Spartan Soccer to play in semi-finals, Volleyball on seven-game win streak
BY FRED KRONER
fred@mahometnews.com
St. Joseph-Ogden Football
For the second week in a row, the Spartans were held to two touchdowns and lost an Illini Prairie Conference decision.
Friday’s setback at home was against unbeaten Chillicothe IVC, 33-12, and leaves SJ-O (4-3) still one win from playoff eligibility.
Brady Buss, who had a team-high 71 receiving yards, pulled down a 34-yard pass from Crayton Burnett for the first Spartan TD, which came after IVC had built a 14-0 lead.
The Spartans were kept out of the end zone until the IVC lead had increased to 33-6. Burnett hooked up with Ty Pence on a 21-yard TD.
Burnett completed 8 of 16 passes for 136 yards.
SJ-O managed just 80 rushing yards in 26 attempts. Jarrett Stevenson led the Spartans with 25 yards on the ground. Brayden Weaver gained 23 yards and Burnett rushed for 22 yards.
Payton Cain had two pass receptions. Weaver and Chance Izard each caught one pass.
IVC held the edge in total yards, 393-216.
SJ-O returns to action on Friday at home against Olympia (3-4).
St. Joseph-Ogden Volleyball
The Spartans’ winning streak reached seven matches on Saturday by virtue of a 25-13, 12-25, 26-24 triumph over visiting IVC.
Two of the Spartans’ last four wins have been decided with 26-24 wins in the third set.
Two Spartans registered double-doubles against IVC.
Kennedi Burnett recorded 15 kills and 11 digs. Emily Bigger had 37 assists and 11 digs.
As a team, SJ-O pounded 45 kills while collecting 58 digs.
Katelyn Berry and Payton Vallee each slammed seven kills.
Jenna Albrecht and Lacey Kaiser contributed six kills each. Bigger added four kills.
Kaiser had nine digs and Albrecht had two blocks. Burnett served two aces. Rylee Stahl chipped in with 12 digs and Kenly Taylor had seven digs.
On Thursday, the Spartans scored a 25-12, 25-16 win at home against Pontiac.
Bigger produced a double-double with 25 assists and 11 digs.
SJ-O also had been big nights from Burnett and Berry. Burnett landed seven kills to go with six digs. Berry totaled nine kills and five digs.
Other major contributors were Stahl (five digs), Albrecht (four kills) and Kaiser (three aces).
SJ-O returns to action on Tuesday at Prairie Central.
St. Joseph-Ogden Soccer
Two days after SJ-O and Arthur-Lovington/Atwood-Hammond played to a 1-1 draw in St. Joseph, the teams met again on Saturday – this time in Arthur – in a first-round Class 1A regional match.
This time, there was a winner.
SJ-O (7-13-4), the No. 9 regional seed, defeated sixth-seeded AL/A-H 2-1.
Zac Seeley scored both goals for SJ-O, the first one coming 22 seconds into the match.
Luke Cohen and Logan Ingram had assists. Hunter Ketchum stopped seven shots.
The Spartans will play in the semifinals at 4 p.m. on Tuesday at St. Thomas More against the host Sabers.
On Thursday, Cohen hooked up with Seeley on a second-half goal and SJ-O fought to a 1-1 draw with visiting AL/A-H.
Ketchum finished with three saves.
In its last seven matches, SJ-O is 4-1-2 and has allowed a total of six goals.
St. Joseph-Ogden Girls’ cross-country
With all seven varsity runners placing among the top 21 in a field of 71 competitors on Saturday, SJ-O took second place in the Prairie Central Hawk Invitational at Fairbury.
Meet champion Eureka had 52 points. The Spartans were next with 58 points.
Hannah Rajlich led SJ-O, completing the 3-mile course in 19 minutes, 4.8 seconds. She was seventh individually.
The team’s next five runners finished within 53 seconds of Rajlich.
She was trailed by Jillian Plotner (10th in 19:21.2), Ashlynn Lannert (12th in 19:22.8), Ally Monk (14th in 19:31.9), Kailyn Ingram (15th in 19:37.8) and Malorie Sarnecki (20th in 19:57.1).
The team’s seventh runner, Addie Allen, finished in 20:04.0 and took 21st overall.
SJ-O won team honors in the open division, edging Urbana Uni High, 32-34.
Two Spartans were the race leaders. Hanna Eastin was the individual winner in 20:00.8 and teammate Kendra Riddle was nexxt at 21:03.6.
Following that duo were Ava Knap (eighth in 22:04.0), Kaytlyn Baker (ninth in 22:07.5), Sidney Davis (16th in 22:57.8), Taryn Sexton (18th in 23:25.1), Hope Rajlich (19th in 23:25.4), Teagan Miller (21st in 24:09.7), Mary Hinrichs (28th in 25:37.0), Izzy Sexton (32nd in 26:29.9) and Lili Wentzloff (42nd in 31:08.3).
SJ-O returns to action on Saturday in the Peoria Heights Patroit Invitational.
St. Joseph-Ogden Boys’ cross-country
SJ-O placed fifth among the 14 schools competing in Saturday’s Prairie Central Hawk Invitational, in Fairbury.
Meet champion Herscher totaled 69 points.SJ-O’s score was 107.
Brandon Mattsey led the Spartans with a sixth-place performance. His 3-mile time was 16 minutes, 10.4 seconds.
Teammate Eric Poe was 14th in 16:46.9.
The next four SJ-O finishers were packed within 29 seconds of one another, led by Luke Stegall (29th in 17:06.8). He was trailed by Elijah Mock (30th in 17:09.1), Charlie Mabry (32nd in 17:16.4) and Logan Wolfersberger (44th in 17:5.0).
Rounding out the varsity lineup was Lukas Hutcherson (60th in 18:07.7).
The Spartans didn’t have enough competitors to be scored as a team in the open race.
Those who ran were Ethan Blackburn (fifth in 18:16.2), Braden Clampitt (sixth in 18:21.3) and Taddy Pettit (18th in 18:59.3). There were 76 runners in the open race.
SJ-O returns to action in Saturday’s Patroit Invitational, hosted by Prairie Central.
