. 10 Owasso (8-5) Tuesday night in a Senior Night instant classic at the Ed Dubie Field House.

The visiting Rams stormed out to a 24-0 lead with four falls before Jayden Pait (17-8) pinned Easton Eicher to get the home team on the board.

Mitchell Smith (23-6) and Ethan Norton (19-9) also collected falls at 145 and 152, but the Sandites still found themselves down 36-18 with only four matches left.

Ethan White (18-13) and Brooks Dudley (17-7) both pinned their opponents and Cash Lucas (11-12) received a forfeit at 220 to tie it up, putting the weight of the dual on Mason Harris’s shoulders.

The sophomore star weighed in 40 pounds lighter than Jamon Colbert but wrestled tough and pinned his foe 25 seconds into the second period to end the dual and improve to 15-4 on the season.

The Sandites had their Thursday night dual at No. 3 Broken Arrow (6-5) rescheduled for Monday at 7:00 p.m. and the Glenpool Warrior Invitational was canceled over the weekend.

Sand Springs placed 17th out of 151 teams at the Junior High Allstate tournament in Oklahoma City with three runners-up.

Jaxon “Scout” Trotter, who is 10-6 on the varsity team, placed second at 138 pounds with three pins. 

In the 6th & 7th Grade division, Kasen McAffrey placed second at 120 pounds, Kaden Pope placed second at 105 pounds, and Jaxon Grigsby placed third at 80 pounds.

Sandite Wrestling wins Homecoming 54-27 against Glenpool

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The Sand Springs Winter Homecoming Court combined Basketball and Wrestling this year. Photo courtesy of Moton Photography.

The Charles Page High School wrestling team went 2-1 in district duals Tuesday at Union, winning 65-9 against Deer Creek and 45-27 against Union before falling 50-30 to No. 8 Ponca City.  They also won a 54-27 Homecoming dual against 5A No. 8 Glenpool on Thursday.

Sammy Naugle, James Robey, Carter Goodman, Blake Jones, and Brooks Dudley collected pins against the Antlers, while Jayden Pait, Mitchell Smith, Goodman, Ethan White, Dudley, Mason Harris, and David Ritchey recorded falls against Union. 

Against the Wildcats, the Sandites fell behind 21-0 before Smith got a pin at 145. Ethan Norton, Goodman, and White followed it up with pins to take the lead.

Ponca rallied with pins at 182 and 195 before Harris got a fall at 220, but the Wildcats won the next three matches with bonus points to punch their ticket to dual state.

On Thursday, Ritchey, Colt Hood, Shane Wolf, Robey, Goodman, White, Dudley, and Harris all won pins against the Warriors.

The Sandites canceled their involvement at the Owasso Ram Duals over the weekend due to sickness and injuries. They will instead compete at Glenpool Warrior Classic February 4-5th.

Keystone Kids

The Keystone Kids brought home two gold medals from the Wrestlemania tournament in Broken Arrow, Saturday, January 22nd.

Nicholas Elmore and Kydon Harness won their brackets, JJ Baker was runner-up, Collin Randall and Caemon Young placed third, and Rixon Hathaway placed fourth.

Sports Roundup: Lady Sandites Still Undefeated, Wrestling Falls to Bixby

Hailey Jackson scored 31 points for the Sandites against Broken Arrow.

This story was originally written by Scott Emigh for the Sand Springs Leader.

The last time the Sand Springs girls basketball team won ten straight games to start the season, it went on to win conference, regional, and area championships.

Whether this year’s eighth-ranked Lady Sandites reach similar heights remains to be seen, but they are still undefeated after meetings with No. 10 Broken Arrow and Bartlesville this week.

The Sandites picked up a 66-46 win over the Tigers (6-4, 2-2) Tuesday night at the Ed Dubie Field House before traveling to Bartlesville for a 55-37 win against the Bruins (3-7, 0-4) to improve to 5-0 in Frontier Valley Conference action.

Junior star Hailey Jackson went off for 31 points, 11 rebounds, and 4 steals against the Tigers, while Journey Armstead contributed 15 points. Layne Kirkendoll added 8 points and 9 rebounds. 

“(Jackson)’s just coming along and playing hard,” said head coach Josh Berry. “I’ve always said she had the potential to be that good.”

The Sandites led by as much as 28 points early in the fourth quarter before sending in the backups. 

Friday’s game started a little slower, but the Bruins never led after the first quarter and the Sandites ran away with a 22-4 third quarter to put the game safely out of reach. 

“Every game for us in this conference, you’ve got to prepare for it,” said Berry. “If you’re not ready to play, you can get beat. Especially the way we play. We’re a defensively oriented team, so if we don’t come ready to play every night, we can get beat by anybody.”

Armstead scored 23 points with 7 rebounds, 4 steals, and 3 assists. Jackson scored 8 points with 10 rebounds and Kirkendoll added 6 points with 11 rebounds. 

The Sandites will host Muskogee (1-6, 0-3) Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. before competing at the Jenks/Union tournament Thursday through Saturday. They will play Jenks (2-5) on Thursday before taking on either Trinity Christian or No. 1 Edmond North (10-0) on Friday.

Boys Basketball

The Sandite boys team (3-7, 0-5) is still looking for its first conference win of the season after falling 70-47 to Broken Arrow and 82-54 to Bartlesville this week.

On Tuesday the Sandites were led by Jason Clark with 10 points and Cale Askew with 9 in the home loss to No. 6 Broken Arrow (8-2, 4-1). Clark and Alijah Roper scored 12 apiece against No. 14 Bartlesville (6-4, 3-2).

Sand Springs will get its first unranked opponent in over a month when they play Muskogee (2-6, 0-3) on Tuesday. They will then travel to Catoosa for the Port City Classic with a Thursday matchup against the home team (9-4) at 8:30 p.m.

Wrestling

On Thursday the Sandites (3-1) suffered their first loss of the season, falling 47-24 to No. 5 Bixby (5-1). 

David Ritchey and Colt Hood pinned their foes to start the dual, then Zander Grigsby and Jayden Pait won decisions for an 18-0 lead against last year’s Dual State Runners Up.

The Spartans won the next eight matches, however, before Mason Harris collected a fall at heavyweight to end the night. 

Sand Springs will return to action Tuesday at Union with a district triple-header against No. 10 Ponca City (1-2), No. 15 Union (1-4), and Edmond Deer Creek (0-3). The Sandites won five district titles in a row from 2016 to 2020 before coming up short last season.

The Sandite junior high team placed second at the Perry tournament over the weekend with three finalists.

Kase Skaggs, Kaden Pope, and Ryley Kester all placed second and Dawson Briscoe, Jaxon Grigsby, and Jaxon “Scout” Trotter placed third.