Spartans pick-up fifth-consecutive victory over Rantoul
By Fred Kroner
One of the hottest football teams in the Illini Prairie Conference continued its upward trend on Friday (Oct. 15).
St. Joseph-Ogden posted its fifth consecutive victory, winning its Senior Night regular-season home finale, 29-6, against Rantoul at Dick Duval Field.
During the winning streak, the Spartans have limited three of those opponents to no more than three touchdowns.
Offensively, since the season’s third game, SJ-O is averaging 38.8 points per game.
“I could not be more proud of the steps we have taken every Friday,” SJ-O coach Shawn Skinner said. “They play hard – that has never been an issue – and as they figured things out, they have continued to improve.
“In the first three weeks, we didn’t get in the end zone enough. As the season has progressed, we’ve moved the ball better.”
SJ-O senior Keaton Nolan rushed for a game-high 175 yards on 24 carries and has gained 406 yards on the ground in his last two games.
The Spartans didn’t have fumbles on any of their 37 running plays.
“That’s attention to detail from our backs and our snappers (center Conrad Miller and long-snappers Coby Miller and Rowan Musselman),” Skinner said. “That’s a compliment to how well our running backs, center and quarterback handled the exchanges.
“The conditions were miserable, but I was impressed how well the field held up.”
Quarterback Evan Ingram returned from an injury to complete 5 of 9 passes, three going for touchdowns.
“He really did some good things,” Skinner said.
He hooked up with Griffin Roesch, Alex Funk and Coby Miller on scoring strikes as well as a 37-yard pass play to Ramsey Primmer.
The victory makes the Spartans playoff-eligible following an 0-3 start to the season.
“That was the first step,” Skinner said. “Now we’re going to try to keep stacking them up.”
The Spartans will likely move forward without Coby Miller, who suffered a leg injury.
Miller is second on the team in scoring (eight TDs) and entered last week’s game first in tackles (51).
“He’s a ginormous part of what we do,” Skinner said. “He has had a phenomenal year on defense.
“He does a little of everything. Our hearts are broken, but our fingers are crossed (for a possible return).”
Skinner said this week will give the team time to fill the void.
“It will take multiple guys to fill in for him,” Skinner said. “Luckily, we have some time.”
Offensively, Miller’s 389 rushing yards are second on the team to Nolan’s 761 yards.
SJ-O forced three Rantoul turnovers, including an interception by Garrett Denhart, the eighth Spartan to pick off a pass this season.
“Our defense has been giving us the ball in advantageous positions,” Skinner said.
SJ-O returns to action on Friday (Oct. 22) at Paxton-Buckley-Loda in a showdown between two 5-3 teams. The winner could finish in a third-place tie in the 10-school Illini Prairie Conference.
“This is a great finale for us,” Skinner said. “PBL is so big and physical.
“They are one of the most physical teams I’ve seen.”
Under the tenure of third-year head coach Josh Pritchard, PBL has not lost a home game.
