St. Joseph-Ogden Dominates Season Opener with 40-28 Victory Over Monticello
By FRED KRONER
Tanner Siems and Coy Taylor each scored two touchdowns on Saturday (Aug. 31) as St. Joseph-Ogden opened its football season with a 40-28 victory at Monticello.
SJ-O scored touchdowns on two of its first four plays from scrimmage and rolled up the game’s first 34 points, starting with an 80-yard scoring strike from Kodey McKinney to Tim Blackburn-Kelley on a screen pass barely 20 seconds into the Illini Central Conference matchup.
“We were locked in from the beginning,” SJ-O coach Shawn Skinner said. “The kids had a great off-season and even with the heat, got things done in practice.”
The opener was originally scheduled for Friday (Aug. 30) but was postponed that night before the teams took the field by inclement weather.
The delay had no bearing on the Spartans’ performance.
“We weren’t concerned about moving the game,” Skinner said. “Being the first game, we were ready for the opportunity to get to play.
“I could see it in the pre-game (warmups).”
Besides throwing for four TDs, McKinney also rushed for one score.
McKinney connected on 12 of 14 passing attempts and totaled 208 passing yards. He hooked up with Siems for two scoring strikes and also tossed a TD pass to Taylor.
Taylor had a rushing touchdown as well.
Charlie Schmitz converted four extra-point attempts.
The Spartans held a 454-402 edge in total offense although Monticello had possession of the ball for 72 plays compared to 44 for SJ-O.
SJ-O’s balanced offensive attack featured 246 yards rushing and 208 passing.
“We will mix the run and pass and will take whatever is allowed,” Skinner said. “We don’t care how we do it.”
Wyatt Wertz led the Spartans in rushing with 102 yards. McKinney gained 73 yards on the ground. Taylor finished with 43 rushing yards and Blackburn-Kelley ended with 28 rushing yards.
Wertz was ready when his number was called.
“When they keyed on other guys, he stepped up,” Skinner said. “He’s a viable weapon.”
Blackburn-Kelley collected 95 receiving yards. Taylor ended with 82 receiving yards. Coy Hayes caught a pass for 18 yards and Siems had 13 receiving yards.
Hayes’ catch came on the second SJ-O possession, which started with a holding penalty and was followed by his reception before McKinney scampered 67 yards to the end zone on the Spartans’ fourth play of the contest.
McKinney received playing time at quarterback as a sophomore in 2023 as a backup, but Saturday’s game marked his varsity starting debut. Skinner didn’t reduce the play-calling options to help ease him in.
“By no means was the playbook limited,” he said. “If anything, we expanded the offense.
“Kodey was good for his first varsity start. All eyes were on him, and he handled it well.”
He wasn’t alone in receiving accolades.
Skinner said the offensive line, “did a good job,” and added that the receiving corps “did an outstanding job blocking.”
Monticello’ comeback, which included the Sages pulling within 34-21 with more than 8 minutes remaining, wasn’t a case of SJ-O suffering a letdown.
“Monticello is a senior-laden team and they continue to play and compete,” Skinner said. “We had some miscues here and there, and put our defense in bad positions multiple times, but credit Monticello.
“We only have two returning (defensive) starters (Earley and middle linebacker Jared Altenbaumer). Most of our (defensive) guys had never played a full varsity football game.”
Altenbaumer and cornerback Kyler Swanson both intercepted passes. Each first-half pick led to TDs for the Spartans.
Among the defensive rookies, besides Swanson, who made major contributions against the Sages were outside linebacker Carson Sarnecki, defensive lineman Corbin Smith, linebacker Ryker Lockhart and free safety Collin Thomey.
The kicking game also helped propel SJ-O in its Week 1 encounter.
Besides Schmitz hitting 4 of 5 conversion attempts, punter Taylor and kickoff artist Thomey were instrumental.
“Between our kickoffs and punts, four times we forced them to start inside their 20,” Skinner said. “The kicking game made a huge difference.”
SJ-O (1-0) returns to action on Friday (Sept. 6) with its home-opener at Dick Duval Field against Tolono Unity (1-0).
The Spartans will be without Hayes, who is in concussion protocol. The status of Wertz is undetermined.
If he isn’t recovered from his injury, Skinner anticipates “running backs by committee,” including Blackburn-Kelley, Taylor and Brayden Waller as well as McKinney, who had seven rushing attempts at Monticello.
Depth is an early-season strength for the Spartans. Just one player starts on both the offensive and defensive platoons.
Nolan Earley is the left tackle on offense and an outside linebacker on defense. Several other offensive players, including Blackburn-Kelley and Siems, rotate in on defense. They play in the defensive backfield.
Unity won its opener on Friday, 32-13, in Fairbury against Prairie Central.
“This will be another good test out of the gate,” Skinner said. “Unity is big and doing some new things on offense. Defensively, we know they will put pressure on the quarterback and be focused on loading the box.
“It will be a huge challenge on how to block them upfront. They have speed on the back end of their defense.”
