Grimsley leads Spartans past Oakhaw Valley, SJ-O Running at Richard Spring Invitational
BY FRED KRONER
fred@mahometnews.com
SJ-O Football
The gains made by St. Joseph-Ogden’s football team Friday night were not enough.
The Spartans’ offense was stymied by Unity’s defense and the Rockets made SJ-O its third successive shutout victim with a 20-0 win for homecoming at Hicks Field.
“Their defensive players are fast to the football,” SJ-O coach Shawn Skinner said.
SJ-O was only able to generate 44 second-half yards on 20 plays.
The game was scoreless until the final 40 seconds of the first half.
Unity gained possession on the SJ-O 29-yard line with 1 minute, 59 seconds left in the second quarter following an 11-yard punt.
The Rockets had no timeouts remaining, but moved quickly, scoring on a 6-yard pass from Nate Reinhart to Nate Drennan with 38 seconds left in the period.
For the Spartans, there was a lot to like from the first two quarters. SJ-O matched Unity on first downs (6-6), had no penalties and no turnovers.
“I like how we played with effort,” Skinner said. “There wasn’t a lot I didn’t like other than the lack of scoring on our part. Everything had gone about as we wanted until that last possession when we gave them good field position.”
SJ-O took the ball to start the third quarter, but had to punt 57 seconds later.
Crayton Burnett sailed a punt 45 yards, but the Rockets completed a 64-yard scoring march thanks to three third-down conversions.
Again, Drennan hauled in a scoring strike from Reinhart, who converted his second extra point.
“They are very good, but we feel that we left some plays on the field,” Skinner said. “We’ll lick our wounds, but we will watch film and learn from this.
“Our guys were not satisfied. I liked the look in their eyes after the game. Our guys were ready to keep playing.”
Overall, SJ-O had 64 yards rushing on 25 carries.
Coby Miller and Keaton Nolan each gained 23 yards. Burnett finished with 15 yards rushing. He also completed 10 of 20 passes, for 66 yards.
Ty Pence hauled in four receptions for 21 yards. Chance Izard had 16 yards on two catches.
Izard’s 12-yard catch in the second half was the Spartans’ only play from scrimmage the last two quarters to generate more than eight yards.
In all, six Spartans had pass receptions.
Unity (3-1) finished with a 262-130 edge in total yards.
SJ-O’s four first-half possessions started on their own 18-, 15-, 3- and 17-yard lines.
The Spartans’ first possession of the third period began on their own 13-yard line.
“We made them have to drive the length of the field and we think it’s tough to do that against our defense,” Unity coach Scott Hamilton said. “Defensively, we’ve got a hungry group.”
SJ-O (3-1) returns to action on Friday in its homecoming game against Pontiac (1-3).
SJ-O Girls’ cross-country
The Spartans finished seventh on Saturday in the freshmen-sophomore division of the Richard Spring Invitational at Detweiler Park, in Peoria,
Leading the way for SJ-O were Kailyn Ingram (52nd in 20 minute, 29.7 seconds for 3 miles), Addie Allen (64th in 20:43.4), Malorie Sarnecki (70th in 20:48.2), Kendra Riddle (136th in 21:45.5) and Sidney Davis (188th in 23:09.8).
There were 278 runners in the freshmen-sophomore race.
Meet champion Elmhurst York had 30 points. SJ-O totaled 190.
In the varsity race, SJ-O had three competitors and was not scored as a team.
Jillian Plotner was 101st in a 454-runner field with a time of 19:15.0.
Trailing her were Hanna Eastin (212th in 20:23.8) and Ally Monk (252nd in 20:50.9).
In the open race, the Spartans ended in 40th place with a score of 1194. Meet champion York had 60 points.
The top SJ-O runners were: Kaytlyn Baker (252nd in 23:35.2), Taryn Sexton (362nd in 24:55.9), Teagan Miller (477th in 26:45.9), Izzy Sexton (533rd in 28:32.0), Mary Hinrichs (554th in 29:56.2) and Lili Wentzloff (579th in 34:53.2).
SJ-O returns to action on Saturday when it hosts the Spartan Classic.
SJ-O Boys’ cross-country
Brandon Mattsey and Eric Poe placed among the top half on Saturday in the varsity division of the Richard Spring Classic at Detweiler Park, in Peoria.
Mattsey ran the 3-mile course in 16 minutes, 42.7 seconds and took 188th in a field of 446 competitors. Poe was 198th in 16:46.1.
Other Spartan placers were Logan Wolfersberger (340th in 17:56.0), Lukas Hutcherson (358th in 18:05.9), Taddy Pettit (409th in 19:26.9) and Joshua Sexton (439th in 22:3.1).
In the team standings, SJ-O was 54th with a score of 1426. Meet champion St. Charles East had a score of 57.
SJ-O captured 27th in the 53-school freshmen-sophomore team chase with a score of 777. Meet champion Deerfield had a score of 88.
The Spartans’ leaders were Charlie Mabry (84th in 17:09.8), Elijah Mock (86th in 17:10.3), Luke Stegall (167th in 17:59.1), Braden Clampitt (200th in 18:17.6), Ethan Blackburn (247th in 18:55.3) and Zach Dahman (331st in 21:17.1).
SJ-O did not have any participants in the open race.
The Spartans return to action on Saturday when they host their own Spartan Classic.
SJ-O Golf
Medalist Payton Grimsley carded a 36 to lead the Spartans past Okaw Valley in a three-school meet on Thursday at Tri-City Country Cub. The Spartans carded a team composite of 170 and earned a team win by 23 strokes.
Following Grimsley were teammates Joe Acton (40), Riley Myren (44), Maddux Carter (50), Jack Robertson (52), Jacob Kern (54) and McGuire Atwood (55).
SJ-O returns to action on Tuesday at the Illini Prairie Conference meet in El Paso.
SJ-O Soccer
For the third match in a row, SJ-O was held scoreless on Thursday and dropped a 7-0 Illini Prairie Conference decision to St. Thomas More in Champaign.
SJ-O rebounded on Saturday with a 3-3 draw against Chillicothe IVC.
Freshman Emily Eisbernd scored the first goal for the Spartans, giving the team a 1-0 lead at halftime.
She was assisted by Luke Cohen, who hit a second-half goal as did teammate Garrett Siems.
Siems also had one assist.
The Spartans (2-9-2) return to action on Tuesday at Rantoul.
