St. Joseph-Ogden Football Caps Undefeated Regular Season with Dominant Win Over Paxton-Buckley-Loda
By FRED KRONER
St. Joseph-Ogden’s football team entered the school record books on Friday (Oct. 25) following a 42-14 Illini Prairie Conference victory at Dick Duval Field against Paxton-Buckley-Loda.
The win capped a 9-0 regular season for the Spartans, marking the sixth time that feat has been achieved in a nine-game regular season.
Since St. Joseph and Ogden consolidated in 1963, three other SJ-O teams were unbeaten with either seven- or eight-game schedules and three other teams did not lose, but played to one tie.
“There’s a lot of history and tradition in those years,” SJ-O head coach Shawn Skinner said. “That’s something to acknowledge. It matters.”
The Spartans have advanced into the playoffs in 34 of the last 38 seasons.
SJ-O plays in a conference where six of the schools qualified for the playoffs and all six were state-ranked among the top 10 at some point during the season.
The Spartans were ranked fourth in Class 3A with the season’s final state poll being released on Wednesday (Oct. 30).
“This is a legitimate schedule,” Skinner said, “and our non-conference game (7-2 Carterville) makes it a good showing by our kids.”
SJ-O took PBL out of the game in the first half, scoring on all four possessions while building a 28-8 halftime advantage. After the score reached 42-14 in the second half, PBL requested a running clock for the final period.
The Spartans had a plethora of individual standouts.
Quarterback Kodey McKinney put up his seventh 200-yard passing game of the season, throwing for 253 yards on 17 of 21 accuracy. He fired three touchdown passes.
Wyatt Wertz ran for three TDs and eclipsed the 100-yard mark in rushing for the fourth game, rambling for a game-high 152 yards on 12 carries.
Coy, who caught a 44-yard pass to start the game’s scoring, hauled in 11 passes for 167 yards. It was his fifth 100-yard game of the year and moved him to within 51 yards of reaching 1,000 for the third consecutive year.
Taylor continues to climb up the all-time charts in the IHSA record book. He is third in career pass receptions (246) and sixth in career receiving yardage (3,528).
McKinney has thrown for 1,990 yards this year in his first season as the varsity starter while completing 77 percent of his passes through nine games.
Defensively, middle linebacker Jared Altenbaumer reached double figures in tackling and helped contain the Panthers’ 1,000-yard rusher, Robert Boyd Meents, who netted 56 yards on 12 attempts.
“Jared was all over the field, running from sideline to sideline,” Skinner said. “In practice, he asks to go against our offense.
“That’s why practice matters. He works at that.”
Kyler Swanson had an interception and a key tackle on a fourth-down play. James Barron reached double figures for tackles for loss this season and boosted his sack total above four.
“I’m proud of the job we did,” Skinner said.
Though he has the deepest and most talented squad in his head coaching tenure with his alma mater, Skinner didn’t anticipate a 9-0 regular season.
“Not in this conference,” he said. “You don’t think about the likelihood of going 9-0. It’s just too tough. This conference demands that you go one game at a time. There’s no luxury to look ahead because every week is such a dogfight.
“I break the season into thirds. Behind closed doors, that’s how we do it.
“The first three games were all against three really, really good teams (all of whom made the playoffs). You want to win one, then say you’d love to get two and if you happen to start 2-0, wonder can we get three?”
Wertz tallied two of his TDs in the first half against PBL and Tanner Siems – who has a team-high 10 TD receptions – was another target from McKinney.
“We know we have multiple options and multiple threats,” Skinner said. “If you lock into one, all of a sudden, there’s Kaden Wedig with a key third-down catch to keep a drive going.
“We have guys who can do things.”
Not to be overlooked is placekicker Charlie Schmitz, who converted all six of his extra-point attempts and has connected on 27 in a row and 49 of 51 for the season.
“He has been Mr. Steady,” Skinner said. “His last miss was in the rain game against Carterville.”
The Spartans totaled 456 yards against PBL, including 193 on the ground.
Besides Taylor, Siems and Wedig, McKinney found Tim Backburn Kelley three times for gains of 45 yards and one TD.
The Spartans finished the regular season with the top scoring offense in the Illini Prairie Conference, averaging 41.4 points per game. Defensively, SJ-O was second in the league, allowing an average of 17.6 points per game.
SJ-O (9-0) returns to action with a Class 3A home playoff game at Dick Duval Field on Saturday (Nov. 2) at 2 p.m. against West Frankfort (5-4).
West Frankfort is in the playoffs for the first time since 2019. The school’s five wins came against opponents who managed just four total wins.
“They have big linemen (three on the offensive line at 250 pounds, or more) and give you looks we’re not used to,” Skinner said. “They flip linemen (from one side to the other) and run a shotgun/wing formation.
“We’ll have to pay attention.”
SJ-O, the No. 1 seed in the southern portion of the Class 3A bracket, and West Frankfort, the No. 16 seed, have one common opponent. The Spartans defeated Carterville, 26-20, and West Frankfort lost to Carterville, 21-16.
The SJ-O/West Frankfort winner will play either eighth-seeded Roxana (7-2) or ninth-seeded Tolono Unity (6-3) in the second round. If the matchup is SJ-O and Unity, the game would be played in Tolono.
If the second-round game is SJ-O vs. Roxana, it would be at Dick Duval field and a rematch between programs that played in the 2023 postseason with Roxana edging SJ-O, 48-47.
A previously overlooked milestone for the Spartans this season took place on Oct. 11 in a 59-8 homecoming win over Pontiac. That win was No. 400 for SJ-O since the consolidation took place 62 years ago.
