SJ-O football wins first playoff games since 2015
By Fred Kroner
Behind a record-shattering performance from senior receiver Ty Pence, St. Joseph-Ogden won its first football playoff game since 2015 by outscoring Robinson, 55-39, in a Class 3A game at Dick Duval Field on Saturday (Oct. 28).
Pence hauled in 13 passes from quarterback Logan Smith and gained 317 yards. The receiving total is a Class 3A record for any playoff game and is second all-time for a playoff game in any class in Illinois, just trailing a 319-yard performance in 2010.
His 13 catches ties the all-time Class 3A record for any playoff game. The previous yardage receiving record in a 3A game was 276 yards.
Pence scored two touchdowns and eclipsed the 1,000-yard mark for the season in receiving yards.
Smith, who also ran for two TDs, was the architect of an offense that amassed 603 total yards. He completed 17 of 32 passes without an interception and totaled 384 yards.
Through the nine-game regular season, Smith ranked third in the state (for any class) in passing yards, Coy Taylor was first in receiving yards and Pence was 13th. Through Saturday’s game, Smith has passed for 2,445 yards while throwing 27 TD passes.
Besides the two scoring strikes to Pence, Smith also had a TD toss to Taylor, who went over the 1,100-yard mark for the season in receiving.
The other SJ-O touchdowns were courtesy of runs by Tyler Burch, Alex Funk and Justice Wertz.
Wertz, the workhorse in the backfield, rushed for 155 yards on 20 carries.
The Spartans fell behind early, and trailed 21-14 after one quarter and 27-21 with 5 ½ minutes remaining in the second period. A 1-yard TD scamper by Smith and Joe Frasca’s subsequent conversion kick with 1:10 remaining in the second frame lifted SJ-O into a 28-27 halftime lead.
“It was a game of adjustments,” SJ-O coach Shawn Skinner said. “They abandoned their (spread) offense by the third possession and went to a full-house backfield.
“They had us outmanned from a size standpoint and it took us until halftime to make the adjustments.”
The Spartans’ one-point lead held when Pence intercepted a Robinson pass just before intermission.
Another Robinson turnover early in the third quarter – a lost fumble forced by Garrett Denhart – set the stage for Funk’s 12-yard TD run.
Frasca’s kick put SJ-O in command 35-27.
Robinson was unable to generate any third-quarter points.
“The third quarter by our defense was what we needed,” Skinner said. “Our defense settled down.”
The offense – which has rolled up 188 points during the current four-game winning streak – kept the pressure on by adding three more TDs.
“The offense knows it has to do that,” Skinner said. “The defense needs time to figure things out at times.
“They were a very good team and to have 600 yards of offense is outstanding. They left Ty in iso and Logan did a tremendous job of finding him.
“Our offensive line did a nice job and our running backs were good in pass protection.”
Frasca’s value went beyond making his first seven extra-point conversions.
“Joe did a great job on his kickoffs and they started their possessions deep,” Skinner said. “It was just a complete game.”
The postseason success – and the school’s most wins in a season during the past seven years – is a tribute to the SJ-O seniors.
“Our seniors have a lot of desire to continue to play football,” Skinner said. “They have been through some tough times and I am very happy for them.”
Other offensive catalysts for the Spartans were Tayor with 58 receiving yards on three catches, Funk with 31 rushing yards and Smith with 27 rushing yards.
SJ-O (7-3) returns to action on Saturday (Nov. 5) at Stanford Olympia (6-4) in a 6 p.m. contest.
Olympia and SJ-O were both members of the Illini Prairie Conference until this year when Olympia opted to join the Sangamo Conference.
Olympia clinched its first playoff berth since 2014 by winning its Week 9 game. This is Olympia’s third playoff berth since 1990. The school’s only football playoff wins came in 1985, 1986 and 1990.
In September of 2021, SJ-O played at Olympia and came away with a 60-36 victory.
Skinner expects the rematch to be much more challenging.
“They played in a good conference and run a tough offense,” Skinner said. “It will be a fist fight in a phone booth. We’re happy to be playing again.”
