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.

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.

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.

Sandite Football Season Ends in 20-17 Semifinal Loss to Deer Creek

This story was originally written for the Tulsa World.

It goes without saying that one team’s victory is inevitably another team’s heartbreak, especially when it comes to the playoffs. Sand Springs has taken some losses this season, but none hurt quite like the Sandites’ 20-17 semifinal battle with No. 4 Edmond Deer Creek (10-2)

“It’s alright if it hurts,” Charles Page High School head coach Bobby Klinck told his team after the game. “I’m feeling it too. It’s okay to feel upset, it’s okay to hurt, that means you gave it all you had. There’s a lot of things that’ll hurt a lot more than this, and you’ll look back and think that this was a hell of a ride.”

“You guys gave everything. This team is the foundation of what we’re fixing to do around here. You set the standard for what we’re doing here.”

Just two seasons removed from a 2-8 campaign, this group of Sandites has advanced in the playoffs each of the last two years, and their 8-4 mark this season is the best Sandite record since 2014. 

But it wasn’t enough to advance to the State Finals for the first time since 2015.

The Sandites rallied from a 13-3 halftime deficit and led 17-13 late in the third quarter, but key mistakes caught up with them and Deer Creek survived the momentum swing to score on an 11-yard touchdown pass from Brett Pense to Berkley Dalton with 1:54 remaining.

“Our guys, they give relentless effort every play,” said Antlers head coach Wade Standley. “Those guys continue to fight, continue to go. We survived the momentum swing and we found a way to win at the end. I’m so proud of these young men.”

It was quite the momentum swing.

Sandite quarterback Ty Pennington scored on a 1-yard push to open the half, then Gabe Brown strip sacked Pense deep in Sandite territory to set up a nine-play 85-yard drive where Pennington scored again on a two-yard run.

The Sandites forced a punt, then Jacob Blevins picked off a deflected Pense pass to set up a short field march.

Then the wheels came off the wagon.

At third and goal from the four-yard line, a bad snap pushed the Sandites back to the 17, and Jonathan Daniels’ field goal was blocked. 

Deer Creek scored the go-ahead touchdown on the ensuing drive, and the Sandites’ last-hope possession was derailed by two more bad snaps and Brittain Brewer sacked Pennington for a turnover on downs to seal the victory.

“It’s disappointing that we couldn’t finish,” said Klinck. “Hats off to Deer Creek man, that’s a heck of a football team. I wish we could have found a way to get it done at the end there.”

Uncharacteristic penalties by the Sandites led to much of the Antlers’ first-half success, as the Sandites gave up five first downs on 75 penalty yards. They also struggled to finish offensively, despite out-gaining the Antlers in yardage.

Daniels’ 20-yard field goal was their only score of the first half. Meanwhile the Antlers scored on a 5-yard run by Pense and field goals of 39 and 35 yards by Grayson Miller. 

The storied career of Pennington ended with a 21-of-36 passing performance with 280 yards, as well as 57 yards on the ground. Pennington re-wrote the record books for the Sandites throughout his three-year career as the starter. 

“He’s an unbelievable football player and he’s going to be sorely missed,” said Klinck. “I’m going to miss just seeing him in the facility, more than all the great plays that he made. And that goes for all these seniors. They’ve done such an unbelievable job. I’m just upset that we couldn’t get it done for them.”

“There’s so many guys that I’m going to remember. The first time I got here, I just asked them to trust me and to buy into what we’re selling, and they’ve done an unbelievable job. They’ve set a foundation here. People didn’t think a lot of this team going into the season, except us. We’re just a score away from making the State finals. So, unbelievable job by those seniors and everybody else.”

CPHS Football Preview: Sandites vs. Deer Creek, Friday at Yukon

The Sandites have only played once at Miller Stadium, and defeated Yukon 26-21 in 2017.

The No. 3 ranked Sand Springs football team is back in the Class 6A-II playoff semifinals for the first time since 2016, and this time it’s a rematch of last year’s first-round playoff game against No. 4 Edmond Deer Creek.

The game will utilize the GoFan Electronic Ticket process, with tickets priced at $8.35. Cash admission will be $10 per person. School-aged children and above will need to purchase a ticket but children ages three and younger are admitted free of charge.

The game will be played at 7:00 p.m. at Miller Stadium at 1777 S. Yukon Pkwy, Yukon, OK 73099. Miller Stadium has a capacity of 6,112. Deer Creek will be the home team, and Sand Springs fans will sit on the visitor side. Sand Springs is planning a tailgate beginning at 5:30 p.m.

There is no livestream planned for the game, so fans should watch out for fake scam pages on social media.

The winner of the game will play the winner of No. 1 Bixby (11-0) vs. No. 2 Stillwater (9-2).

Sand Springs

The Sandites are in their second year under Head Coach Bobby Klinck, who holds an all-time coaching record of 28-20. While Sand Springs was a perennial playoff contender from 2012 to 2017, they hit a rough patch of three losing seasons before Klinck’s arrival spurred them from 2-8 in 2019 to 7-5 last year.

In the season opener they beat archrival Sapulpa 53-26, then they easily handled Bishop Kelley 34-13. Against defending Arkansas 4A State Champion Shiloh Christian they had to come from behind in a 40-33 shootout. In district action they won 30-13 against Ponca City and 48-34 against Muskogee before falling 37-32 to Booker T. Washington, 58-14 to Bixby and 41-28 to Choctaw.

The Sandites snapped the losing streak 41-20 at Bartlesville after jumping out to a 41-0 lead before sending in the backups. They then rolled Putnam City West 44-7, once again getting a first-team shutout before allowing the Patriots on the board in the final minutes. In the first round of the playoffs they upset the District One Champions from Del City 21-17 on the road.

“We have unbelievable players, unbelievable coaches,” said Klinck after Friday’s game. “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.”

Sand Springs holds one gold ball, a 2A title in 1966, and last appeared in the state finals in 2015. Their last semifinal appearance was 2016, and they are 2-6 in the semifinals all-time.

Players to Watch

Ty Pennington (Sr. QB) is 170-265-2544-4 passing with 27 touchdowns, and is 134-467 rushing with ten TDs. He holds the school records in career passing yardage at 5,935, career passing touchdowns at 52, single season passing touchdowns, single season passing yardage, and career total touchdowns at 77.

Blake Jones (Sr. RB) is 149-918 rushing with eleven touchdowns an 7-56 receiving.

Brody Rutledge (Jr. WR) is 4-11-58-1 passing with two touchdowns and 39-658 receiving with six TDs.

Keaton Campbell (Sr. WR) is 45-678 receiving with nine touchdowns and averages 18.6 yards per kick return.

Jacob Blevins (Jr. WR) is 56-833 receiving with eight TDs, 9-43 rushing with one TD, and averages 16 yards per kick return.

Ryan Shoemaker (Sr. TE) is 22-291 receiving with five TDs.

Jabe Schlehuber averages 31.5 yards per kick return with a school record-setting 99-yard TD.

Landon Hendricks (Sr. DE) has 58 tackles, 19 for loss, 7.5 sacks, 6 pass breakups, 2 fumble recoveries, 3 forced fumbles, a safety, and 2 blocked kicks.

Brooks Dudley (Sr. LB) has 93 tackles, 6 for loss, 1.5 sacks, and 1 pass breakup.

Gabe Brown (Sr. LB) has 65 tackles, 11 for loss, 5 sacks, 1 pass breakup, 1 forced fumble, and a 75-yard scoop and score.

Conner Light (Sr. LB) has 71 tackles, 5.5 for loss, 3 sacks, 3 pass breakups, and 2 forced fumbles.

Drake Fain (Jr. LB) has 105 tackles, 6 for loss, 1 sack, 3 pass breakups, three fumble recoveries, an interception, and a 13-yard scoop and score.

Ryder Barnes (Sr. CB) has 63 tackles, 0.5 for loss, three interceptions, 9 pass breakups, and 1 fumble recovery.

Edmond Deer Creek

The Antlers (9-2) are in their fifth season under head coach Wade Standley, who holds a 26-25 record with the Antlers and is 67-51 in his career. He also went 11-10 at Ada and 30-16 at Norman North.

Deer Creek currently holds its first winning record since a 9-4 mark in 2015. They dropped to 2-8 in 2016 and went 4-6, 4-6, 5-5, and 4-6 over Standley’s first four seasons.

This year they won 35-7 at Edmond North, 44-0 against Southmoore, and 35-14 at Yukon before dropping a 35-28 overtime battle against Stillwater to start district play. They then won 38-13 at Putnam North, 70-0 against Northwest Classen, and 23-6 at Midwest City before falling 35-28 to Del City in overtime. They are currently on yet another three-game win streak, 67-20 at Lawton, 65-7 against U.S. Grant, and 36-29 with a road upset against Choctaw.

The upset of No. 2 Choctaw gave the Antlers their first-ever playoff win at the 6A level. Deer Creek last made it to the State semifinals in 2001, and won their only championship in 2000 at the 3A level. The Antlers are 1-2 in the semifinals, all-time.

Players to Watch

Brett Pense (Sr. QB) is 149-250-2061-2 passing with 27 TDs and 57-190 rushing with 6 TDs.

Deontaye Wilson (Jr. RB / CB) is 178-930 rushing with 10 TDs and 12-131 receiving with a TD.

Michael Holley (Sr. WR) is 28-415 receiving with 6 TDs.

Berkley Dalton (Jr. WR) is 27-367 receiving with 5 TDs.

Jevion Jones (Sr. WR / OLB) is 17-299 receiving with 4 TDs.

Gavin Smith (Sr. WR / FS) is 16-284 with 5 TDs and 3-7 rushing with a TD.

Jacob Sexton (Sr. OT) is a four-star Oklahoma commit standing at 6’5”, 285 pounds.

The Series

The two teams have met only once before, and it was in last year’s first-round playoff. The Antlers didn’t qualify for the postseason outright last year, but due to the high number of COVID-related game cancelations, the OSSAA added a play-in round for anyone who wanted to compete.

Sand Springs was short 27 players due to contract tracing, but they still prevailed 34-29 to advance to the quarterfinals at Stillwater.

Sand Springs jumped out to a 13-0 lead in the first quarter and led by as much as 20-3 before the Antlers surged back. Pennington was 14-of-24 passing for 171 yards and a TD, and ran 26 times for 163 yards and two more TDs. Jacob Blevins caught five passes for 104 yards a TD, while Blake Jones was 10-73 rushing with a TD.

Deer Creek quarterback Brett Pense was 18-of-36 for 293 yards and two TDs, but the backfield was held to 29 yards on the ground.

Bishop Kelley Volleyball wins 36th consecutive Regional Championship

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

It’s hard to stop a freight train, and it’s hard to stop Bishop Kelley from reaching the State Tournament. The Class 6A No. 1 Comets (28-5) streaked their way to a 36th consecutive Regional Championship Tuesday night at the Eusebius S. Beltran Activities Center.

Moving up from 5A in 2020 has done little to slow down the powerhouse volleyball program, which won its 19th gold ball last year and appears to be on a collision course for another State Finals appearance.

The Comets swept past Ponca City (5-13) and Booker T. Washington (15-21) in straight sets, winning 25-4, 25-10, and 25-7 against the Wildcats, and 25-15, 25-11, and 25-14 against the Hornets. 

“We’re really proud to get to play Booker T.,” said head coach Jerri Berna. “They’re a fine team and we really enjoyed competing with them and the way they pushed us to have to overcome. We couldn’t be more excited to go to State.”

Bishop Kelley was led offensively by sophomore star Curry Kendall, who racked up 12 kills and two aces against the Hornets, with seven kills in the first set alone. 

“Curry is absolutely one of the best outside hitters in the state,” said Berna. “We’re really proud of the work that she does and the balls she puts away, but I know she would also give a big shoutout to her team.”

There was no shortage of offensive firepower from the team. Brooke Goen scored nine kills, and Madeline Barton added six. Kate Schneeberg recorded 30 assists, while Milee Jackson and Jessica Shildt led the team on defense. 

“This is probably the most parity there’s ever been in 6A,” said Berna. “We’re really proud of the way we played tonight. We’re really quite honored to be part of such a legacy of 36 years in a row and we’re just going to do the best we can to keep working up until the State Tournament, see what the draw looks like and give it our best shot.”

Joining the Comets at State will be Edmond Santa Fe, Jenks, Edmond Deer Creek, Norman North, Edmond Memorial, Broken Arrow, and Owasso.

The Hornets defeated No. 16 Sand Springs (14-20) in straight sets to reach the finals, with sets of 25-12, 25-18, and 26-24. Taryn McIntosh scored eight kills, Makenzie Johns had seven kills, and Sydney Thompson scored six. Brenna Weaver and Bridget Johnson recorded 11 kills apiece.

Leading the Sandites was Kasidy Holland with seven kills, Teyha Johnson with 18 assists, and Charley Fahland with 15 digs.