Sandite Sports Weekly Roundup: Jabe Schlehuber Pitches One-Hit Upset of Owasso

The defending 6A State Baseball Champion was toppled Tuesday, March 7th, as Jabe Schlehuber pitched a one-hit shutout against Owasso (4-3, 1-1).

The NOC Enid-signed senior tossed eight strikeouts in seven innings to deal the Rams their first loss of the season while also going 2-of-3 at the plate with a run and two RBIs.

Sand Springs (3-1, 1-1) won the game 8-0 after jumping out to an early 6-0 lead in the bottom of the first thanks to three walks, two errors, Schlehuber’s two-run double, and a two-run single from Brody Rutledge.

Alex Dudley and Jackson Turney added RBI singles in the third and fourth innings to pad the lead.

The victory paid back a 4-0 loss to start district action the night before.

The Sandites departed for their annual Spring Break tournament Saturday night and will compete at the Tate Aggie Classic in Pensacola.

Powerlifting

The Lady Sandite powerlifting team took fifth place at the OGPCA State Championship meet with two placers.

Jaden Jordan finished as runner-up at heavyweight, placing fourth in squat (370) and bench (160), while setting the OGPCA State Meet record in deadlift at 420 pounds.

Madison Thompson took fourth place at 220, finishing third in squat (325) and deadlift (330) and fifth in bench (150).

Golf

The Sand Springs varsity boys took second place in their season opener at the Muskogee Golf Invitational at Muskogee Golf Club behind a third-place performance from Zane Downey.

Downey shot 74, Cole Hight shot 78, Mason Ward scored 80, Cameron Villines scored 83, and Drew Paden scored 90.

Eastyn Eardley led the varsity girls with a 104 at their season opener in Sapulpa, Addison Endicott shot 114 and Kaylee Brenner scored 117.

Wrestling

Mitchell Smith was selected to represent the Large East at 150 pounds in the OCA All-State Duals. Smith went 108-35 in his career as a four-time State qualifier and two-time placer.

Sammy Mendoza Shines in PK Shootout at Muskogee

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Sandite sophomore goalie Sammy Mendoza is making a name for himself as a top penalty kick defender, saving six tries over his first three matches of the season.

After notching three PK saves in an overtime shootout at Muskogee on Tuesday, he saved a regulation penalty kick against Metro Christian Thursday night to earn his first clean sheet in a 2-0 road upset.

“He’s a lockdown keeper when it comes to penalties,” says second-year head coach Brent Lollis. “He has earned his spot for sure.”

The Sandites are now 3-0 in the regular season after going 3-0-1 in preseason scrimmages.

On Tuesday they battled to a 1-1 draw against the Roughers (1-1) with Nathaniel McClaren scoring the lone goal in regulation before going to PKs for the second time.

McClaren, Elias Villanueva, and Nic Roberts found the back of the net for the Sandites while Mendoza recorded three saves for the win.

As a 4A playoff qualifier last season, Metro Christian (1-1) could make a case as the favorite to win Thursday night, but the Patriots were stifled by a stingy back four that only allowed four shots on goal, each of which was saved by Mendoza.

Elgin Hernandez gave his team the lead in the 8th minute, then McClaren scored a header off a corner kick from Zac Ritter with 10:13 left in the first half.

“It’s huge,” said Lollis. “We watched film on them so we knew some things we wanted to try and we got the two goals in the first half. As a coach, you’d like them to come out in the second half and get a couple more, so we’ll work on keeping our foot on the gas, but we’ll take a win.”

The Patriots nearly connected on a shot from Charlie Coffman late in the first half that traveled over Mendoza’s fingers, but it caught the crossbar and ricocheted clear.

They had another opportunity with a penalty kick from Brayden Haveman late in the match but Mendoza’s save preserved the shutout.”

“I don’t think they’ve reached their potential yet,” said Lollis. “I think they would tell you we have more to give. “

Girls

The Lady Sandites suffered their first loss of the year Thursday night after surrendering two goals in the opening minutes to last year’s 4A State Runners-Up.

Sydney Maddox, a Missouri-Kansas City signee, put her team on top just two minutes into the match. Sasha Redman added a second goal soon after and the remaining 75 minutes were scoreless for both teams.

“We started slow,” said head coach Cisco Chavez. “We’ve got to come out faster.”

The Lady Sandites are short several starters, though most are expected to return to action after Spring Break. The exception being last year’s leading scorer, Lainey Stanfill, who will miss the season following an ACL surgery.

“Overall, we held them to two (goals) for 75 minutes so I’m happy with the result. The girls didn’t give up and they fought.”

The Lady Sandites out-shot the Patriots 17 to 9 but most were off-target and Berkely Seefeldt made six saves for the clean sheet.

“We’ve just got to find the back of the net,” said Chavez. “We’ve got to find more goal scorers. But overall, we’re on pace for everything. We’re dominating possession, we’re dominating shots - we’ve just got to find the back of the net.”

“This is a good Metro team and we knew coming into the game that this would be a very physical battle.”

On Tuesday the Sandites won a 4-1 battle at Muskogee (1-1) behind Ava Watts’s second hat trick of the season.

The Roughers took a 1-0 lead off a corner kick early in the match and held the lead till the final minutes of the half when Watts scored her first two goals. Alyssa Cunningham and Watts scored again in the second half.

The Sand Springs girls will return to action Thursday the 23rd when they look to defend their title as the reigning Collinsville tournament champions.

Sandite Soccer Sweeps Tulsa NOAH, Ava Watts Scores Hat Trick

After a promising preseason, the Charles Page High School soccer teams officially launched the 2023 regular season with a pair of wins against Tulsa NOAH Friday night at Memorial Stadium.

The Lady Sandites jumped out to an early lead and never looked back in a 6-2 triumph, while the boys battled to a 1-1 draw in regulation and secured the victory in a 4-2 overtime shootout.

The two teams are coming off very different paths from last season. The girls are looking to live up to and even surpass last year’s historic 12-5 campaign. The boys, meanwhile, are excited to have snapped a 13-match losing streak after going winless last season.

Ava Watts will be looked to as the Lady Sandites’ powerhouse scorer after totaling 16 goals in her sophomore campaign. She opened the season on the right foot with a hat trick against the Jaguars, her second of the week after scoring three goals in Tuesday’s Glenpool scrimmage as well.

“I’m really excited, really happy,” said head coach Cisco Chavez. “Ava’s going to do huge things for our program and the program that she decides to play for in the future. But she’s really standing out this year and picking up the goals.”

Last year’s scoring leader Lainey Stanfill will, unfortunately, miss the season after a recent ACL surgery. The sophomore totalled 23 goals last year but is expected to be sidelined till August.

“I’m a little nervous right now; we picked up some more injuries,” said Chavez. “We definitely got hit by the injury bug this preseason.”

“We’re trying to get others some more minutes, trying to figure out formations and things like that, and we have a few people missing the next few games. It’s going to be challenging this year with all the injuries that we have, but we’re still excited.”

The Lady Sandites out-shot NOAH 19 to 10 and dominated the first half with a 2-0 lead on Watts’s first two goals.

The Jaguar offense came alive in the second half but the Sandites had plenty of answers.

Watts made it a hat trick in the 47th minute before Yophiyyah Fish connected on a free kick to make it 3-1. Just 33 seconds later, Avery Miller broke loose a quick score in transition.

Alyssa Cunningham put her team up 5-1 just 20 seconds later and Lauren Foster scored the Sandites’ final goal in the 52nd minute. NOAH’s Kinzie Doss had the final point but the teams went scoreless for the final 21 minutes.

The boys’ match was a defensive battle as the Sandites recorded 13 shots on goal, but Jaguar goalie Elijah Hafer made 12 saves.

“Super proud of these guys,” said head coach Brent Lollis. “They did endure a lot last season and they’ve worked really hard in the offseason and preseason.”

“This is essentially the same team. We had some seniors, but a lot of the guys that were on the field tonight are the ones that went through those experiences last year. They’ve all worked their tails off and every single one of them is better and they’re kind of getting the reward for a year and a half of hard work.”

The Sandites went undefeated in the preseason with three wins and one draw, beating Glenpool 3-0 on Tuesday. Brian Boyles, Elgin Hernandez, and Dawson Puckett scored one goal apiece in the final scrimmage.

Boyles had the lone goal against NOAH just five minutes into the match before Fisher Self tied it up two minutes into the second half.

“(Boyles) is our leading scorer so far this season and I think he also probably leads with assists,” said Lollis.

“He’s a key player, he’s a great player. He’s got a lot of soccer ahead of him. That was a great strike for that goal. He had some adversity last year and we didn’t have him all year. He’s been one of the leaders on the team and it’s great to have him back.”

After a scoreless 38 minutes to end regulation, the Sandites prevailed on a pair of overtime saves from Sammy Mendoza and successful penalty kicks from Nic Roberts, Zac Ritter, Nathaniel McClaren, and Boyles.

NOAH had answers for the Sandites’ first two kicks and saved Elias Villanueva’s try, putting the pressure on Mendoza. The sophomore came through to keep the score at 2-2, then put his team on top with another save after McClaren’s successful shot. Boyles secured the match to pay back last year’s 4-2 loss.

“With this team, the secret is going to be staying healthy and staying hungry. If they do that, the sky’s the limit for them.”

Both teams will return to action Tuesday at Muskogee before traveling to Metro Christian on Thursday.

Sandite Weekly Sports Roundup: Basketball Sweeps Roughers, Athletes Sign LOIs

Sandite basketball swept the Muskogee Roughers Friday night with the varsity boys winning 72-65 while the girls won 63-41.

The 6A-East No. 6 Lady Sandites (12-5, 5-3) never trailed against No. 14 Muskogee. It was still a close game at 39-31 entering the fourth but the Sandites steamrolled the Roughers 24-10 in the final stanza.

Hailey Jackson scored 24 points to lead all scorers, Taiona “Yanni” Morris added 13, Sakauri Wilson had 9, and three different Sandites scored 5 apiece.

“We’re starting to play better as a unit,” said head coach Josh Berry. “We have more people stepping up.”

Sand Springs will have to cover six games over the final two weeks after meetings with Bartlesville and Booker T. Washington were postponed due to weather. This is the second time the Washington game has been rescheduled.

“This is our second game in 17 days,” said Berry. “It’s a bit different from when we start the season out with eight games in like 14 days.”

“We’re rested and we’re ready to go. It’s nothing that we can control so we just try to get better.”

The No. 11 Sandite boys (9-8, 2-6) snapped a five-game conference skid and got back above .500 overall with a win over the No. 15 Roughers (3-13, 0-9).

The Sandites led 34-27 at halftime but a seven-point run put the Roughers up 45-44 entering the final stanza.

Jamarian Ficklin tied it for the final time at 52-52 but Kooper Kelly hit a pair of free throws and layed up on a steal to put his team ahead for the final three minutes of the game.

Kelly tied his career-high with 20 points to lead all scorers while Luke Hooper also had a career night with 15 points.

“Any conference win, especially on the road, is a good feeling,” said head coach Eric Savage.

“In the past we’ve kind of lost our composure. A couple of times this wear we gave up the lead and never got it back. We showed some growth tonight and were able to weather the storm and get back in control late in the fourth quarter.”

Sand Springs will travel to Bixby on Tuesday and Bartlesville on Thursday before hosting Sapulpa Friday night.

Signing Day

School may have been canceled, but the festivities couldn’t be stopped Wednesday morning at the Ed Dubie Field House. Sand Springs celebrated 10 student-athletes who signed letters of intent to continue their careers at the collegiate level.

Many of the players will get to enjoy Sand Springs connections on their new rosters.

Kyle Morrall, Jacob Blevins, and Drake Fain signed with Northwestern Oklahoma State University to play Division II football. There they will be reunited with former Sandite assistant coach Jason Medrano, who recently took over as Offensive Coordinator for the Rangers.

Brody Rutledge signed to play Division II football at Northeastern State University. There he will join former Sand Springs teammates Gabe Brown, Landon Hendricks, and Blake Jones.

Dominic Ornelas and Jabe Schlehuber signed to play junior college baseball together at Northern Oklahoma College in Enid.

Carson Sargent signed to play Division II soccer at Rogers State University, where she will join former teammates Ali Day and Karsen Lynch.

Payton Robbins signed to play NAIA volleyball at Friends University in Kansas, where she’ll be reunited with Sandites Tehya Johnson, Charley Fahland, and Kasidy Holland.

Madori Bland signed with the stunt team at Drury University, a Division II program in Missouri.

Coleman Hight signed to play NAIA golf at Southwestern College in Kansas.

Baseball

Freshman quarterback Easton Webb has been getting lots of attention as a football prospect, but on Friday he announced his commitment to Oklahoma State University as a baseball player before ever playing a varsity minute.

Sand Springs will kick off the preseason with a home scrimmage against Sapulpa on the 16th at 4:30 p.m.

Girls Powerlifting

The Sand Springs girls powerlifting team took second place at the All-American Lift-a-thon in Shawnee Saturday with two champions. The Sandites had 137 team points, just behind Choctaw with 141.

Madison Thompson won the 220 weight class, sweeping all three events. She benched 140, squatted 285, and deadlifted 295.

Jaden Jordan won at heavyweight, taking first in squat at 335 pounds, first in deadlift at 375, and third in bench at 155.

Melani Skelly placed third, Gracie Worthington placed fourth, and Bailey Doughty and Kiyah Dover placed fifth.

Sandite Sports Weekly Roundup: Kelsi Hilton wins Diamond State Tournament

The Sand Springs girls varsity wrestling team took 25th place at the Inola tournament over the weekend with two medalists. Kelsi Hilton took second place at 130 pounds with three pins while Kreedence Behnke placed sixth at 100.

The junior varsity boys placed 10th at Inola with two medalists. Ayreson Reiss scored two pins and a technical fall in a runner-up performance at 106. Preston Callis was runner-up at 165 with four pins.

Hilton took first place at the Diamond State Lady Invitational over winter break, pinning three opponents for her first regular season title.

Laila Mirza and Madison Chambers placed third, Gracie Young was fourth, and Addilly Shotwell and Kreedence Behnke were sixth in Springdale.

The Keystone Kids crowned seven champions and 10 runners-up at the Bedlam Battle in Stillwater.

Brackton Upton, Maddix Spencer, Bryson Pope, Kasen McAffrey, and Trey Tunnell all won their divisions while Kydon Harness won in two divisions.

Jett Galloway, Na’Kya Canady, Caemon Young, Ryker Dawes, Jayce Parks, Eric Foust, Hudson Waag, Carsten Reiss, Wes Wilson, and Samuel Moore all took second place.

Boys Basketball

The Sand Springs varsity boys (6-3) have already matched last season’s win total with a third-place performance at the East Central Classic in Ada over the weekend.

On Thursday the Sandites won 51-42 against Ardmore (4-7) behind a 13-point performance from Michael Foster and 11 points from Blake Johnson.

They slipped against host Ada (8-3) on Friday, however, in a close 46-43 battle after leading 26-18 at halftime and 34-29 to start the fourth. Kooper Kelly scored 11 to lead the Sandites.

In the placement round Kelly was once against the team leader with 11 points in a 53-45 win over 3A No. 8 Hugo (10-4). Kelly was named to the All-Tournament team.

Girls Basketball

Hailey Jackson became the second player under Josh Berry to join the 1,000 point club at Sand Springs as the Lady Sandites (8-4) placed sixth at the Putnam City Invitational.

The senior star scored 28 in a 50-46 loss to No. 17 Norman North (6-5) on Thursday and added 17 in a 49-34 win over Muskogee (2-6).

In Saturday’s placement match with 4A No. 7 Harding Prep (12-2) Jackson scored 25 and put herself over the 1,000 mark with a third-quarter free throw. The Sandites lost that game 57-47.

Sakauri Wilson scored 13 and Kiaryn Taylor added 12 in the win over Muskogee, and Wilson added 17 against Harding.

Sandite basketball will return to action with conference road games at Union on Tuesday and will host Owasso on Thursday.

Football

Several Sandite football players are receiving college offers. Jacob Blevins, Kyle Morrall, and Ryley Kester have all been recruited by Northwestern Oklahoma State University.

Former Sandite offensive line coach Jason Medrano has been hired as the offensive coordinator and offensive line coach at NWOSU.

Lady Sandites win Bishop Kelley Invitational, Jackson named MVP

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The Sand Springs girls basketball team didn’t start the year the way it would have liked to, but, since a road loss at Sapulpa, the Sandites have won seven in a row and look poised for another successful season.

Hailey Jackson averaged 22.3 points per game and earned MVP honors over the weekend as the Sandites (7-1) swept the Bishop Kelley Invitational for the fifth time in their last six visits.

In the finals matchup against Owasso (2-2) Jackson scored 20 points and was complemented by 20 from Sakauri Wilson, who also received All-Tournament accolades.

“I don’t think they’ve both really even scratched the surface,” said head coach Josh Berry. “I think we’ve got a couple other ones that have the potential to be just as good and big as they are.”

“It’s going to take more games and a little bit more confidence and I think everybody will see a couple of these other ones end up stepping up in some of those roles.”

With only nine players on the varsity roster, everybody saw solid playing time at the tournament. Taiona Morris was out sick and Kiaryn Taylor missed the Thursday game against Bishop Kelley (1-4).

Patience Pearce and Abigaile Martin scored career highs of 6 and 7 points respectively, against the Comets. Jackson led all scorers with 22 and Wilson added 12.

The Sandites stormed out to a commanding 35-17 halftime lead before the Comets battled back and cut it as close as 44-39 late in the fourth. The Sandites held on to win their tenth straight against their former conference foes, 51-44.

In the semifinals the Sandites won 45-43 against Mustang (3-3) behind a 25-point effort from Jackson.

Sand Springs led by as much as 10 points after the first quarter but Mustang took a 31-28 advantage into the fourth and didn’t relinquish the lead till a seven-point run late in the game.

Tied at 43-43 with five seconds left, Taylor scored the go-ahead bucket on an inbound throw from Walker.

The finals game saw only seven lead changes and the Sandites led for all of the fourth quarter save for a brief tie at 41-41, but neither team ever led by more than six.

Martin hit a big three-pointer to go up 48-44 on an inbound throw from Wilson late in the fourth.

“(Martin) is one of them that ain’t practiced all week (due to sickness) and she’s been just gutting it out so I’m proud of her for that,” said Berry. “She made a big shot at the end and she played pretty big for us today.”

Wilson sank a pair of crucial free throws with 30 seconds left to go up 50-46 but Alex McGarrah hit a three to make it a one-point game.

Wilson added one more free throw in the final seconds but Makenna Yokley’s last-ditch three-pointer was short and the Sandites escaped with the win.

“I’m just proud of the girls,” said Berry. “They fought.”

“We had contributions from different players at different times. That’s what it’s going to take for us, along with big contributions from Hailey and from Sakauri. We really missed (Taiona Morris) this weekend. Once we can get her back, we just hope the others can continue getting better like they did with her out.”

Earlier in the week the Sandites notched their first conference win, 56-46 against Muskogee (1-3) behind a 23-point effort from Wilson and 14 points from Jackson.

The varsity boys also got their first win of the year against the Roughers (2-2) on Tuesday, 38-30, led by Michael Foster with 11 points and 7 rebounds.

Patience Pearce scored 11 points in a 37-35 JV girls win, while Blake Johnson scored 12 in a 33-31 JV boys loss.

Sand Springs will host Bixby on Tuesday and the boys will compete in the Memorial Invitational festival over the weekend.