By Fred Kroner
Junior quarterback Logan Smith completed 12 straight passes and directed a St. Joseph-Ogden football offense that amassed 520 yards of total offense on Friday (Sept. 16) as the Spartans thumped IVC, 41-14, in Chillicothe.
Overall, Smith connected on 20 of 23 pass attempts and threw for 380 yards and four touchdowns without an interception.
He hooked up with Ty Pence for two scores through the air and with Coy Taylor for two other TDs.
Justice Wertz and Tyler Burch also ran for TDs and gained 77 and 55 yards, respectively, on the ground.
Pence hauled in seven pases for 165 yards. Taylor made eight catches and gained 143 yards. Aidan Moberg had the other five receptions for 72 yards.
The road game was the third one for the Spartans in the season’s first four weeks.
SJ-O’s revamped offensive philosophy this season is paying dividends.
“We have running backs with good vision and an offensive line that can open holes, but with our good receivers and good quarterback, this was the right thing for us to do,” Spartans’ coach Shawn Skinner said. “We’re spreading out and making teams defend sideline to sideline.”
Unlike in recent years, when SJ-O operated out of the shotgun offense about one-third of the time, Skinner estimated that this year, “it’s about 95 percent of the time.”
Assistant coaches Dalton Walsh (offensive coordinator), Nick Bialeschki (line coach) and Todd Sarnecki (quarterbacks coach) have played key roles in the offensive outbursts.
“Dalton is good at finding mismatches and they have all done a wonderful job,” Skinner said.
The Spartans are also progressing in their new defensive scheme this season, going to “a cover-3 as opposed to the cover-4 we ran the last 11 years,” Skinner said.
The defense forced two turnovers (interceptions by Corbin Wells and Garrett Denhart) and held IVC to one touchdown until late in the contest.
“The defense rebounded well (from the previous week),” Skinner said. “They were very disciplined.”
Besides Wells and Denhart, who anchor the secondary, Skinner said Owen Birt remains a tower of strength at right defensive end.
“He gets after people,” the coach said.
SJ-O (2-2) returns to action on Friday (Sept. 23) with its annual homecoming game at Dick Duval Field. The Spartans will play host to Nokomis (1-3), which picked up its first win last week, topping Heyworth.
“We’re happy with what we did (against IVC),” Skinner said. “Now, let’s build on it. We have to be better in our attention to detail and in reducing penalties.”
SJ-O was whistled for 12 penalties last week, totaling 133 yards in walkoffs.
The Spartans will still be without senior Alex Funk, who suffered a knee injury in Week 3.
“He was not just a running back,” Skinner said, “but one of our strongest and fastest kids.”
