Lady Sandites Defeat Jenks on Senior Night, Place Second at Cleveland Tournament

The Charles Page High School girls wrestling team (4-1) rolled to a 54-24 victory against Jenks (0-1) Tuesday on Senior Night at the Ed Dubie Field House.

The two teams split 4-4 in matches that were actually wrestled, but the Sandites had the deeper roster and picked up five forfeits.

“The fact that we finally have a full girls dual lineup here at Sand Springs, it’s just been thanks to all these coaches helping to get these girls out,” said head girls assistant coach Trent Cleveland, who left the head coach position at Glenpool to lead the Lady Sandites this year.

“We’ve still got girls that are taking interest in it. This is year two, we started with four girls last year and the girls are just taking off with it.”

Bailey Copeland, Ambrielle Chambers, and Caryss Upton all received forfeits to start the dual 18-0 and the home team never trailed.

Addi Thompson pinned Trinity Owens at 115 to get the Trojans on the board and the teams double forfeited 120.

Gracie Gifford easily handled Brook Albyn at 125, taking an 8-3 lead into the the third period before pinning her in 5:14, then Zoe Butler and Audree Robinson received forfeits.

Kelsi Hilton clinched the dual at 140, taking a 9-1 lead against Mazzy Conley in the second period, reversing for a pin at 3:52 to go up 42-6.

Maddi Wilke pinned Kayla Arnold at 145 but Tessa Urrey responded with a pin of Nevaeh Maldonado with 13 seconds left in the match.

Jenks’s Mariah Jones pinned Kadence Grant at 170 and Elaine Kenny received an injury forfeit from Addily Shotwell in the first period, but Emily Ambriz capped the dual off by pinning Nylah Blackwell in 1:06 at heavyweight.

The victory is the latest sign that the girls wrestling program at Sand Springs is the real deal as the girls have put together a remarkable record in their first-ever dual season.

“We’ll be seeing these girls later down the road at Regionals,” said Cleveland. “Picking up a win over Sapulpa and now Jenks, we’re definitely making headway in 6A and trying to make some noise.”

The girls also took second place out of 30 teams at the Joe Cole Classic in Cleveland this past weekend, finishing only 13 points behind champion Bentonville West.

Hilton took first place at 140 pounds while Chambers, Laila Mirza, and Urrey finished as runners-up.

Hilton (16-2) pinned Bristow’s Abigail Jones in 1:17, Cleveland’s Zoe Zucca in 3:36, and Bentonville’s Samantha Graciano in 1:19.

Chambers (8-3) pinned her first two opponents at 105 before falling to Warner’s Rachel Torres in the finals.

Mirza (15-4) recorded two first-period falls at 120 and a 6-0 decision over Mannford’s Roseline Baker before falling to Bristow State qualifier Zoey Freeman in the finals.

Urrey (7-8) pinned her first two foes at 155 before falling to Henrietta’s Lily Haywood in the finals.

Shotwell placed fourth at 190 and Grant was fifth at 170.

Next up for the Lady Sandites will be a trip to Springdale, Arkansas for the Diamond State Lady Invitational on December 29th.

Ty Pennington to Transfer to Northern Arizona University

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Ty Pennington didn’t take long to announce his next college destination. Ten days after entering the transfer portal, the redshirt freshman has indicated he will be heading to Northern Arizona University.

Pennington, a 2022 Charles Page High School alum, posted photos in an NAU uniform Monday alongside fellow former Pitt State player Kolbe Katsis. It appears to be more than just a visit, as he captioned the post “Coming soon 🪓,” while Katsis posted on his X account that he was “100% committed” to NAU.

Pennington was 46-of-69 passing this season for 447 yards, six touchdowns, and only one interception at Pittsburg State University, an NCAA Division II program in Kansas.

He was also fourth on the team in rushing yardage with 76 carries for 359 yards and four touchdowns.

While technically the backup quarterback, Pennington frequently saw early-game action due to his dual threat capabilities.

The Gorillas went 11-2 on the season, winning the MIAA before falling 24-21 to No. 2 Grand Valley State in the second round of the playoffs.

Following the end of the season, head coach Brian Wright departed Pitt State to become head coach at NAU, an NCAA Division I program competing in the Football Championship Series (FCS).

Wright replaces Chris Ball, who was fired after going 20-30 over five seasons. The Lumberjacks went 5-6 this season to tie for fourth in the Big Sky Conference.

Pennington was an All-State selection and a four-year starter at Sand Springs, where he holds most of the school passing records. He threw for 6,455 yards and 54 touchdowns in his prep career and picked Pitt State over a preferred walk-on offer from Oklahoma State.

Decade of Dominance: Sandites Continue Highway 97 Win Streak

Sapulpa took an early lead in its Thursday night dual against Sand Springs, but a major decision from Jaxon Grigsby kicked off an eight-match win streak and the visiting Sandites picked up their eighth consecutive victory over their Highway 97 rivals.

“It’s always a good day when we can beat our rivals,” said head coach Ty Bowling.

The No. 9 Sandites (4-0) trailed 16-0 through the first four matches but rallied to a 49-20 victory in a rivalry win streak dating back to 2013 against 5A No. 14 Sapulpa (0-2).

“It’s good that we didn’t get down,” said Bowling. “We got the momentum back in our favor so that’s always good to see. It’s easy to get down and stay down but those guys behind them - they picked each other up.”

Sapulpa benefitted from a forfeit at 106 pounds, a weight class that’s been vacant all season for Sand Springs, though Bowling says they’re working on getting somebody in there soon.

Then Ayreson Reiss (3-1) suffered his first loss of the season in an 11-7 decision to Jack Madden.

The Chieftains then hit their strongest weights where returning State qualifiers Cavin Pepper and Jackson Willingham earned 12-0 and 3-2 decisions over Caden Rodriguez (0-2) and Hunter Spencer (0-2), respectively.

Finally, Jaxon Grigsby (8-3) broke the Chieftains’ run with a 10-2 major decision over Jackson Mills at 132 pounds, collecting a trio of nearfall points in the third period to earn the bonus point.

Kasen McAffrey (2-0), Preston Reyna (9-2), and Isaac Sensintaffar (6-2) collected forfeits at 138, 150, and 157, while Jesse Moore (4-0) won a 5-3 decision over Alexander Henderson at 144.

Brody Ensten (7-3) picked up the first fall of the night, pinning Nicholas Dobbs in 3:25, then Jaxon Trotter (10-2) pinned Ryan Peterson in 2:46 to clinch the dual for the Sandites.

“We knew coming in if we had the dual locked we were going to go one direction, and if we needed a couple wins we were going to go another direction in the lineup,” said Bowling. “So it was big that we were able to lock it up after 175.”

Peyton Callis (10-2) pinned Sequoyah Hall in 48 seconds before Micco Jones finally snapped the Chieftains’ losing streak with an 8-0 major decision against Ali McCoy (5-5).

Heavyweight Mason Harris (10-1) capped off the night with a pin of Isaiah McCall-Watashe in 1:16.

The Sandites are now 4-0 in duals and will be favored Tuesday when they host Jenks (1-0) in the 2023 finale. Sand Springs was also supposed to travel to a tournament in New Orleans this weekend but cancelled that trip to focus on getting healthy.

“We started with two duals then we wrestled at Mid-America which has some of the toughest teams around the country,” said Bowling.

“We had teams from Washington and Utah and Texas, and of course all of the Oklahoma teams are always tough. Wrestling ten matches over a three-day period, then turn around and Claremore and Sapulpa are always tough, so a lot of hard matches back-to-back-to-back.”

The Sandites were missing several of their top wrestlers against Sapulpa, including Zander Grigsby (9-0), Matthew Moore (7-4), Jayden Pait (6-0), and Kase Skaggs (9-1), but none of their injuries are serious.

"They’ll be back soon,” said Bowling. “It’s more precautionary, just making sure that we have them for the long term.”

KiAryn Taylor Commits to Ranger College Following Season-Ending ACL Tear

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Charles Page High School senior KiAryn Taylor announced on X Friday that her basketball season is indeed over and that she is committing to Ranger College next year.

The 5’10” senior went off for a career-best 23 points, 8 rebounds, and 6 steals in a December 7th tournament victory over Edison Prep, but she went down in pain the following day during a semifinal game against Bishop Kelley and had to be carried off the court.

“With a true heavy heart, I am sharing that I will be missing the rest of my senior season due to two tears in my knee,” tweeted Taylor. A Monday MRI confirmed both an ACL tear and a tear in her meniscus.

“Thank you to everyone who has shown love and support. Most importantly, thank you to my coaches and teammates. This one hit home and it hurts like crazy but I can’t wait to support my teammates as they accomplish all of our goals the rest of this season.”

“I wouldn’t call this a setback. I know my future is bright and right now God is just preparing me for that journey.”

Taylor averaged 8.6 points, 6 rebounds, and 1.4 steals during the Sandites’ 4-1 start on the season and ended her career with 226 points.

“With missing the rest of the season, I am blessed to say that I will be committing to Ranger College,” tweeted Taylor, who also had offers from Cleveland Community College, Western Texas College, and Lincoln Trail College.

“I want to thank my mom for being my number one supporter through it all. I want to give a huge thanks to all the college coaches that gave me an opportunity to play for their program. Most importantly I want to thank my high school coaches and my teammates.”

“I wouldn’t have made it where I am today if it weren’t for the man above, God. I am so thankful for Coach Morefield for believing in me and giving me a chance to play for me. I am excited about playing at the next level and I’m very grateful. I know my future is bright and now it’s time to prove it.”

Ranger College is an NJCAA program in Ranger, Texas. The Rangers are 3-10 in the current season under first-year head coach Mark Morefield and went 14-17 last season.

Sand Springs (5-2) will return to action after the new year at the Putnam City Invitational.

Oklahoma 6A Week 3 Basketball Rankings

Girls

1. Edmond North (5-0)

2. Putnam City West (5-0)

3. Putnam City North (6-1)

4. Owasso (6-1)

5. Edmond Memorial (4-1)

6. Choctaw (6-0) +2

7. Sand Springs (5-2)

8. Bixby (3-1) -2

9. Broken Arrow (3-3)

10. Edmond Santa Fe (4-4)

11. Norman (4-3)

12. Norman North (4-3)

13. Yukon (5-3)

14. Mustang (5-3)

15. Jenks (5-2) NR

Boys

1. Edmond North (5-0)

2. Owasso (6-1) +1

3. Edmond Deer Creek (6-2) -1

4. Piedmont (7-1) +1

5. Choctaw (5-1) +1

6. Broken Arrow (5-1) -2

7. Bixby (5-2)

8. Union (5-1) +1

9. Edmond Santa Fe (7-1) +1

10. Putnam City West (4-4) -2

11. Moore (4-4) +1

12. Edmond Memorial (5-3) +1

13. Mustang (5-3) +1

14. Norman North (4-4) +1

15. Norman (5-3) -4

Deke Thompson Has Career Night as Sandites Throttle KIPP 104-36

A career-night from Deke Thompson III was just the icing on the cake of the Sandites’ 104-36 beatdown of KIPP (1-10) in the final round of the Veterans Arena Invitational Saturday night at Tulsa Memorial.

The junior standout went off for 28 points, 11 rebounds, 4 steals, and 2 assists to help Sand Springs (4-3) to the highest-scoring game and largest margin of victory in the Eric Savage era.

“My mindset every game is to go kill, go get a win,” said Thompson. My teammates did a really good job of finding me when I was open and when I had a hot hand, they did a really good job of coming back to me, so I’m thankful for them.”

The Sandites never trailed, jumping out to a 21-2 lead behind four first-quarter treys from Thompson. They led 29-9 after the first quarter and 51-15 at halftime.

”We played great defense together tonight,” said Thompson. “Savage made it known that we needed to guard up from the start, because the first few games we came in a little lackadaisical.”

The Sandites trailed Crossover Prep 26-22 on Friday before rebounding to a 98-47 win. But on Saturday they piled onto the Bulldogs hard and fast and never let off the gas.

Sand Springs had several impressive runs on the night, with double-digit scoring streaks of 18, 12, 11, 14, and 11 while smothering the Bulldogs defensively with 15 takeaways.

“I feel like whenever we want to play defense, we’re a really good, defensively sound team,” said Thompson. “We walked into that game (yesterday) knowing we were going to blow them out and it almost messed with us.”

Thompson hit his double-double just a minute and 25 seconds into the second half and didn’t play at all in the fourth quarter.

All 15 Sandites saw action and 14 made their way into the scorebook. Kason Evans had a career-high 17 points and 7 rebounds off the bench, followed by Khalil Allen with 10 points and 7 boards.

“We all got hot,” said Thompson. “It was fun. Our goal was to come in and go 3-0 in this tournament.”

Sand Springs is now on a four-game win streak following an 0-3 start to the season.

“We’re not even close to our full potential yet,” said Thompson. “Blake (Johnson) going down obviously hurt us to start. It slowed us down a little bit. We’re working to get our guys out of foul trouble. As we start the winter practices and finishing this season, I think we’ll get to rolling even better than we are now.”

The Sandites went undefeated for the sixth time in the festival’s eight-year history and for the second year in a row.

“I enjoy this tournament for a number of reasons,” said Savage, who coached at Memorial for 12 seasons before coming to Sand Springs.

“One, getting to come back and be around some familiar places and people and a lot of friends, but it also provides an early season opportunity to play a lot of guys in your roster.”

“Those first three games of the season, we only went seven or eight deep really. It’s just important to these guys to get some varsity action in a good atmosphere. It’s not every year we come over here and get three wins and this year we were able to.”

Sand Springs will return to action after the new year at the East Central Class in Ada. KIPP will play at the Idabel Winter Classic after Christmas.

CPHS 104 KIPP 36

1Q: CPHS 29-9.
2Q: CPHS 22-6.
3Q: CPHS 30-7.
4Q: CPHS 23-14.
Free Throws: CPHS 9-of-14, KIPP 7-of-17.
Field Goals: CPHS 43-of-79, KIPP 12-of-46.
Offensive Rebounds: CPHS 24, KIPP 5.
Defensive Rebounds: CPHS 28, KIPP 13.
Total Rebounds: CPHS 52, KIPP 18.
Steals: CPHS 15, KIPP 4.
Blocks: CPHS 2, KIPP 3.
Fouls: CPHS 16, KIPP 12.

Sand Springs Statistics

Points: Thompson 28, Evans 17, Allen 10, Kelly 9, Johnson 8, Fueshko 7, Roper 6, Betchan 4, Young 4, Collins 3, Shope 2, K. Smith 2, T. Smith 2, Ketcher 2.
Offensive Rebounds: Thompson 5, Evans 4, Allen 4, Johnson 3, Roper 1, Kelly 1, Mitchell 1, Shope 1, Fueshko 1, K. Smith 1, Ketcher 1, Collins 1.
Defensive Rebounds: Thompson 6, Allen 3, Evans 3, Shope 3, Kelly 2, Fueshko 2, Ketcher 2, Young 2, Johnson 1, Mitchell 1, K. Smith 1, T. Smith 1, Collins 1.
Total Rebounds: Thompson 11, Allen 7, Evans 7, Johnson 4, Shope 4, Fueshko 3, Kelly 3, Ketcher 3, Collins 2, Young 2, Mitchell 2, K. Smith 2, T. Smith 1, Roper 1.

KIPP Statistics

Points: Jones 14, Reynolds 8, Wallace 4, Ellis 4, Becknell 2, Payne 2, Taylor 2.
Fouls: Parker 4, Wallace 4, Taylor 3, Payne 1.