Sandite Sports Weekly Roundup: Sand Springs Hosts First-Ever Girls Wrestling Tournament

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The Charles Page High School boys wrestling team (13-4) suffered a pair of tough losses last week, falling 35-21 to No. 4 Broken Arrow (9-2) on Tuesday and 62-10 to No. 2 Stillwater (11-1) on Thursday.

The Sandites will travel to No. 11 Owasso (4-7) on Tuesday before wrapping up the regular season at the Glenpool Warrior Classic over the weekend.

Sand Springs hosted its first ever girls wrestling tournament Friday at Clyde Boyd Middle School, drawing 22 varsity programs and 18 junior high squads.

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Springdale Har-Ber won the inaugural high school tournament while Perry won the junior high event. Sand Springs placed sixth in varsity and fifth in junior high.

Bailey Copeland won the Sandites’ lone gold medal, pinning both of her opponents in the junior high 82-pound bracket.

In junior high: Rylee Allen placed second, Sawyer Briscoe and Ananiah King were fourth, Camden Carrison and Cailey Miller were fifth, and Lyla Waldren and Stefane Ortiz placed sixth.

Gracie Young and Kelsi Hilton led the varsity girls with runner-up performances. Laila Mirza placed fourth, Addily Shotwell was fifth, Madison Chambers placed sixth, and Kreedence Behnke was eighth.

The junior high boys took second place in a tight three-way race at the Ted Anderson Tournament in Edmond on Saturday. The Sandites finished only 13 points behind Bixby while edging out Broken Arrow by 1.5 points.

Kaden Pope and Hudson Sheppard won their brackets; Ryley Kester, Brady Moore, and Jaxon Grigsby were runners up; Kasen McAffery placed third; and Issac Sensintaffer finished fourth.

The Keystone Kids placed seventh out of 100 teams at the OKUSA Youth Wrestling State Championship with four champions and four runners-up.

Brackton Upton, Hagan Wolfenberger, and Jaxon Trotter all won their divisions while Hudson Waag, Karson Waag, and Bryson Pope were runners up. Kydon Harness was a double-finalist, winning in Beginner and placing second in Open.

Ryker Dawes, Collin Randall, Maddix Spencer, and Ayreson Reiss placed third. Brenntly Taylor, Eric Foust, Mason Londo, and Maddox Pope placed fourth.

Baseball

Sandite catcher Dominic Ornelas announced his commitment to Northern Oklahoma College at Enid Tuesday on Twitter. Also headed to NOC-Enid is pitcher and second baseman Jabe Schlehuber, who committed in November.

Football

Sand Springs seniors Kyle Morrall and Jacob Blevins announced their commitment to Northwestern Oklahoma State University. There they will be reunited with former Sandite assistant coach Jason Medrano, who recently took over as Offensive Coordinator for the Rangers.

Brody Rutledge, the Sandites’ leading receiver, committed to Northeastern State University on Tuesday. There he will join former Sand Springs teammates Gabe Brown, Landon Hendricks, and Blake Jones.

Sandite Basketball Homecoming Spoiled by Broken Arrow

Sand Springs saw its Homecoming festivities dampened in a pair of varsity losses to Broken Arrow Friday night at the Ed Dubie Field House.

The unranked boys brought a fight to undefeated No. 1 Broken Arrow, holding the Tigers to their lowest-scoring performance of the season in a 52-33 loss.

The No.9 Lady Sandites (11-5, 4-3) fell in a close 46-43 affair after erasing an early 15-point second quarter deficit.

No. 11 Broken Arrow (11-6, 5-3) led 30-17 at halftime but the Sandites dominated the third quarter and Kiaryn Taylor gave the home team the lead to open the fourth.

“We hadn’t played in a while,” said head coach Josh Berry, whose team was dealt a nine-day gap between games after Tuesday’s trip to Booker T. Washington was canceled for inclement weather.

“We haven’t played since last Tuesday. You can only go against each other so much and you can only do so much to keep that concentration. I think that time off hurt us.”

“Once we kind of got settled in and played some team basketball, I think that’s when we kind of got things going. Early on we missed shots, but they weren't great shots we were taking.”

The biggest struggle on the night was containing 5-ft-10 guard McKenzie Mathurin, a heavily recruited Division I prospect who exploded for 18 points in the first half.

In the second half the Sandites held Mathurin to only one field goal but sent her to the charity stripe for seven points in the fourth quarter.

A three-pointer from Calla Fueshko cut it as close as 45-42 with 6.2 seconds left but the Sandites were unable to find enough magic to pull ahead.

Mathurin finished with 28 points to lead all scorers while the Sandites were led by Hailey Jackson with 15 points and six rebounds.

“As long as we learn to play the style that we want to play and play together and trust each other, then we’re gonna be fine,” said Berry.

“The playoffs are going to seed themselves and we still have a good chance of getting a good seed if we take care of business down the stretch.”

Sand Springs will return to action Tuesday at Bartlesville at 6:30 p.m.. The Booker T. Washington game has been rescheduled for Thursday at 5:00 p.m. and the Sandites will also travel to Muskogee on Friday.

(Boys) BAHS 52 CPHS 33

The Sand Springs boys (8-8, 1-6) did their best to keep the game close against No. 1 Broken Arrow (16-0, 8-0) but couldn’t keep up with the undefeated Tigers.

The Sandites never led, but only trailed by 14 to enter the fourth quarter before Broken Arrow went on a 7 point run.

Alijah Roper led all scorers with 16 and Luke Hooper added 10, but no other Sandites scored more than 2.

Oklahoma State-signee Connor Dow had a quiet night with only four points, but Justice Sutton filled in handily with 14 points to lead a balanced Tiger offense with eight players in the scorebook.

Mitchell Smith Secures District Title for Sandites in 39-34 Win over Ponca City

After missing out the past two years, Sand Springs is headed back to Dual State thanks to straight toughness and senior leadership.

With one match left in the Sandites’ district dual against No. 11 Ponca City, Sand Springs trailed 34-33. It all came down to Mitchell Smith at 150 pounds.

With a knee injury that many would consider season-ending, the senior put his team on his shoulders and came out with a pin of Braden Perciful in 30 seconds to secure the 39-34 victory.

“We needed him big time,” said head coach Ty Bowling.

“I said, ‘Hey. The score is close enough. We don’t need anything big, we just need to go out and get a win.’ He goes out and finds a pin. That’s huge for us. Senior leadership.”

“We haven’t gone to dual state since my freshman year, so this is big,” said Smith. “We had some bad losses the past two years, to teams we all felt like we should have beat, so it’s nice to win like this.”

Sand Springs went on to win 46-27 against Edmond Deer Creek and 48-25 against No. 13 Union to clinch its 18th District Championship Tuesday evening at the UMAC.

“Straight toughness,” said Bowling. “We had a handful of injuries. It’s January, that’s what wrestling is. We’ve got guys with bad ankles, bad knees, so they dug deep, a lot of toughness. They battled. They showed that they wanted it.”

“We’ve been looking toward these duals all season. We knew Ponca City was the defending champ, we know what they had coming back. We knew it was going to take all 14 doing their job, whether it was finding bonus, not giving up bonus, or just going out and just gritting out a win.”

Four Sandites went undefeated at the quad, including Jaxon “Scout” Trotter, who had to start each dual at 157 pounds.

“We usually start at 106 and we started all three duals at 157,” said Bowling. “He had three tough matches and came away with three wins, so he started us off right every time.”

Freshman Hudson Sheppard and junior Mason Harris also went undefeated, winning all three of their matches by fall.

“I’m just excited,” said Harris. “It’s my first time and I just want to know what it’s like. I was one year off from knowing what it’s like so I’m just excited to bring Sand Springs back into it.”

“We have a few injuries right now that are still healing up. By the time those heal back up we’re going to be even more dominant than we are now.”

Smith won both of his matches as well. With a 46-21 lead against Deer Creek, the Sandites forfeited Smith’s weight, but the senior insisted on wrestling against Union, where he collected a 31-second pin.

“I really wanted to,” said Smith. “I wanted to wrestle the second match as well, but my coach told me not to because he didn’t want to risk it, which is fair but I’m not a big fan of sitting on the bench and watching my teammates wrestle, so I tried to get some matches in as well.”

The Sandites still have a few tough duals left before Dual State, and will host No. 4 Broken Arrow (8-1) Tuesday for Homecoming and No. 2 Stillwater (10-1) on Thursday.

The varsity boys took the weekend off but the varsity girls and junior varsity boys competed at the Morey Villareal Memorial tournament at Will Rogers High School.

The JV boys won the tournament against a field of mostly varsity competitors, topping Bartlesville 207 to 194.5.

Dawson Briscoe won the 106-pound bracket with five pins, Brody Ensten won at 157 with two pins, and Peyton Callis won at 165 with four pins.

Colt Hood, Landen Horton, and Christopher Cooper were runners-up and Jackson Burdge, Preston Reyna, Brock O’Dell, Dallas Flores, and Cash Lucas took third place.

Madison Chambers took first place, Gracie Young was second, and Kreedence Behnke was third to lead the girls varsity to a fifth-place finish.

Youth

Gage Fadenrecht, Ryker Dawes, Collin Randall, Brackton Upton, Hunter Sims, Kase Skaggs, and Jace Simms all won their brackets at the Broken Arrow Wrestlemania tournament, representing the Keystone Kids.

Luke Hooper Has Career Night in 60-33 Verdigris Rout

Luke Hooper didn’t play basketball his junior year but he shook off any lingering rust Saturday afternoon in the Port City Classic consolation finals.

The 6-foot-4 power forward hit his stride for a career-best 12 points and 9 rebounds to lead Sand Springs (8-7) in a 60-33 romp against Verdigris (10-7) for fifth place in the Catoosa tournament.

“You don’t realize how much it can slip away from you, just getting back into basketball shape and timing,” said head coach Eric Savage.

“He’s a big body and does a good job rebounding. If we can get him scoring on offense like he was able to today then it’s really going to help us.”

The Sandites suffered a 69-61 loss to 4A No. 16 Catoosa (11-4) in the first round to cap a four-game losing streak, but snapped back with a 66-48 win over 5A No. 16 Claremore (8-7) in Friday’s consolation semifinals.

“We went through a tough stretch right there in a conference that’s arguably very tough,” said Savage.

Sand Springs lost conference games against Union and Owasso the prior week, and fell 72-50 to Jenks on Tuesday. Now back above .500, the Sandites will be looking to ride some momentum into their next week’s conference games.

“I think it does a lot for the players’ confidence and our team to be able to experience some success,” said Savage.

“I wish we would’ve got three (wins) this weekend, but to finish on two wins - hopefully we can build on that”

Several Sandites had notable performances on the weekend. Alijah Roper and Micahel Foster scored 13 apiece in the loss to Catoosa and Kade Holland had a career-best 12. Blake Johnson was a bucket shy of a double-double with 8 points and 11 boards.

“We’re getting better and guys are stepping up and realizing they can make plays during games,” said Savage. “We’re getting some maturity and growth out of those sophomores.”

The sophomores being Kooper Kelly, Zane Fueshko, Khalil Allen, and Johnson.

Foster led the team with 14 against Claremore and Roper added 10. Against Verdigris, Roper and Kelly had 10 apiece, Allen added 9, and Foster had 8 points and 10 rebounds.

In Tuesday’s game against Jenks it was Kelly with 11 and Allen with 10 to lead the team.

“Alijah’s been playing a lot better and he’s been really consistent for us this year - probably our most consistent,” said Savage. “We need Alijah playing like he played this tournament.”

“I think by the end of January, going into February, I’m hoping we’ll be hitting our stride and playing our best basketball.”

The Sandites will return to action Tuesday at 8:00 p.m. with a road game at No. 9 Booker T. Washington (9-4, 4-2) followed by a home battle against No. 1 Broken Arrow (14-0, 6-0) on Friday.

Girls

For only the second time this season, Hailey Jackson didn’t lead her team in scoring against No. 9 Jenks (9-4, 4-2) on Tuesday.

It wasn’t because she had an off-night - it was because her entire team was on fire.

Five Lady Sandites scored in double digits, each with impressive stat lines, in a 67-43 win that was arguably the best performance of the season for No. 10 Sand Springs (11-4, 4-2).

Freshman Calla Fueshko led her team with a career-high 16 points, going 4-of-6 from three-point range before fouling out midway through the fourth quarter.

Sand Springs actually trailed 20-14 after the first quarter but Fueshko and Taiona Morris opened the second with a trio of treys to go up 23-20 and never relinquished the lead.

By halftime the home team led 37-29 and they used a 14-0 run spanning the third and fourth quarters to put the game to bed.

Jackson scored 15 points with 6 boards; Sakauri Wilson had 13 points, 3 steals, and 5 assists; Kiaryn Taylor had 11 points, 7 rebounds, and 4 steals; and Morris had 10 points with 6 boards, 3 steals, and 5 assists.

Jill Twiehaus led all scorers with 21 points for Jenks, but was held to only 4 in the second half.

Sand Springs will take to the road Tuesday against No. 4 Booker T. Washington (13-2, 5-1) before hosting No. 13 Broken Arrow (10-5, 4-2) on Friday.

Sandite Sports Weekly Roundup: Wrestling Places 7th at Sapulpa Tournament

The Charles Page High School wrestling team took seventh place at the Jerry Billings Invitational in Sapulpa over the weekend with nine top-ten finishers.

The Sandites went 0-4 in the semifinal round, but Kase Skaggs, Jaxon Trotter, and Mason Harris won out in consolation.

Skaggs faced a rematch of his Jenks Tournament placement round in the 106 quarterfinals and easily rolled to a 9-2 decision against Tahlequah’s Jacob Caviness.

He was pinned by top-seeded Braydon Pacheco in the semifinals but upset two-seed Carlos Magallanes 6-5 in consolation and beat Chandler freshman Landon Earp 6-5 in the placement match.

Trotter defeated a pair of State qualifiers at 157 before falling to top-seeded Daniel Long, 4-2 in sudden-victory overtime. In the consolation finals he won a 7-4 upset against Tennessee State placer Wills Bronson.

Harris pinned his first two opponents at heavyweight before falling 4-0 to Kansas State Champion Sebastian Lopez in the semis. In consolation he won a 3-2 decision against Allen, Texas’s Blake Palmer.

David Ritchey placed fourth at 113, Jesse Moore placed fourth at 144, Jayden Pait placed sixth at 132, Matthew Moore placed seventh at 126, Ethan White placed eighth at 165, and Cash Lucas placed eighth at 285.

The junior high team took fourth place at the Perry tournament with three champions.

Jaxon Grigsby won the 98-pound bracket despite losing a 4-0 decision in pool play against Allen, Texas’s Caiden Campbell. He pinned four of his next five opponents, outscoring them 34-4 to set up a rematch with Campbell, which he won on a 2-0 sudden-victory takedown.

Kaden Pope won at 119 pounds with five pins and a tech fall, outscoring his opponents 63-3, including a 3-0 decision against Bristow’s Kale Fruits in the finals.

Isaac Sensintaffar won at 155, pinning three of his six foes, outscoring his foes 52-13 with a 13-8 finals decision over Broken Arrow’s Matthew Mann.

Kasen McAffrey placed third at 140, pinning five of his nine opponents while outscoring them 56-12. His only loss was a semifinals fall against the tournament champion.

Ryley Kester placed third at heavyweight, pinning all seven of his opponents with the exception of undefeated tournament winner Jon Broehl from Broken Arrow, who won a 1-0 semifinal decision.

The Keystone Kids youth wrestling club earned four gold medals at the Oiltown Throwdown in Ponca City.

Hagan Wolfenberger and Mason Londo both won their brackets while Ryker Dawes won two brackets by wrestling up a division.

UFC

Sand Springs native Jimmy Flick suffered a first-round TKO against Charles Johnson in his return to the octagon after a two-year hiatus.

The fight went to the mat late in the first round where it was called in Johnson’s favor after an unrelenting series of hammer fists and elbows to the head.

Flick is now 16-6 in his pro career and 1-1 in the UFC.

Football

Sandite receiver Kyle Morrall has received a college offer from North American University, an NAIA program in Stafford, Texas.

Defensive back RJ Smittick received his first college offer last week from McPherson College, an NAIA program in McPherson, Kansas.

Sakauri Wilson Leads Sandites to 48-47 Win Over Owasso

Sakauri Wilson missed a floater with 14.3 seconds left in the game, but secured the rebound. After a brief timeout she was fouled by Kynlie Wilson and hit the go-ahead free throw to make it 48-47.

She missed the second three throw, but once again secured the rebound - her tenth on the night.

The junior earned her first career double-double with 13 points and helped propel No. 11 Sand Springs (10-4, 3-2) to a gritty conference win over No. 14 Owasso (6-5, 1-4).

All night long the 5’5” point guard came through in clutch moments due to her speed, ferocity, and fearlessness in matchups with players who easily outsized her.

“Our big needed help rebounding so it was my time to come in and help rebound, little or not,” said Wilson.

She also recorded three steals and five assists in a rematch of the Sandites’ 51-49 victory over Owasso in the Bishop Kelley Invitational finals.

“My mind was we can’t lose because if we lose, we’re not hosting (a Regional playoff),” said Wilson. “I really want to host and I want to make it to State with them. So that’s my goal. If I have to put my team on my back, then I’ll do it.”

“Once she understands how good she really is and how she can control the game, I think the sky's the limit for her,” said head coach Josh Berry.

Owasso stormed out to a 17-10 lead after the first quarter at the Ed Dubie Field House, but a trey from Kiaryn Taylor tied it up early in the second. The Sandites closed the half on a 9-1 run to make it 28-27.

Chrinasia Elbert put the Rams back on top to open the half and the Sandites didn’t regain the lead till Hailey Jackson hit a deep two to open the fourth on an inbound throw from Wilson.

The fourth quarter saw three tie scores and five lead changes but ultimately the Sandites held on for their 10th consecutive victory against the Rams. The Sandites are 4-0 in one-score games this season.

“I’ve been noticing we’ve got some resilience to us,” said Berry. “Early on, we didn’t fight like that when we got down. But now we’ve got a little resilience. I think they’re believing that we’ve got a chance to be a really good team.”

Jackson led all scorers with 21 points and is averaging 20.6 per outing this season. Makenna Yokley had 16 to lead Owasso.

The Sandites will return to action Tuesday with a home game against No. 9 Jenks (7-2, 4-1).

Owasso 54, Sand Springs 45 (boys)

Owasso (4-6, 2-3) needed a win. The Rams entered the Ed Dubie Field House unranked after losing four of their last five, and they found it in a 54-45 battle with No. 18 Sand Springs (6-5, 1-4).

“(Eric) Savage does a great job with his guys,” said Owasso coach Brian Montonati.

“We knew it was going to be a tough battle, so we’re extremely happy to get away with a win. We needed one of these.”

Brandon Mann scored the first two buckets of the game en route to a 12-point performance and the Rams never trailed in the first half, though a pair of late treys from Kooper Kelly cut it as close as 22-20.

The Sandites opened the third on a 10-point run, however, and a free throw from Blake Johnson gave the home team the lead at 30-29 with 2:38 in the quarter.

“I think we lost a little bit of focus,” said Montonati. “Sometimes that will happen with a young team.”

“I thought as the game went on we got the shots that we needed to get, we were getting to the free throw line, and we locked up on defense. We made a couple of different coverages on the pick-and-roll and it seemed to help us.”

Owasso rode a 13-point streak from the third into the fourth quarter, though Sand Springs once again got as close as 42-41 on a trey from Alijah Roper.

Freshman star and coach’s son Jalen Montonati kept his team out front, however, with a game-best 23-point performance, including 7 in the fourth quarter.

“It’s a blessing to be able to coach my son, but taking that away, he’s an extremely talented young man,” said Brian Montonati.

“When his shot gets going, it kind of changes the different coverages of our team. It was good to see him bounce back after being sick not playing for about a month, to finally start hitting some shots and playing the way we always thought he could play.”

The Rams will host 5A No. 16 Sapulpa (5-9, 1-4) Tuesday before traveling to the Bill Hanson Tournament in Pittsburg, Kansas over the weekend.

“I love the fight of this team,” said Brian Montonati. “I love the swagger of them.”

“We’ve been in some really big games against some really quality opponents and there hasn't been any fear in their eyes. So as long as we stay together, share the ball, play defense, and stay coachable, I think we could end this thing on a good note.”

Sand Springs 48, Owasso 47 (girls)
Sand Springs;10;18;10;10;--48.
Owasso;17;10;11;9–47.

Sand Springs: Jackson 21, Wilson 13, Morris 5, Taylor 5, Fueshko 2, Martin 2.
Owasso: Yokley 16, Austin 11, Elbert 10, McGarrah 8, Wilson 2.

Owasso 54, Sand Springs 45 (boys)
Owasso;15;12;10;17;--54.
Sand Springs;8;12;12;13;--45.

Owasso: Montonati 23, Mann 12, Williams 7, Lewis 5, McLemore 3, Harbaugh 2, Scott 2.
Sand Springs: Kelly 13, Roper 9, Allen 8, Foster 5, Johnson 5, Holland 3, Hooper 2.