The offense has been clicking. The defense has put forth impressive effort.
Those two areas have led the St. Joseph-Ogden football team to an undefeated start so far and a No. 3 ranking in the Class 3A Illinois Media statewide polls.
The Spartans earned their latest Illini Prairie Conference win last Friday night with a 52-12 home victory against Chillicothe IVC in St. Joseph.
Junior quarterback Lane McKinney continued his impressive start throwing the ball for the Spartans (3-0, 3-0 Illini Prairie) as he completed 6 of 8 passes for 159 yards and one touchdown while he added 42 rushing yards on seven carries and two touchdowns. The same impressive start held true for senior wide receiver Kaden Wedig, who caught three passes for 100 yards and a touchdown.
The Spartans enjoyed a 38-0 halftime lead against the Grey Ghosts (0-3, 0-3) and put a running clock in motion early in the third quarter after recording a safety to go up 40-0.
Aside from the McKinney-Wedig connection paying off against Chillicothe IVC, the Spartans used a balanced approach in the run game.
Sophomore Colt Daugherty rushed for a team-high 99 yards on six carries and one touchdown, while junior Logan Umbarger contributed 64 rushing yards on nine carries and one touchdown. Junior Ryder Van Meenen also rushed for a touchdown to go with his 37 rushing yards on nine carries.
“I liked how we were able to lean on our run game,” SJ-O coach Shawn Skinner said. “Our offensive line did a nice job up front. They were able to get a big push, and then we were able to use Logan, Ryder and Lane to wear them down. We knew we had a significant advantage in our depth, and it just kind of wore on IVC as the game progressed.”
Solid blocking from junior wide receiver Lucas Waters and sophomore wide receiver Logan Wedig also benefitted the Spartans’ rushing attack.
“Lucas and Kaden had some significant effort plays,” Skinner said. “We need to continue to work on that aspect of our run game, but we took steps in the right direction with that.”
Senior Jameson Ennis produced a team-high six tackles, including two for loss, while senior Brayden Waller and junior Keegan Page each made five tackles. Page finished with 3.5 tackles for loss and Waller had 2.5 tackles for loss. Senior Cameron Wagner forced a fumble, and junior Holden Hasule recovered a fumble to help the defensive performance.
“I thought we continued to play with great effort on defense,” Skinner said. “We play hard, and that is a huge part of what we want out of our defense.”
Skinner pointed out the contributions first-year varsity players like Hausle, junior Royce Loschen and sophomore Ike Shelato made against IVC.
“They stood out as guys who played with great effort,” Skinner said. “We still have a ways to go when it comes to our alignment and doing specific jobs in the defense. But as long as we continue to play with that kind of effort, it covers up some of those other mistakes.”
The Spartans will need their best performance of the season on Friday night. A trip to Hicks Field in Tolono and another rivalry game with Unity (2-1, 2-1) awaits. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m., and the Rockets are ranked seventh in the 3A Illinois Media statewide poll. A ranking bolstered by a 27-19 win last Friday night at Bloomington Central Catholic, a 4A state-ranked team at the time.
The win at BCC came after the Rockets sustained their first loss of the season, falling 27-23 to Monticello at home on Aug. 28. Unity opened its season with a 30-8 win at Rantoul on Aug. 21.
“Unity could easily be 3-0,” Skinner said. “They held Monticello and BCC to three offensive scores, and both of those teams have some serious offensive firepower.”
Unity has won its last three games against SJO, including a 51-44 victory at Dick Duval Field last season in a 3A state semifinal game that sent the Rockets to the state championship game and denied SJO a spot in playing in its first state championship game since 2013.
Unity thrived in the run game against BCC, with senior Michael Hardin rushing for 113 yards on 21 carries. Junior Caden Rogers added 60 rushing yards on 13 carries, while senior Keegan Germano (48 rushing yards on seven carries) and junior quarterback Carter Schmid (37 rushing yards on 11 carries) also chipped in.
“Stopping Unity in the run game is a significant part of trying to slow them down,” Skinner said. “I really think they are a very balanced offense, however. Schmid is starting to find his rhythm in passing the ball, and last week against BCC, they opened their playbook up a little more than the first two weeks, and I would anticipate them adding a little more this week.”
Skinner said the play of Unity’s linebackers — Germano, junior Garrison Cleo and sophomore Kale Cowan — is impressive.
“They get to the football so fast,” Skinner said, “and don’t miss tackles.”
The same holds true for Unity senior defensive end Evan Puckett.
“Puckett has just destroyed plays, so we better know where he is because he can create chaos,” Skinner said. “This is easily the best defense we have faced to this point, so it’s going to be hard for us to move the ball, let alone score, based on what they have shown up to now.”
Friday night’s game against Unity will bring its own added intensity due to the long-standing nature of the rivalry. But it’s also the start of an upcoming stretch where the Spartans can find out a lot about what type of team they’ll become this season. SJO hosts Rantoul (0-3, 0-2) at 7 p.m. on Sept. 18 and then plays at Monticello (3-0, 3-0) at 7 p.m. on Sept. 25 before welcoming in BCC (2-1, 2-1) at 7 p.m. on Oct. 2 to Dick Duval Field.
So no matter the outcome of Friday night’s game against Unity, the story of this SJO football season is still being written.
“You learn from every game, or you’d better learn from every game,” Skinner said. “I told our kids that our road gets a lot more narrow now. We have played a third of our schedule, and I like where we are, but we are going to find out a lot more about us in the coming weeks. Teams have film on us, and we will see the areas they are going to attack us defensively and special-teams wise. They will create defenses to take certain things away from our offense. How we respond and handle adversity helps build us for games to come.”
Another key point: SJO started last season with a 3-0 record, only to need a Week 9 home win against Pontiac to finish with a 5-4 record and reach the playoffs.
“We were 3-0 at this time last year, and we found out that maybe we weren’t as good as we thought we were. We will see where we really are soon.”
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