Before the St. Joseph-Ogden football team traveled to Benton for a Class 3A first-round playoff
game this past Saturday, Spartans coach Shawn Skinner offered up some foresight.
“Once you’re in,” Skinner said, “you’ve got a chance.”
That chance presented itself to SJO after the Spartans beat Pontiac 56-21 on Oct. 24 at Dick
Duval Field in St. Joseph. The win gave SJO a 5-4 record, good enough to earn the program its
35th all-time playoff appearance and sixth consecutive berth.
But it also made the Spartans an underdog throughout its playoff stay. No matter how long it
lasts.
The underdog role seems to fit SJO well this year. Because the 14th-seeded Spartans stunned
third-seeded and previously unbeaten Benton with a 17-14 road victory.
“Proud of our kids,” Skinner said. “They prepared so well. Our record is what it is, and we
understand that’s our doing. But the postseason means we are all 0-0, and we get a shot to
play. That’s really what it’s about.”
The Spartans (6-4) never trailed against Benton (9-1), but needed some late-game heroics to
deliver the unlikely win. Mainly from the right foot of senior Lucas Smith.
Smith drilled a 43-yard field goal as time expired to stun the Rangers and advance SJO into the
second round of the playoffs. The Spartans will have another lengthy bus ride this Saturday,
playing at No. 11 Roxana (7-3) at 2 p.m. But a bus ride not many outside the Spartans’ roster
thought would happen.
Back to Smith’s defining moment of the season so far, though. With the score tied at 14 late in
the fourth quarter, a 17-yard kickoff return by sophomore Lane McKinney set the Spartans up at
their own 30-yard line.
“I told our guys we need 35 yards to get a legitimate field-goal chance, and I was serious,”
Skinner said. “Lucas has that range, and I would have been very comfortable with attempting
that.”
After a 1-yard loss on a swing pass from SJO senior quarterback Kodey McKinney to senior
running back Wyatt Wertz, Kodey McKinney found junior wide receiver Kaden Wedig on an 18-
yard completion before the SJO quarterback scrambled for a 9-yard run to get into Benton
territory.
“Back-to-back big plays by Kodey,” Skinner said, “and he was very calm in the moment.”
He stayed calm, too, when he found Wedig on a completion to set up SJO at the Benton 26-yard
line with a fresh set of downs.
“We knew we were in range,” Skinner said, “and we just ran clock to make sure it was the last
play.”
Smith had missed a 32-yard field-goal attempt earlier in the game, with SJO ahead 14-0 in the
third quarter. Benton rallied for two touchdowns in the fourth quarter to set up the tense ending.
An ending made unforgettable by SJO when Smith delivered.
“From his freshman year, he’s been very good,” Skinner said. “He had a very bad knee injury
prior to his junior year, and he worked extremely hard to get healthy. I know it was hard for him,
but he’s been as solid as you could want this year. He takes pride in his kickoffs, and he’s a
great teammate. I told him after he missed the first kick in the third quarter not to blink because
we would need him to win it at the end. There was never a doubt in my mind to go to him again.”
Special teams play is emphasized often with the SJO program, and the win against Benton is a
perfect reason why.
Having enough offense and a stout defensive effort made the game-winning field goal by Smith
possible.
“We talk about playing complementary football and having all three phases help each other,”
Skinner said. “Saturday was probably the biggest example. Our kids understand it, and it’s great
that their focus and attention to that part of the game was rewarded.”
Kodey McKinney finished 17 of 23 for 194 passing yards and one touchdown while also
throwing one interception. He also rushed for 36 yards on 17 carries.
Wedig was his main target, hauling in 10 receptions for 169 yards and a touchdown. Senior Tim Blackburn-Kelley chipped in offensively, too, with three catches for 27 yards, while Wertz rushed for 36 yards on 12 carries and one touchdown against a Benton team that had only allowed 59 points all season before the first-round game.
But SJO’s defense shut out the Rangers through the first three quarters as the Spartans held a
team to just two touchdowns for the first time since a 35-12 win against Paxton-Buckley-Loda on
Sept. 5. SJO had allowed an average of 27.9 points during the regular season, while Benton
came into the game averaging 46.4 points.
Kodey McKinney had a team-high eight tackles while senior Logan Rosenthal and sophomore
Logan Umbarger each compiled seven tackles. Senior Jonathon Moore also contributed with
two tackles for loss and junior Jameson Ennis recovered a fumble.
“We had a great game plan,” Skinner said. “Our coaches really had them scouted well, and we
had a great week of preparation. I thought our team speed and tackling was as good as it could
be during the game. We limited them to only six plays of more than 10 yards, and we wanted to
get five stops. We got seven, and we needed all seven obviously.”
Now, the focus for SJO turns to Roxana. The Shells won 55-26 at West Frankfort last Saturday
in the first round and feature a strong run game. The two programs have only met once before in
the playoffs, but it was a classic second-round game in 2023 with Roxana edging the Spartans
48-47.
“Roxana seems to always have multiple huge guys up front, and this year is no exception,”
Skinner said. “Defensively, they are just creating chaos, flying around and making tackles all
over. It will be hard to move the ball as they play so many different fronts and coverages, plus
they show so many different blitzes. Offensively, they have multiple ball carriers who can score
from anywhere, and if that isn’t enough, their tight end is 6-foot-4 and a matchup nightmare in
the middle of the field. We have our work cut out for us again.”
But the fact the Spartans are spending this week prepping for the trip south to play Roxana is
immense. After a three-game losing streak in the regular season forced SJO to beat Pontiac in
Week 9 just to get into the playoffs, whatever the Spartans can accomplish in November is
validation for the tradition-rich program. So far, so good.
“It’s a great feeling to be back into the postseason,” Skinner said, “and it’s not something we
ever take for granted.”
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