Lady Sandite Soccer season comes to an end at Deer Creek

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By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

The Charles Page High School Girls' Soccer Team (9-6) traveled to Edmond Thursday night for their season finale against Deer Creek High School (11-3) and fell 5-2 to cap a disappointing end to a season that started with lots of promise. 

The girls started the year with a bang, racking up a 3-1-1 record in preseason scrimmages, including winning the Stillwater preseason tournament. In the season-opener at East Central they dominated their opponents with a 10-0 mercy rule shutout in only 23 minutes. Over the course of the season they racked up six shutouts and a championship trophy at the Edison Green and White Tournament.

The girls' six-straight win streak came to an end with a 6-0 loss to Union, who is currently ranked number one in the nation with a 30-game win streak. They rebounded with a dominating 9-1 performance against Putnam City North, which saw Megan DeShazo score six goals. From there, however, they lost the final four of the season and failed to make the playoffs.

Things started out fairly close as Deer Creek held a 3-1 lead after the first half, with the lone Sandite goal coming from Kyndal Zicker.

DeShazo narrowed the gap to 3-2 on a penalty kick exactly four minutes into the second half, but Megan Neilson returned the favor seven minutes later for the two-point advantage. 

Oral Roberts University-signee Taylor Reed added to the lead on a high-sailing free kick from 27 yards out that sailed just over Sandite goalie Abigail Banks's head into the top right corner with 21 minutes to play.

With a 5-2 lead and 17 minutes left, the Lady Antlers pulled their starting lineup and sent in the second string. That evened things out quite a bit, but even the youngsters from an annual powerhouse like Deer Creek are above average players and the two teams were evenly matched for the duration and regulation expired before either team could score again. 

With the bulk of the ladies' wins coming against non-district foes, the girls settled for sixth in the district and failed to make the playoffs. Despite the heavy losses at the end of the season, the girls still outscored their opponents by an impressive 46-26 overall this season.

DeShazo led her team in scoring with 13 goals, followed by Zicker with 12, Kayla Foster with 10, Brooklyn Eardley with 9, and Kylie Taylor with 2.

Foster, who is signed to play with Missouri University of Science and Technology next season, led for much of the season, scoring two hat tricks in the first four games, but was sidelined for half a dozen games after sustaining an injury against Bixby. 

DeShazo, a junior, opened the season with a hat trick against East Central, and had the highest single-game performance for the girls with her six goals against Putnam North. 

The girls will be losing McKinzie Horton, Marissa Doll, Bryn Lewis, Taylor Coyle, Ashley Marino, and Alexis Slabby plus four players who are signed to play at the collegiate level. Eardley is headed to ORU, Kylee Cramer is headed to Oklahoma Baptist University, and Madison Dye will be playing for Northeastern State University. 

This season's soccer gallery can be found at https://sanditepride.smugmug.com/2016-Soccer

Lady Sandite Soccer deal Booker T first loss of the season for third straight win

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Story by: Virgil Noah, Marketing Director
Photo by: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

The Charles Page and Booker T Washington girls soccer teams both entered the district opener with records well over .500 for the year. The Lady Hornets carried an undefeated record of 4-0 with them into Memorial Stadium to face the Lady Sandites who boasted a record of 4-1 on the season. The lone Sand Springs loss came at the hands of Metro Christian Academy by a score of 1-0, but Bobby Behrens's girls have gotten back on track beating Enid 5-0 and Bixby 2-1. 

Sand Springs took a major hit offensively coming in, as Senior captain and leading goal scorer Kayla Foster was unable to play due to injury. Foster has scored 7 goals in the first 5 games, including a pair of hat tricks. 

The Lady Hornets made a strong run at goal in the opening minute as Freshman forward Lauren Cousins played a ball in to fellow freshman midfielder McKenna Raley who took a shot that went just wide to the right of the goal. That would prove to be the only shot of the half for Booker T. as the two teams would simply trade possession for the remainder of the half. The Lady Sandites managed one shot midway through the opening 40 minutes, and it came on a Brooklyn Eardley free kick that sailed well over the top of the goal. 

Both teams seemed to really pick up the pace in the second half as they traded shots for the first 20 minutes with Sandite keeper Abigail Banks making a key stop on a shot by Cousins. Sand Springs finally found pay dirt in the 64th minute when Eardley collected a loose ball on the left sideline, cut past her defender towards goal, took a couple of touches and stroked a shot inside post past the keeper. Kyndal Zicker got in on the fun as the junior contributed with her 5th goal of the season coming in the 76th minute.  The Lady Hornets refused to give up though, as Cousins and the offense continued to press forward and get off shots, but Banks and the Sandite back line stood strong and completed the shutout. It was Banks's fourth clean sheet of the year and the girls's third straight victory. 

The victory moves the Sandite girls to 5-1 (1-0) and the Lady Hornets fall to 4-1 (0-1). Sand Springs will play this weekend, April 1-2 at the Edison tournament.

Sandite of the Week: Rhett Rutledge

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By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

This week Sandite Pride recognizes Charles Page High School senior Rhett Rutledge as Sandite of the Week for his outstanding performance at the Bixby Tournament this past weekend. 

Rutledge averaged .267 batting, .467 slugging, with a .368 OBP, and made his season pitching debut with a Championship round victory over the host team. 

The Sandites (12-3) won their fifth straight in the tournament opener 8-5 against Hilldale (6-9). Rutledge landed the first hit of the game with a triple and came in on the next play with a sacrifice fly from Jake Ward for the first run. He was walked on his next plate appearance and scored once more on a Hunter Greathouse double. He reached first on an error in the bottom of the sixth and scored his third run of the game on a Greathouse single. 

Their sixth straight victory was a come-from-behind extra-inning win over Union. Rutledge landed one hit in the top of the fifth and stole second on a passed ball, but was left stranded. The Sandites won that one 7-6 in eight innings. 

He failed to land a hit in the next two games (a 4-1 loss to Bixby and an 8-0 run-rule shut out of Life Prep Academy), but batted .667 in the finale and won the game on the mound. He struck out one in the first and gave up an unearned double. He grounded out on a sacrifice to score Jake Terry for a 4-0 lead in the top of the second. 

He scooped a grounder to put out a batter at first in the bottom of the second and struck out another for a no-hitter. He sacrificed again to score Treyce Tolbert in the top of the third, but gave up a run in the bottom of the inning. 

He pitched a no-hitter in the fifth, striking out one and putting out another at first on a grounder. He hit a leadoff line drive single in the top of the sixth and was batted in by Josh Taber. By the bottom of the sixth the Spartans were pushing hard for a rally and loaded the bases. Rutledge gave up one single, two runs, one earned run, and two walks before being relieved by Brock Youngblood. The Sandites went on to win the game 10-6 for the tournament championship.

Sandite soccer shuts out Muskogee but drops losses to Metro Christian

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By: Virgil Noah, Marketing Director and Sports Journalist

Photo by: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

Bobby Behrens's Lady Sandites stormed into Tuesday night's matchup with Metro Christian (3-1) having shut out their last two opponents by a combined score of 15-0. The Lady Patriots would prove to be too much for the Lady Sandites, winning by a final score of 1-0. 

Offensively the girls made a multitude of well timed runs and executed some well-placed passes, but could never quite make it to the ball before Metro junior goalkeeper Olivia Gordan snatched up the ball. The two teams took the game into the second half scoreless as both Gordan and Abigail Banks, Sandite sophomore goalie, made some impressive saves. 

Gordan would continue to stop everything that came her way in the second half. 14 minutes in Brooklyn Eardley passed to Kayla Foster in the box who then dribbled to the left and took a shot towards back post, but Gordan was all over it. After a couple of shots went just wide for the Lady Patriots, Freshman forward Chloe Tregoning took a pass up the right line, cut inwards, and scored a goal just past the diving arms of Banks.

Sand Springs, who defeated East Central 10-0 and Muskogee 5-0 in a very physical game the week prior, was held scoreless for just the second time all season. The loss puts them at 2-1 for the year. 

The Sand Springs boys came in on a high note, after notching their first victory of the season in a shutout of Muskogee 4-0. Metro Christian Academy (3-0) got off to a very quick start scoring in 1:08 as Sandite keeper Edgar Soberano came out of goal in pursuit of a pop up. Soberano lost track of the ball and Patriot Junior midfielder Nick Mckee was able to tap in an easy goal to get things going. The leading scorer however was Senior Riley Mayes who scored on a pair on goals later in the half, one of which was assisted by fellow forward Tyler LaCourse. The final goal for the visiting Patriots came off of a free kick by LaCourse in which there was a cluster of players blocking Soberano's vision allowing the ball to squeak by unseen. 

Soberano and the Sandite back line were able to keep Metro off the board in the second half, but were unable to net a goal. The loss will drop them to 1-2 for the season. Both Sand Springs squads will look to get back into the win column as they play Enid at home on Friday. 

Lady Sandite Soccer starts season hot with 10-0 mercy rule shutout

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By: Virgil Noah, Marketing Director

Tuesday night’s game was over practically as soon as it began. The Charles Page High School Lady Sandite soccer team (1-0) got off to a racing start against East Central (0-1) as Missouri University of Science signee Kayla Foster scored a pair of goals before a minute had even run off of the clock. Eight more Sandite shots would find the back of the net and the game was stopped less than 23 minutes in due to a 10 goal mercy rule.

The girls also won the Stillwater scrimmage tournament in the preseason, beating Ponca City 2-1, Stillwater 3-0, and Mannford 3-0.

Leading the way in scoring for the Sandites were Foster and junior Megan DeShazo each picking up hat tricks at three goals apiece. Oral Roberts University signee Brooklyn Eardley and Kyndal Zicker each scored two goals to round out the scoring. Passing played a big part in the win, with 7-out-of-10 goals coming off of assists. Zicker, DeShazo, and Eardley assisted on 2 goals each and Gracen Taylor came up with the final assist.

Defensively the Lady Sandites painted a picture of perfection by holding the Lady Cardinals not only without a shot attempt, but without a trip inside the box for the entirety of the 23 minutes played.

The Sandite boys (0-1) faced a much tougher task and came up a bit short, falling 3-1 to the Cardinals (1-0). The first half saw little action for the initial 25 minutes, but East Central started to turn up the heat with 4 narrow misses on the Sand Springs goal. It was the Sandites however that struck first blood. With just 51 seconds remaining in the first half a shot deflected off the Cardinal keeper and slowly bounced in for a 1-0 halftime advantage. East Central would ultimately get on track scoring 3 second half goals in a matter of 3 and a half minutes to secure the victory.

Next up for Sand Springs is a road trip to Muskogee, Varsity Girls will begin at 6 pm and Varsity Boys at 8.

Sandite All-Stars: Your leaders in offense

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By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

It's been a tremendous season for the Sandites. While they're technically 5-4, on the field they're 7-2, not even including the Guthrie game that we were leading 18-7 when it was called off due to lightning. Two of our losses come from forfeitures (due to an ineligible player) that were actually wins of 61-8 and 33-7. So while the books say otherwise--we all know that realistically Sand Springs is 8-2, which (were it official) would make it our best record since 1997.

Not to mention we beat Booker T in total yardage of 232-217 and we're the only team to score first on them all season. We're also one of only two teams to lead them at any point all season. We also dealt Bixby their first shut out in seven years.

So who are the incredible players that have made all this impossible?

The following stats include both forfeitures and the Guthrie game. Whether officially recognized or not, they did happen.

Passing

The leader in passing is first-year starting junior quarterback Hunter Greathouse who has completed 71 of 140 for 1271 yards and 13 touchdowns, averaging 9 yards per pass attempt and 18 per completion. His season long is 70 yards against Guthrie, but has connected for huge throws in every game he's been in, including 63-yarders against Booker T and Bixby, and a 60 against Claremore. His best game this season was against Sapulpa when he threw 10-18-0-204 for 3 touchdowns. He is currently third in 6A-II.

  • Multi-purpose junior Kasey Bales also has a 37 yard pass against Enid and is 1 for 2 this season.
  • Freshman QB Caden Pennington connected on 1 of 2 passes at Hale for 8 yards. 
  • Senior holder Jacob Taber has had to throw a couple of passes this season due to bad snaps and is 1 of 2 for 5 yards.

Receiving

Senior Trace Fleischman is the go-to-guy on receptions with 26 catches for 593 yards and 4 touchdowns. His longest reception of the season was 70 yards against Guthrie. He is the #4 receiver in class 6A-II.

Kasey Bales is the only Sandite with both passing and receiving yards this season. He has 17 catches for 265 yards and 3 touchdowns. His longest reception of the season was 63 yards against Bixby.

Sand Springs has several other talented receivers.

  • Lane Lettich 10-165 and 2 touchdowns, long 44.
  • Ty Fain 7-107 and 1 touchdown, long 37.
  • Payton Scott 2-74 and 1 touchdown, long 59.
  • Josh Taber 4-50 and 1 touchdown (on his first play of the season), long 27.
  • Jake Ward 4-34, long 13.
  • Dalton Honneycut 2-26, long 13.

Rushing

Senior Lane Lettich is the clear leader on the ground for Sand Springs. He currently has 172 carries for 813 yards, averaging 4.73. He has 13 touchdowns and a long of 29 yards against Muskogee. His best game of the season was against Sapulpa where he carried 23 times for 133 yards and two touchdowns, though he had three touchdowns against Hale as well as Claremore. Lettich is #7 in 6A-II at rushing.

Trailing Lettich is sophomore Payton Scott who will likely be the starting tailback next season. He sits at 93 carries for 705 yards and 7 touchdowns with a long of 45 against Ponca City. He averages 7.58 yards-per-carry and his season-best was a breakthrough 17-200 and 2 touchdowns against Ponca. Scott is #9 in 6A-II at rushing. 

Lawton is the only other team with two players in the top-10 for rushing yards. 

Other Sandites with rushing yards are

  • Trace Fleischman 16-86, long 31.
  • Ben Norte 14-79, long 36.
  • Hunter Greathouse 50-25 and 2 touchdowns, long 23.
  • Tony Chinchilla 2-21 and 1 touchdown, long 11.
  • Kasey Bales 3-9, long 16.
  • Jaxon Starling 1-1.

#3 Sand Springs (5-4, 5-2) will enter the playoffs for the fourth-consecutive season tonight at #8 Stillwater (5-5, 3-3) and is the favorite to win. Sand Springs's offense averages 3.5 touchdowns per game.