The St. Joseph-Ogden football team already had earned an outright Illini Prairie Conference title by the time the Spartans kicked off last Friday night’s game against Tinley Park Andrew.
But the possibility of an undefeated regular season was still there. Still is, too, after the Spartans cruised to a 62-33 nonconference home win against the Thunderbolts at Dick Duval Field in St. Joseph.
SJO (8-0) led Andrew, a Class 7A program, 14-13 at the end of the first quarter before ramping up its offensive production in the second quarter to take a 42-19 lead into halftime.
Both sides of the ball performed well for the Spartans against the Thunderbolts (2-6) coming out of halftime, with SJO taking a 62-19 lead into the fourth quarter and setting off a running clock.
The Spartans fared well offensively despite not having two starters in senior wide receiver Kaden Wedig and senior offensive lineman Willis Canamore, who were sidelined with injuries.
“It isn’t a small thing to lose two starters of that caliber, but we’ve really demonstrated a next man up mentality,” SJO coach Shawn Skinner said. “That’s a credit to the job those guys have done in both practices and in junior varsity games to stay ready.”
SJO junior quarterback Lane McKinney continued his superb season in the win against Andrew.
He completed all 10 of his passes for 196 yards and four touchdowns while rushing for 125 yards on 14 carries and one touchdown. Junior running back Logan Umbarger complemented McKinney by rushing for 94 yards on 13 carries and two touchdowns, but those two weren’t the only ones who helped the Spartans rushed for 390 yards on the night.
Sophomore Logan Wedig (four carries for 66 yards), junior Ryder Van Meenen (six carries for 54 yards, one TD) and sophomore Jasper Snyder (eight carries for 48 yards) all contributed significantly on the ground.
Logan Wedig and Van Meenen stood out when McKinney dropped back to pass, with Wedig making six catches for 90 yards and two touchdowns and Van Meenen hauling in three catches for 76 yards and a touchdown. Sophomore Brock Franzen also joined in on the offensive fun with a 30-yard touchdown catch.
Defensively, seniors Brayden Waller and Tyler Wright led the way as Waller made a team-high nine tackles, while Wright finished with eight tackles. Sophomore Ike Shelato also chipped in with an interception and six tackles, with Umbarger and senior Cameron Wagner also making six tackles apiece.
“Defensively, I really liked how we handled a team coming out and scoring the first two series,”Skinner said. “I thought our coaches did a great job of figuring out adjustments and our players never panicked or lost focus. They trusted the adjustments, and then got after it and started to turn the ball over and get stops. That was a big reason why we wanted to play that team, and it
was a great resource for November games.”
SJO will have at least two games still in October, starting Friday night at Pontiac in the regular-
season finale. Pontiac (3-5, 3-4 Illini Prairie) has improved this season and nearly won at Bloomington Central Catholic last Friday night before the Saints made a field goal as time expired to win 31-28. Pontiac, coached by Unity graduate Zach Gadbury, has wins against Paxton-Buckley-Loda, Chillicothe IVC and Rantoul this season. All four of its Illini Prairie losses
have been close, with the Indians losing 20-16 at Prairie Central, 20-8 at home against Unity, 19-12 at home against Monticello and last Friday night’s defeat at BCC. Pontiac has relied heavily on junior running back wigwag Reed (887 rushing yards on 138 carries, eight TDs) and junior quarterback Corbin Dyck (54 of 84, 722 passing yards, five TDs) to make Pontiac more
competitive this season than in prior years. Senior wide receivers Amazin King (27 catches for 397 yards, four TDs), Evinn Tracy (16 catches for 347 yards, one TD) and Cesar Gutierrez (21 catches for 280 yards, three TDs) are the main options when Pontiac throws the ball.
“Pontiac has kids tho are buying into what Coach Gadbury is doing, and they have some really solid athletes,” Skinner said. “They play hard and are competing every single play. Sometimes, we can make this sport more complicated than it needs to be. If you get a group of athletes to buy in and play hard, it’s amazing what you can do in this sport. Coach Gadbury is a good coach. He is scheming up plays to get the ball into the hands of his running back and wide receivers, and those kids are doing good things.”
Once Friday night’s game at Pontiac ends, the Spartans will turn their attention to the IHSA playoff pairings that will be released starting at 9 p.m. on Saturday.
SJO, which will be in Class 3A, assured of a bye in the expanded 48-team playoff field this season. That means the Spartans won’t play their first playoff game until either Oct. 30 or Oct. 31 against a team that will play next weekend in an opening round game. The top 16 seeds in 3A will receive a bye into the first round.
“We get straight to work as a coaching staff once the seeds are known,” Skinner said. “It’ll be a bit different this year because we won’t have to gameplan for a week, but we will begin to gather film and scouting reports on our potential teams.”
While the Spartans won’t know until after next weekend’s opening round games are complete who they will face in their postseason opener this year, the feeling of playoff football is one Skinner doesn’t take for granted. Even as SJO gets ready for its eighth consecutive playoff appearance and 36th in program history.
“This is the reward for the regular season,” Skinner said. “Getting a ticket into the playoffs is a significant accomplishment. Securing a bye is pretty special. That’s an honest statement. You have to have had a very good regular season to accomplish that, and I’m proud that our players and coaches did that. Now, it’s all about finding a way to win and advance. All that matters is
having one more point than our opponent when the clock hits zero.”
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