The first quarter couldn’t have gone much better for the St. Joseph-Ogden football team than it did last Friday night.
Facing rival Unity at the Rockets’ home venue, Hicks Field in Tolono, the Spartans scored touchdowns and successfully converted a trio of two-point conversions on their first three possessions.
Statement made. Tone set.
The Spartans rode that fast start to a comfortable 38-23 victory against the Rockets in a game where the final score didn’t indicate how much SJO asserted itself in the Illini Prairie Conference showdown.
“We’ve put a big emphasis this year, and we know when we play that way in the first quarter, we’re a difficult team to come back on,” SJ-O coach Shawn Skinner said. “I thought the first half in general we played really, really well.”
SJO senior wide receiver Kaden Wedig scored on the first offensive play of the game for the Spartans (4-0, 4-0 Illini Prairie), taking a reverse 51 yards to end zone for a touchdown. Wedig then threw a two-point conversion pass to SJO quarterback Lane McKinney to give the Spartans an 8-0 lead with 9 minutes, 58 seconds left in the first quarter.
But SJO was far from done. McKinney completed a pass in the flat to Spartans sophomore wide receiver Logan Wedig, with the younger Wedig doing the rest and taking it into the end zone from 12 yards out. McKinney then bulled his way into the end zone for a two-point conversion run to increase SJO’s lead to 16-0 with 5:52 left in the first quarter.
SJO running back Logan Umbarger then joined the scoring barrage, showing off his speed, moves and durability by scoring on a 16-yard run. Another two-point conversion pass upped SJO’s lead to 24-0 with 1:55 left in the first quarter.
“I thought all week our attention to detail was really good,” Skinner said. “Easily our best week of practice. It got better as the week went. Our kids’ film study was tremendous. Just a lot of good things.”
Especially in the run game. McKinney and Kaden Wedig had established a solid connection through the first three games in the air. But SJO dominated the line of scrimmage against the Rockets (2-2, 2-2) and rushed for 346 yards on the night. McKinney led the way with 125 rushing yards on 22 carries, with his 1-yard touchdown run and successful two-point conversion run putting the Spartans ahead 32-3 with 2:33 remaining in the second quarter. McKinney then delivered another touchdown run, this one from 6 yards out, to put SJO in front 38-9 with 9:37 left in the fourth quarter.
“I know there’s a lot of talk that we’re a spread offense and we’re not a physical team,” Skinner said. “Our kids would maybe object to that a little bit. I think our kids have a mentality, and some of that comes from having four of your five offensive linemen returning. Lane, Umbarger, Ryder Van Meenen and Brayden Waller are physical guys in the box. They might not be the biggest guys, but they certainly don’t shy from contact.”
Umbarger finished with 87 rushing yards on 16 carries, while Kaden Wedig had two carries for 56 yards and Van Meenen chipped in 44 rushing yards on nine carries. Kaden Wedig caught five passes for 54 yards as McKinney finished 7 of 12 for 82 passing yards. Sophomore Brock Franzen also contributed offensively with a 16-yard catch and 16 rushing yards on two carries.
The dual-threat and hard-running ability of McKinney, though, is what changed the complexion of the game.
“It’s an easy thing to rally around,” Skinner said. “When you’re an offensive linemen, and you’ve got a quarterback who plays that style, how are you not going to play physical when your quarterback plays that way?”
The SJO defense kept Unity out of the end zone until the second half, limiting what the Rockets wanted to do. Senior Jameson Ennis made a team-high 11 tackles, including two for loss and a sack, while sophomore Colt Daugherty also had a sack. Sophomore Ike Shelato (eight tackles) and senior Maddox Musselman (five tackles, one pass deflection) also stood out.
“I think it goes back to, as much as anything, was our kids’ film preparation,” Skinner said. “The kids eat lunch with me and watch film with me on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. On Thursday, there were multiple kids who had come in with scouting reports they had created and things they saw that they were telling me. When you have the buy-in like that, you have the result that we had.”
The Spartans will now turn their attention to Rantoul (0-4, 0-3) on Friday night. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. on Friday at Dick Duval Field in St. Joseph in another Illini Prairie game for SJO. The Eagles, led by first-year coach Ronald Beldo, lost 56-20 at home against Bloomington Central Catholic last Friday night.
“Rantoul is athletic, and they are playing hard,” Skinner said. “I’m impressed with how hard they are playing for Coach Beldo. Jordyn Rice is a very good athlete, and he’s got a strong arm at quarterback. They can hit big plays if yo udon’t have your coverage correct on the back end defensively.”
Friday night also marks the homecoming game for SJO and Hall of Fame night as Marla Dickerson, Bob Glazier, Lucas Marrs and Stephanie Canfield Stinnett will be inducted and recognized.
For Skinner and his Spartans, it’s a chance to keep their undefeated start to the season intact while a showdown at Monticello (4-0, 3-0) looms on Sept. 25.
“I’ve been happy with our week of practice,” Skinner said. “We were a bit flat on Tuesday, and I think that was a combination of coming off an emotional big game and then the homecoming festivities. We’ve looked locked in and had higher energy since then.”
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