SPRINGDALE -- Bobby Klinck never flinched when his Sand Springs (Okla.) Page squad faced the biggest play of the game. And his team delivered.
With a 40-33 lead with just over two minutes left against Shiloh Christian, Page was backed up to its own 30 facing fourth down and three yards to go. Klinck could have punted and let his defense decide the outcome. Instead, he put the game in hands of his senior quarterback Ty Pennington.
Pennington, who fired five touchdown passes on the night, fought his way through a mass of bodies and by the scantest of margins, picked up a first down by inches. The Sandites were able to run out the clock from there to secure a big win against Shiloh Christian on Friday in Champions Stadium.
"There was definitely doubts," said Klinck of the fourth-down gamble, "but you look in the kids' eyes and it's like, 'man, I'm going to ride or die with these guys.' So I just decided 'hey, let's go for the win and go get it.'"
Page (2-0) rallied from 14-0 and 21-7 deficits to win narrow games against the Saints for the second straight year. The Sandites were the only team to defeat Shiloh Christian last season in a one-point game.
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"Ty made a great play," said Shiloh Christian Coach Jeff Conaway. "He came out of a tackle and got the extra yardage he needed to convert and move the chains there. If he had not done that, it would have been a big play for us, but it turned out to be a really big one for them."
Shiloh Christian (2-1) came out firing, scoring touchdowns on its first two possessions, then adding a third score after a big defensive play. The Saints drove 62 yards in 9 plays on their opening drive as quarterback Eli Wisdom was 3-of-5 and scored on a 2-yard keeper.
After forcing a Page punt, the Saints moved 56 yards in just four plays including an 18-yard Ben Baker run, and a 28-yard pass from Wisdom to Bodie Neal that set up Wisdom's 10-yard scoring pass to Baker and a 14-0 lead.
Page was able to respond to close within 14-7 on a reverse pass from Brody Rutledge to Jacob Blevins for 23 yards.
The Sandites were able to stop Shiloh Christian on the ensuing drive, but Dax Widger came up with an interception on a tipped pass and returned it to the Page 10, setting up a Wisdom pass to Cooper Hutchinson and a 21-7 lead.
Sand Springs was able to shake that off and rallied to take a 26-21 lead at halftime as Pennington hit Rutledge on a 33-yard strike, then found Keaton Campbell on a 49-yarder. Late in the second quarter Pennington had his team in the end zone again, hitting Ryan Shoemaker on a short screen for the score.
"We watched film and we knew they were going to come out with stuff we had not seen," said Klinck. "We just had to weather the storm. We've been down big before. Just a great job by our kids."
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Page opened the second half with a scoring drive to go up 32-21 when Pennington flipped a 20-yard scoring pass to Campbell, who went up over a Shiloh Christian defender in the end zone and high-pointed the ball for the score.
But the celebration was short-lived as the Saints also showed resiliency. Wisdom connected with Hutchinson on the game's biggest play, a 77-yarder where Hutchinson caught a pass near midfield and simply out-ran the Page secondary to the end zone.
The Saints added another score after they stopped Pennington on fourth down and drove 71 yards. Wisdom hit Neal for 33 yards and Bo Williams, who replaced an injured Baker in the second half, ripped off a 21-yard run. On fourth and 10 from the Page 15, Wisdom hit Kaden Henley on a throwback screen on fourth down and Henley powered his way into the end zone to give Shiloh Christian back the lead at 33-32.
The advantage did not last long. The Sandites answered with Pennington finding Shoemaker again, this time on a 34-yard score. Pennington hit Shoemaker for the two-point conversion and a 40-33 lead.
Shiloh Christian had a chance late after they again stopped Pennington on fourth-and-short inside the Saints' 10. Wisdom ran 19 yards on first down and the Saints moved to the Page 45 before back-to-back penalties killed their momentum.
"These guys are fighters," said Conaway, whose team opens 4A-1 Conference play next week against Berryville. "They've been in big games. They know how to act. We didn't make enough plays to win, but I was very proud of the way that we played and the effort that we gave. There are some things that we have to clean up and that's on us."