St. Joseph-Ogden Stays Perfect with 49-20 Win Over Prairie Central, Eyes Improvements Despite Strong Start
By FRED KRONER
St. Joseph-Ogden Football
Three games into the high school football season – that’s one-third of the regular season – the state-ranked St. Joseph-Ogden squad has followed the same formula to success each week.
The Spartans build an early lead and never relinquish it. SJ-O has led its first three opponents by an average of 21 points at halftime, including a 28-0 lead on Friday (Sept. 13) at Prairie Central in a game it won, 49-20.
While happy with the outcomes, SJ-O head coach Shawn Skinner sees a disturbing pattern that he will address in practice this week.
“We have to figure out how to come out after halftime and not give up points,” Skinner said. “All of our opponents have gotten points in the second half.
“They (Prairie Central) got 20 points in the third quarter.”
The last time Skinner had a major concern was after the season-opening win at Monticello.
There were 10 penalties assessed in the game and eight were marked off against the Spartans.
“That was a significant point of emphasis,” Skinner said.
His squad addressed the issue and the results were shown during the past two games. Both Tolono Unity (in Week 2) and Prairie Central (in Week 3) had more than twice as many penalties called on them than the Spartans.
“The last two games, I’ve been very pleased how the kids paid attention to that aspect of the game,” Skinner said. “We’re not giving away yards (while on offense) or giving the other teams yards (while on defense).”
SJ-O collected four first-half touchdowns at Prairie Central. In the first 17 minutes, quarterback Kodey McKinney tossed three TD passes, two to Tanner Siems and one to Tim Blackburn-Kelley.
The passing game was also responsible for a score that came 17 seconds before halftime.
“Late in the second quarter, they had a fourth-down play inside our 5-yard line and we held,” Skinner said.
The Spartans then marched 95 yards in less than 90 seconds, thanks in part to passes from McKinney to Kaden Wedig covering 31 and 40 yards.
“Those two passes put us in position (to score),” Skinner said.
Blackburn-Kelley delivered the TD on a 4-yard run with 0:17 left in the second period.
Wedig is joining Coy Taylor and Blackburn-Kelley as big-play artists.
“He showed he was special for the freshmen and JV (in 2023),” Skinner said. “We had an idea he could come in, and he has stepped up big.”
Wedig had three catches for 73 yards. Taylor hauled in six receptions for 108 yards. Blackburn-Kelley (42 yards) and Siems (14 yards) accounted for the rest of the team’ aerial yards.
Siems has eight catches this season and has turned five into TDs. Taylor has produced back-to-back 100-yard receiving games.
McKinney connected on 13 of 22 attempts for 227 yards and four TDs. Four of his completions covered more than 30 yards. Besides the two to Wedig, Taylor had catches of 38 and 48 yards.
Spartan center Brennan Oleynichak consistently delivered the ball to McKinney.
“Having clean snaps matter,” Skinner said. “Brennan was up against a physical noseguard and his snaps were great.”
Also effective was placekicker Charlie Schmitz. He converted all seven extra-point attempts and has made 10 in a row since his lone miss as a senior.
The Spartans’ offense also generated 167 yards on the ground. McKinney gained 60 yards. Wyatt Wertz, who scored the team’s last TD, rushed for 49 yards. Blackburn-Kelley netted 37 yards on the ground. Taylor generated 16 yards and Brayden Waller had one carry for 5 yards.
“We couldn’t have played much better in the first half,” Skinner said. We had one (lost) fumble, but three plays later, our defense got it back for us (on a recovery by Quincy Jones).”
SJ-O forced two more turnovers in the final two quarters, an interception by Collin Thomey and a fumble recovery by James Barron.
Defensively, outside linebackers Barron and Carson Sarnecki have been stalwarts as has middle linebacker Jared Altenbaumer.
Altenbaumer is averaging double-figures in tackling through three games.
Skinner won’t let his team get overconfident as SJ-O (3-0) prepares for its longest road trip of the regular season to Chillicothe IVC on Friday (Sept. 20).
“Our record is perfect, but we’re still not perfect,” he said. “There’s still a lot to improve on. If we master the ability to pay attention to details, it will be hard to beat us.
“The next step is to become more detail-oriented.”
The Week 4 game will mark the third one away from the home Dick Duval Field. Three of the final five regular-season contests will be played at SJ-O.
In last week’s Associated Press state poll, the Spartans were ranked sixth in Class 3A.
