Saturday afternoon playoff games at Dick Duval Field are now becoming the norm for the St.
Joseph-Ogden football program.
Thanks to a 35-21 win against rival Unity last Saturday in a Class 3A second-round playoff
game, the Spartans (11-0) will get another chance to host a playoff game on their home turf this
Saturday. Mt. Carmel (11-0) awaits in the 3A state quarterfinal game.
Kickoff is set for 1:30 p.m.
The latest win by SJO featured another dynamic performance from junior quarterback Lane
McKinney. McKinney rushed for 182 yards on 34 carries and four touchdowns while completing
18 of 27 passes for 175 yards and one touchdown. Meaning all five touchdowns the Spartans
generated against the Rockets (9-3) came via the contributions of McKinney.
“He’s just a dog,” SJO senior lineman Cameron Wagner said. “It doesn’t matter how much you
weigh. He’s just going to try to run you over. He’s going to go as hard as he can all the time.”
SJO darted out to a 14-0 lead by the end of the first quarter thanks to a 32-yard touchdown run
by McKinney with 3 minutes, 47 seconds left in the opening quarter and another 4-yard
touchdown run by McKinney. The Spartans have outscored teams 212-40 in the first quarter this
season.
Unity cut into SJO’s lead by keeping the Spartans off the scoreboard in the second quarter and
scoring a touchdown on a 55-yard pass from Hayden Smith to AJ Daly that trimmed SJO’s lead
to 14-6 with 1:10 left before halftime.
The Spartans got the ball to start the second half, though, and made sure to take advantage.
McKinney delivered a 22-yard touchdown pass to Logan Wedig on a fourth-and-8 play, giving
the Spartans a 21-6 lead with 6:19 left in the third quarter.
“We’ve seen him do it before,” SJO coach Shawn Skinner said of McKinney. “He’s a gamer. It’s
really rewarding to watch a kid, and he’d be the first to say he didn’t have his best game, but
these kids had the ability to not blink and get on to the next play.”
SJO upped its lead to 28-6 on a 3-yard touchdown run by McKinney with 31 seconds left in the
third quarter, but Unity didn’t roll over. The Rockets responded with two touchdown runs by
Smith — the first from 3 yards out with 8:58 remaining in the fourth quarter and the second from
20 yards out with 3:56 left — to cut SJO’s lead to 28-21.
But, when SJO needed another big play, who did they turn to? McKinney, of course. He ripped
off a 60-yard run on a third-and-five play to push the ball to the Unity 15-yard line with less than
two minutes left before capping off the drive with a 5-yard touchdown run that extended SJO’s
lead to 35-21 with 1:06 left in the fourth quarter.
“I feel like we responded great,” McKinney said. “We didn’t blink. We didn’t put our heads down.
We didn’t complain. We just kept fighting, and we got the outcome we wanted.”
The Wedig brothers also played an important role in the victory for SJO. Senior wide receiver
Kaden Wedig, playing his first game since suffering an ankle injury at Monticello on Sept. 25,
caught 10 passes for 90 yards. Logan Wedig hauled in eight catches for 85 yards.
The win against Unity marked the first playoff victory by the Spartans against the Rockets since
2014. Unity had won the previous three postseason games, ending the Spartans’ seasons in
2024 in the second round and in 2025 in the state semifinals. This also marked the first time
SJO has defeated Unity twice in a season since 1987.
“It means everything to me,” Wagner said. “They took away my season the last two years.
Sophomore year, they obliterated us, and last year, it was heart-breaking because it came down
to just a couple of plays. That defeat last year left a bad taste in my mouth.”
Now, SJO will turn its attention to another formidable foe in Mt. Carmel. The Golden Aces rallied
for a 32-24 home win against Benton last Saturday in the second round after Benton led 17-0 at
halftime. Much like the SJO offense depends heavily on McKinney, Mt. Carmel relies on junior
quarterback River Deisher. Deisher has completed 116 of 185 passes for 1,927 yards, 15
touchdowns and only four interceptions while rushing for 1,304 yards on 186 carries and 24
touchdowns.
“Mt. Carmel is disciplined in all areas,” Skinner said. “They don’t turn the ball over, don’t commit
many penalties and are willing to take what you give them. Their quarterback is their main
threat, no matter if it’s running or passing. He reminds me of McKinney a lot. Teams know it, and
he keeps on beating people every week with his legs or his arm.”
A win on Saturday would advance SJO to its second straight state semifinal game against either
Monticello (9-2) or Williamsville (10-1). Those two teams meet at 2 p.m. on Saturday at Paul
Jenkins Field in Williamsville.
But the Spartans know they have to take care of business first against Mt. Carmel to have any
aspirations of playing another week into November.
“With the postseason, it’s always about going 1-0,” Skinner said. “We don’t care how. The kids
rag me all the time, but I’d rather win ugly than lose pretty. Our kids understand that there’s a
bigger prize that we’re shooting for.”
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