St. Joseph-Ogden football picks up first win over Chillicothe IVC

By Fred Kroner

St. Joseph-Ogden’s football team broke into the win column in a big way on Friday (Sept. 17), building a 35-point halftime lead en route to a 48-7 Illini Prairie Conference triumph at home over Chillicothe IVC.

Spartan coach Shawn Skinner praised the leadership of five seniors – Coby  Miller, Griffin Roesch, Conrad Miller, Jett Morris and Keaton Nolan – in helping the squad get through its rough start to the season.

“I never sensed any panic,” Skinner said, ”just a sense of urgency, focus and wanting to get back.”

Evan Ingram completed all five of his first-half passes, including two for touchdowns in the opening period. Roesch and Nolan hauled in the scoring strikes to stake the Spartans to a 14-0 lead after one quarter.

Sophomore Joe Frasca, in his first game as the placekicker, made six consecutive extra-point conversion kicks. Miller is the long-snapper and Roesch served as the holder for the attempts.

SJ-O had its top offensive performance of the year, amassing 317 total yards.

The Spartans had rushing TDs from Nolan, Isaiah Moore and Justice Wertz.

The defense got into the scoring column as well. Moore returned an interception for a Pick Six and Miller – who rushed for a game-high 66 yards – returned a recovered fumble for a score. Tyler Burch also had an interception.

Skinner said Miller’s defensive score came on a special play for the middle linebacker.

“He blitzed, knocked the ball out (of the quarterback’s hands) and then returned it 33 yards for a score,” Skinner said.

Ingram completed 5 of 7 passes for 105 yards.

For the third straight game, SJ-O allowed fewer yards than it did the previous week. IVC was limited to 177 yards.

Skinner wasn’t surprised by the Spartans’ performance.

“We felt like we were going in the right direction (the previous two games),” Skinner said. “It started with our preparation. We had our best week of practice. The attention to detail was good.

“In the game, it was a combination of all three phases contributing in a lot of ways.”

That was evident in the game’s opening minutes.

With Frasca kicking off to start the game, IVC took possession on its own 20-yard line. The SJ-O defense then forced a punt after three plays weren’t able to gain 10 yards.

“Four plays later, we struck gold,” Skinner said, referring to the quick score.

The process was then repeated.

The next Frasca kickoff resulted in IVC taking over at its own 24. Another punt was forthcoming, followed by a TD on the Spartans’ second possession, set up by an Ingram-to-Nolan pass near the goal line.

The defense came up big on the third IVC possession. After the Grey Ghosts drove downfield, Burch intercepted a pass in the end zone.

“That was a significant play in the game,” Skinner said.

SJ-O (1-3) returns to action on Friday (Sept. 24) at Stanford Olympia (1-3).

SJ-O can’t afford any letdowns in its preparations.

“Olympia has had periods where they’ve looked good,” Skinner said. “If you don’t play assignment football, they can expose you real quickly.

“They’ve come up short against some good teams.”

Olympia’s losses have been to still-unbeaten teams from Monticello and Unity as well as to a one-loss Paxton-Buckley-Loda squad.