By FRED KRONER
fred@sjodaily.com
After winning road matches on Thursday and Saturday, the St. Joseph-Ogden volleyball team has its 11th consecutive 20-win season.
Ranked first among News-Gazette area teams, the Spartans (20-2) dispatched IVC in Chillicothe on Saturday, 25-12, 25-19 and won at Pontiac on Thursday, 25-18, 25-14.
Kennedi Burnett (seven kills), Katelyn Berry (five kills) and Emory Ericksen (four kills) led the offensive attack at IVC.
Emily Bigger handed out 11 assists and Rylee Walsh had nine assists.
Bree Trimble totaled a team-high 10 digs and Bigger had seven digs.
At Pontiac, Trimble led with 16 digs. Teammates Eve Owens and Walsh recorded four digs apiece.
Bigger and Walsh each had nine assists.
Burnett and Lacey Kaiser ended with four kills each and Rylee Stahl served four aces.
For the week, SJ-O won four matches in consecutive games and own an 11-match winning streak entering Tuesday’s home match with Prairie Central.
The Spartans have a league-leading 6-0 record in Illini Prairie Conference matches.
Kerrigan Shafer had six kills and Paiton Frerichs added five kills as Oakwood (15-9) overpowered visiting Salt Fork (6-16) 25-16, 25-22 in a Vermilion Valley Conference match on Thursday.
McKenzie Doan had a team-high 11 assists for the Comets, who return to action on Tuesday at Chrisman.
Gracyn Allen registered a double-double (13 digs and 10 kills) as Heritage (18-5) handed Cerro Gordo (20-5) a 25-16, 23-25, 25-14 loss in the third-place match of the Little Okaw Valley Conference Tournament at Arthur.
Aliya Holloman also landed 10 kills for the Hawks, who play at Oblong on Tuesday.
Soccer
In a Class 1A regional tournament opener on Saturday, St. Joseph-Ogden and Oakwood had matching first-half goals and battled through a scoreless second half and an overtime session.
SJ-O advanced with a 3-2 advantage in penalty kicks.
Zac Seeley scored for the Spartans, with an assist from Luke Cohen.
Dawson Rogers scored the lone Oakwood goal.
In penalty kicks, SJ-O’s Cailer Kellenberger, Jordan Kelly and Seeley hit their shots.
Goalkeeper Joel Branson blocked two Oakwood penalty shots to preserve the victory on the Spartans’ field.
SJ-O is 6-10-2, including a 3-0 Thursday win over Arthur-Lovington/Atwood-Hammond.
Oakwood ends its season at 6-13.
SJ-O returns to action on Tuesday at Oakwood in the regional semifinals against second-seeded Urbana Uni High (13-5-3). The Spartans have won three consecutive matches.
Football
Oakwood (3-4) went on the road and knocked off previously unbeaten Bismarck-Henning/Rossville-Alvin 42-33 in a Vermilion Valley Conference game on Friday, spoiling the Blue Devils’ homecoming.
B-H/R-A, which was ranked seventh in the state in Class 2A, is 6-1.
The Comets scored 21 first-quarter points and never trailed.
Rhett Harrison put Oakwood on the board first, with a 12-yard run. Teammate Nick Grubb scored two TDs and Colby Smiley rushed for a team-high 142 yards and scored once.
The Comets’ other TD was by Cody Hansbraugh on a 56-yard run.
Caleb Lashuay made three conversion kicks and Harrison ran in one two-point conversion.
Oakwood is 3-4 ahead of a Friday game at Westville (0-7).
Villa Grove/Heritage kept its playoff hopes alive with a 24-14 win over Oblong in Palestine.
VG/H is 3-4 overall and plays its homecoming game on Friday against Tri-County (4-3).
Girls’ cross-country
St. Joseph-Ogden’s state-ranked girls’ squad ran away with team honors in Saturday’s Cumberland Invitational at Lake Land College, in Mattoon.
SJ-O, ranked fourth in Class 1A by milesplitIL, had the individual winner and two other top 10 placers. The Spartans had 44 points. Runner-up Freeburg had 81 points. Mattoon was third with 86 points.
Cassidy Bagby was the individual champion. She ran the 3-mile course in 19 minutes, 26.03 seconds. She had a margin of victory of 58.31 seconds.
Hannah Rajlich was sixth in 20:59.01 and Ally Monk was eighth in 21:15.13.
The next three squad members came in consecutively. Hanna Eastin was 14th in 21:38.90. Jillian Plotner was 15th in 21:45.45. Olivia Klotz was 16th in 21:46.05.
Teammate Ava Knapp was 26th in 22:26.77.
In the open race, the first five finishers were SJ-O athletes. Brianna Suits won in 21:58.70.
She was followed by Hope Rajlich, Addie Allen, Malorie Sarnecki and Kendra Riddle.
Two runners from Villa Grove/Heritage were placers in the varsity race. Irene Bruschi was 72nd in 28:19.26 and Isabella Caceves was 82nd in 33:05.92.
Boys’ cross-country
SJ-O finished fourth in the 18-school Cumberland Invitational on Saturday at Lake Land College, in Mattoon.
Meet champion Freeburg had 69 points and was followed by Marshall, Cumberland and the Spartans. SJ-O’s point total was 148.
The school’s top finisher was Isiah McCune. He was seventh for the 3-mile course, finishing in 16:56.47.
Other team placers in the 127-runner field were Brandon Mattsey (16th in 17:49.06), Eric Poe (26th in 18:19.73), Charlie Mabry (48th in 19:01.14), Elijah Mock (52nd in 19:14.56), Luke Stegall (53rd in 19:23.09) and Gabe Preston (100th in 21:31.50).
In the open race, SJ-O’s leaders were Braden Clampitt (14th) and Kaleb Harshbarger (31st).
There were 85 runners in the open division.
