By FRED KRONER
The football season lasted longer for St. Joseph-Ogden than it had the past six years, but not as long as the Spartans had hoped for in 2022.
SJ-O exited the IHSA Class 3A playoffs on Saturday (Nov. 5) after suffering a second-round 60-28 loss at Stanford Olympia.
The Spartan trailed, 8-7, after one quarter and 32-21 at halftime.
In a game of big plays, SJ-O struck first.
Freshman Tim Blackburn-Kelley returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown and the first of Joe Frasca’s four conversion kicks lifted the visitors into a 7-0 lead.
The TD accounted for the first varsity points in Blackburn-Kelley’s career.
“We had a couple of long gains, forced a fumble (by Aiden McCorkle) and got a score (on the return by Nolan Earley), but they returned an interception for a score,” Spartan coach Shawn Skinner said. “Both offensively and defensively, we couldn’t get on track.”
SJ-O was limited to 223 yards of total offense.
Logan Smith completed 12 of 31 passes for 135 yards. He hooked up with Coy Taylor for one TD.
Taylor had seven catches for 81 yards. Ty Pence caught four passes for 42 yards and Alex Funk had one reception for 12 yards.
On the ground, Funk carried nine times for 50 yards and one TD. Smith gained 35 yards on eight tries. Justice Wertz ran four times for a total of three yards.
“We had our moments, but couldn’t sustain anything,” Skinner said. “In the third quarter, it kind of got away from us.”
The second round of the playoffs is the furthest the Spartans have gone since 2015.
“We are very proud of our kids and appreciative of their effort since last June,” Skinner said. “They committed as well as any group I’ve been around.”
The commitment, Skinner said, wasn’t just from a few.
“All four classes put in work in June and July,” he said. “We got to August and felt good with where our offense was at all three levels.”
The work ethic translated into direct results on the field.
The varsity finished with an overall record of 7-4. The junior varsity was 7-0. The freshmen squad ended with a 6-2 mark.
Entering the team’s 11th game, Smith, Taylor and Pence all ranked among the state’s statistical leaders (for all classes).
“The offensive output that Logan, Coy and Ty were able to provide was something special,” Skinner said.
Smith broke the SJ-O single-season passing record, throwing for 2,582 yards on 147 of 245 accuracy (60 percent).
Taylor and Pence had the top two receiving seasons in school history. Taylor hauled in 76 passes for 1,201 yards (both of which are school records) and 11 TDs. Pence grabbed 53 passes and totaled 1,115 yards to go with 14 TDs (a school record for receivers).
Through 10 games, Smith ranked second in the state in passing yardage, Taylor was third in receiving yardage and Pence was fourth.
Of that trio, Pence is the lone senior.
“We have some good seniors who have provided multiple years of work for us,” Skinner said. “We’re happy they were rewarded with a home playoff game (in the first round).
“We feel good about the kids we have coming back. We’ll get started again in June.”
Season rushing leader Wertz (623 yards and eight TDs) is a junior.
The SJ-O offensive line effectively protected Smith all season. In just one of 11 games did the quarterback finish a game with negative rushing yards.
“We have some work to do in run the run game,” Skinner said, “but our kids did so many positives.
“As they look back and reflect, they will feel good about what they have accomplished.”
