The St. Joseph-Ogden boys’ soccer team will play tonight in a Class 1A sectional semifinal match after the Spartans won their third straight regional title last week, while the SJO boys’ and girls’ cross-country teams both won 1A regional titles this weekend in Tuscola. Here is a recap of what has happened recently with SJO sports:
In boys’ soccer
Stevens, Cler shine for Spartans
St. Joseph-Ogden received timely goals from Lucas Stevens and timely saves from Hunter Cler to give the Spartans their third consecutive Class 1A regional championship this past Friday evening in Monticello.
SJO outlasted host Monticello 2-1 in the win-or-go-home postseason match, giving the Spartans their fourth regional championship in program history and third since 2024.
Sophomore Lucas Stevens scored both goals for SJO (16-6-2), with junior goalie Hunter Cler making seven important saves in the Spartans’ fourth consecutive victory.
Senior Tyler Hess added an assist in a match that was tied at 1 at halftime before Stevens netted the game-winning goal near the midway point in the second half.
The win advances the Spartans to a 1A sectional semifinal match on Tuesday night in Rochester. SJO will take on Athens/Greenview/Illini Central (17-5-2) at 7 p.m. St. Thomas More (11-5-4) will take on host Rochester (7-12-3) at 5 p.m. in the first sectional semifinal match, with the winner of the two sectional semifinal matches meeting at 5 p.m. on Friday for the sectional championship match in Rochester.
In cross-country
Burnett, Walker set pace for SJO
Earning postseason hardware is nothing new for St. Joseph-Ogden cross-country.
Still, the moments are savored. Especially when both the SJO boys’ team and SJO girls’ team can bring back an IHSA regional plaque on the same day.
That’s what happened this past Saturday at Wimple Park in Tuscola. The SJO boys’ team placed first out of 14 teams, with the Spartans compiling 37 points to edge runner-up Paris by just three points.
On the girls’ side, SJO delivered a robust performance that produced 30 points, well ahead of runner-up Unity and its 52 points in the eight-team field.
During the boys’ race, SJO senior Collin Burnett posted the fastest time for the Spartans as he crossed the finish line in 15 minutes, 34.9 seconds to place second out of 100 runners. Freshman Camden Fisher, senior Nate Farney, sophomore Adam Bello and senior Aiden Huntley quickly followed suit to give SJO four other runners in the top 11. Fisher placed sixth in 16:04.9, Farney took eighth in 16:16.3, Bello was 10th in 16:24.9 and Hundley finished 11th in 16:41.2.
Junior Tessa Walker had the top time for the SJO girls’ team, finishing second in 18:50.1 in a field of 70 runners. Junior Grace Bressner finished fifth in 19:42., and sophomore Charlene Barbee was sixth in 19:45.7. Senior Abigail Bello (21:07.8, 15th place) and sophomore Allie Bott (21:18.0, 19th) rounded out the top five runners for the Spartans.
SJO will now turn its attention to the course at Lake Land College in Mattoon, with the Spartans competing this Saturday in the Cumberland Sectional. The girls’ race begins at 10 a.m., with the boys’ race to follow at 11 a.m.
Teams who finish in the top six on Saturday will advance to the IHSA state meet on Nov. 7 at Detweiller Park in Peoria, along with the first 10 runners who are not members of advancing teams.
What’s on tap
SJO volleyball opens postseason tonight
St. Joseph-Ogden (19-14) will take on a familiar foe in its first postseason match on Tuesday night.
The third-seeded Spartans will square off against sixth-seeded Unity (16-19) at 7 p.m. in a Class 2A Bismarck-Henning/Rossville-Alvin Regional semifinal match.
The two Illini Prairie Conference rivals already met this season, with SJO prevailing 25-22, 25-19 on Sept. 24 in St. Joseph.
If SJO beats the Rockets for the second time this season, the Spartans will advance to Thursday night’s regional championship match against either second-seeded Westville (30-4) or eighth-seeded BHRA (17-17). Those two teams meet in the first regional semifinal match at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, with the two regional semifinal winners set to meet at 6 p.m. on Thursday in the regional championship match to determine who advances on to next week’s Pontiac Sectional.
You must be logged in to post a comment.