BIXBY RUSH PAST SAND SPRINGS 35-19

BIXBY – Nic Roller is gone, but the Bixby Spartans have another big horse in their backfield and they’re starting to use him the same way. Tucker Pawley carried 35 times for 230 yards and four touchdowns Friday, pacing the Spartans to a 35-19 win over Sand Springs and locking up second place in District 6AII-2 before about 7,000 spectators at Spartan Stadium. Roller made a habit of carrying 35 or 40 times a game in leading the Spartans to back-to-back 6A Division II championship the past two years. Has Pawley ever carried that many times a game? “Gosh, I’m sure sure I ever have,” the 6-foot, 191-pound junior said. He was right, but just barely. He carried for a previous career high of 34 times last week, rushing for 198 yards and helping lead the Spartans to a 28-0 win at Booker T. Washington. Friday’s game was his ninth straight with 100 or more rushing yards. Bixby coach Loren Montgomery said it’s good knowing the Spartans can put a saddle on Pawley and ride him when they need to, although they still have another few potent weapons in their arsenal. Tanner Griffin completed 26-of-34 passes for 261 yards in his final regular-season home appearance, and has 8,781 career passing yards over four seasons. Nic Swanson caught 11 passes for 106 yards and now totals 83 catches for 1,122 yards and 17 TDs in his senior year. Eric Calton-Watkins, a junior receiver, also made a huge play by sneaking past Sand Springs’ secondary in the first quarter to haul in a 51-yard pass from Griffin, carrying to the Sandites’ 1-yard line. Pawley scored on the next play and scored again from 12 yards out to cap an 89-yard drive on the Spartans’ next possession. Bixby led 14-0, but could never quite pull away from the Sandites, who got big plays from Hunter Greathouse, Payton Scott and Kasey Bales to keep it close until Pawley’s fourth TD from 5 yards out put the game out of reach in the fourth quarter. Bixby (7-3) won its fifth straight game and tied Muskogee for the 6AII-2 top spot, but received the second seed by virtue of its 45-42 loss at Muskogee on Sept. 30. The Spartans will host Putnam West for a first-round playoff game next week. Sand Springs (6-4) finished fourth by virtue of its loss at B.T. Washington two weeks ago and will open the playoffs at Midwest City for the second time in three years. The Sandites upset the Bombers in a 2014 first-round game. Greathouse passed for 192 yards, including a 40-yard TD pass in the second quarter that narrowed Bixby’s lead to 14-7. But Bixby sophomore Clayton Barbour followed with a 94-yard kickoff return and the lead was 21-7. Sand Springs answered on a 34-yard run by Scott, who totaled 121 yards on 26 carries, but Brendon Evers blocked the extra point to make it 21-13. Bixby drove to make it 28-13 on Pawley’s 11-yard run in the third quarter, but the Sandites, Greathouse and Bales weren’t done. Greathouse unloaded another deep pass to Bales for 42 yards, and Sand Springs was threatening again. But the Spartans stopped them on four plays from the 5. Griffin’s only mistake of the game followed from deep in Spartans’ territory. Tyler Delozier intercepted Griffin’s third-down pass and returned to the 3. Greathouse cashed the score this time with a keeper from the 2. But the Spartans responded with a 65-yard drive and let their big horse carry for the score that put the game out of reach.

BIXBY RUSH PAST SAND SPRINGS 35-19

Photo Credit: Mike Brown