The Spartans (4-1) rebounded from a shutout loss the previous week to hold Pontiac scoreless on Friday in a 19-0 homecoming triumph in St. Joseph.

Coach Shawn Skinner sees a pattern in the team’s 4-1 season record.

“We are 4-0 in games when we win the turnover battle,” Skinner said.

Against the Indians, the SJ-O defense forced five fumbles and the Spartans recovered four of them.

Jarrett Stevenson rushed for a team-high 52 yards and scored one touchdown.

Crayton Burnett tossed a 62-yard scoring pass to Brady Buss. Overall, Burnett was 7 of 18 for 120 yards. All seven completions were to different receivers.

Jaden Miller gained 26 yards on his catch. Stevenson had a 15-yard reception and Ty Pence caught a pass for 14 yards.

“We were opportunistic with plays on offense,” Skinner said. “We didn’t sustain drives as needed, but hitting on big pass plays and putting some good runs together for a final score late in the game were things we can build on.

“Our defense can keep us in games. Drew Coursey just gets better weekly at outside linebacker.”

The other Spartan score came on a 68-yard punt return by Payton Cain.

SJ-O needs one more win to become playoff-eligible. The Spartans return to action on Friday against Prairie Central (3-2) in Fairbury.

“Prairie Central has done a nice job with their offensive line and they can move people off the ball,” Skinner said. “Their quarterback and fullback pose threats and they are athletic enough to score from anywhere on the field.”

SJ-O Volleyball

Despite double-figure kill totals from two players, SJ-O had its five-match winning streak snapped at home on Thursday by St. Thomas More.

Kennedi Burnett landed 13 kills and Kaitlyn Berry closed with 10 for the Spartans in a 21-25, 25-20, 25-20 setback.

Burnett and Berry each contributed eight digs.

Emily Bigger handed out 32 assists. Lacey Kaiser ended with eight kills, seven digs and two blocks.

The Spartans (15-4) return to action tonight at Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley.

After the loss to the Sabers, SJ-O is 1-1 in Illini Prairie Conference action.

SJ-O Boys’ cross-country

In a field of nearly 200 runners, four SJ-O athletes placed among the top 50 on Saturday, helping the team to a third-place finish in the Spartan Classic.

Urbana Uni High (81 points) won team honors, followed by Monticello (90) and SJ-O (132). A total of 26 schools fielded full teams.

The Spartans’ leader was Brandon Mattsey, who ended in eighth after running the 3-mile street course in 15 minutes, 41.28 seconds.

Other SJ-O competitors were Eric Poe (23rd in 16:21.31); Charlie Mabry (28th in 16:38.50); Elijah Mock (29th in 16:41.49); Luke Stegall (47th in 17:02.19); Logan Wolfersberger (79th in 17:42.72) and Lukas Hutcherson (90th in 17:50.34).

SJ-O returns to action on Tuesday, Oct. 8 in the Illini Prairie Conference Meet at Fairbury.

SJ-O Girls’ cross-country

Five Spartans entered the finish chute within 52 seconds of one another on Saturday, helping the school to a third-place finish in the Spartan Classic.

Team-leader Jillian Plotner ran the 3-mile course in 18 minutes, 29.34 seconds and was seventh in a field of 147 competitors.

The next five Spartans packed together well and placed between 17th and 38th and were separated by less than a minute.

Next in line for SJ-O were Hannah Rajlich (17th in 19:03.56); Ava Knap (26th in 19:34.22); Ashlyn Lannert (29th in 19:38.85); Kailyn Ingram (33rd in 19:45.34) and Ally Monk (38th in 19:55.91).

The team’s other competitor was Hope Rajlich (57th in 21:06.35).

SJ-O captured third among 20 full teams in the meet.

Unity (48) was the meet champion, followed by Monticello (63) and the Spartans (106).

SJ-O’s next meet is on Tuesday, Oct. 8 in the Illini Prairie Conference Meet at Fairbury.

SJ-O Golf

Payton Grimsley and Joe Acton were the SJ-O leaders in Tuesday’s Illini Prairie Conference meet at El Paso.

Grimsley fired an 87.

Acton closed at 91.

Other scores for the team were: Riley Myren (93), Jacob Kern (112), Jack Robertson (117) and Maddux Carter (124).

The Spartans’ final team tally was 392. SJ-O ended in seventh place. Meet champion Prairie Central registered a 319.

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The Spartans had two players eclipse the 100-yard mark in rushing on Friday and continued their unbeaten start to the season with an 18-7 conquest of visiting Bloomington Central Catholic.

One highlight for SJ-O was the play of the defense, which head coach Shawn Skinner said was “outstanding.”

He continued: “I thought our DBs were solid all night. Drew Coursey was a factor at outside linebacker getting pressure on their quarterback and setting an edge to stop their outside runs.”

The SJ-O defense limited the Saints to 48 yards rushing on 22 attempts.

Keaton Nolan ran for a game-high 107 yards and Brayden Weaver gained 104 to lead SJ-O, which registered 339 yards of total offense.

Weaver’s first-quarter touchdown accounted for the only scoring until Nolan reached the end zone in the final 90 seconds of the first half.

Crayon Burnett, who completed 6 of 16 passes for 131 yards, added the final TD in the fourth quarter.

Brady Buss caught two passes from Burnett and turned them into gains of 83 yards. Other teammates with receptions were Ty Pence (two), Payton Cain (one) and Coby Miller (one).

“The offense took some strides in throwing the ball,” Skinner said, “but we left some plays on the field.

“Obviously, when you get two backs who run for over 100 yards, it’s a credit to your offensive line and the ability to get those backs free.”

The Spartans (3-0) return to action on Friday at Unity (2-1).

“We need to keep getting better,” Skinner said. “It’s really that simple.

“If we continue to play with effort and come to practice focused, and continue to play better, that’s all we can ask as coaches.”

SJ-O Boys’ cross-country

Brandon Mattsey placed 56th for SJ-O on Saturday in the 505-runner Class 2A division of the First to Finish race at Detweiler Park in Peoria.

Mattsey’s 3-mile time was 16 minutes, 30.2 seconds.

SJ-O had a team score of 702 and ended in 24th place. There was a total of 59 full teams. Meet champion Kaneland had a score of 71 points.

Other leaders for the Spartans were Eric Poe (120th in 17:05.5), Elijah Mock (146th in 17:22), Luke Stegall (182nd in 17:34.3), Charlie Mabry (220th in 17:54.1), Logan Wolfersberger (293rd in 18:27.5), Lukas Hutcherson (298th in 18:28.6), Braden Clampitt (327th in 18:43.8) and Ethan Blackburn (353rd in 18:59.9).

In a separate open race, SJ-O’s Tad Pettit was 363th in 19:56.5.

SJ-O returns to action on Tuesday against Monticello at Kickapoo State Park.

SJ-O Girls’ cross-country

SJ-O placed ninth in the 47-school First to Finish Class 2A race on Saturday at Detweiler Park, in Peoria.

The first five Spartans placed among the top 100 in a field of 412 competitors.

Hannah Rajlich was the team-leader, completing the 3-mile course in 19 minutes, 48.5 seconds. She was 45th.

Teammates following her were Ava Knap (59th in 20:00.9), Ashlyn Lannert (80th in 20:18.6), Ally Monk (83rd in 20:20.9) and Kailyn Ingram (97th in 20:32.2).

SJ-O compiled a team score of 364 points. Meet champion Vernon Hills had a score of 87.

Other Spartan times were Hope Rajlich (141st in 21:21.4), Hanna Eastin (149th in 21:29.6), Addie Allen (160th in 21:37.6), Kendra Riddle (170th in 21:43.6) and Malorie Sarnecki (220th in 22:17.5).

There was a separate girls’ 3-mile open race for runners who did not participate in any other race.

A total of 817 runners finished the open race.

SJ-O’s leaders were Sidney Davis (404th in 24:47.8), Kaytlyn Baker (477th in 25:45.2), Taryn Sexton (490th in 25:53.4), Mary Hinrichs (634th in 28:07.4), Izzy Sexton (691st in 28:35.0), Teagan Miller (707th in 29:09.2) and Lili Wentzloff (804th in 35:45.3).

Of the 52 full teams that competed in the open race, SJ-O was 41st with 1,232 points.

The Spartans will return to action Tuesday against Monticello at Kickapoo State Park.

SJ-O Soccer

In a match which was officially scoreless, the SJ-O soccer squad earned a victory on Friday over Oakwood/Salt Fork in the Hoopeston Area Cornjerker Classic.

The teams were tied 0-0 after regulation before the Spartans prevailed on penalty kicks 3-2.

When the schools played to open the season, that match also ended in a 0-0 deadlock.

SJ-O (2-7-1) lost its other two matches in the tournament, falling to eventual third-place finisher Iroquois West 6-1 and to eventual champion Monticello 5-0.

The Spartans return to action at home on Tuesday against Monticello, which is 8-0-1 for the season.

SJ-O Volleyball

All-tournament pick Kennedi Burnett paced SJ-O to four two-set sweeps before the Spartans lost in Saturday’s championship match of the Bulldog Invitational to the host Mahomet-Seymour squad.

The Spartans (10-3) opened with pool play victories over the St. Teresa JV team 25-10, 25-5, Springfield Southeast 25-10, 25-6 and Peotone 25-11, 25-12.

In the semifinals, SJ-O upended Manteno 25-15, 25-18.

In the finals, against an M-S team the Spartans had beaten earlier in the season, the Bulldogs prevailed 25-9, 25-22.

For the five tournament matches, Burnett swatted 31 kills and contributed 35 digs. Emily Bigger had 99 assists as well as 28 digs and seven service aces.

Other Spartan leaders were Katelyn Berry with 30 kills and 33 digs, Rylee Stahl with 28 digs and Payton Vallee with 18 kills.

SJ-O returns to action tonight at home against Hoopeston Area.

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Spartan football bounced back from a first-quarter deficit on Friday in its football home-opener and rallied to defeat St. Thomas More, 36-8.

The visiting Sabers led, 8-0, after one quarter, but SJ-O built a 16-8 lead at halftime.

SJ-O needed to make some in-game adjustments.

“We had prepared for the spread offense and they came out in a version of single wing run-oriented offense,” SJ-O coach Shawn Skinner said. “After the first series, our defense just locked them down.

“Defense did a fantastic job of adjusting to the STM offense.”

Jarrett Stevenson sparked the SJ-O comeback. He rushed for a game-high 173 yards on 20 carries and scored four touchdowns.

His TDs were on runs of 4, 17, 10 and 5 yards. Stevenson also ran in the two-point extra-point conversion three times, totaling 30 points in the opener.

Keaton Nolan added 41 yards rushing, helping SJ-O to a total of 263 yards on the ground.

Brayden Weaver scored the other SJ-O touchdown on a 34-yard run.

“Kids played well,” Skinner said. “Offensive line did a nice job of opening up holes for our backs to run through.”

Quarterback Crayton Burnett completed 4 of 7 passes for 29 yards. Brady Buss caught two of the completions.

“Burnett’s numbers weren’t great, partly because our line needs to pass block a lot better, but he did a great job of running the offense,” Skinner said. “His decision-making was really impressive.”

The Spartans return to action on Friday at Rantoul (0-1).

Soccer

SJ-O doubled its season’s total for goals scored, but was edged by Danville, 3-2, on Saturday.

On Thursday, SJ-O dropped a 7-1 decision to Urbana Uni High. Zac Seeley scored the team’s goal.

Goalie Mason Behrens had seven saves.

The Spartans (0-3-1) return to action today at home against Schlarman Academy.

Volleyball

SJ-O (3-1) bounced back from a season-opening loss to end the week with three victories in a four-day span.

The Spartans went on the road Saturday and secured a two-set sweep over Mahomet-Seymour, 25-16, 25-12. SJ-O amassed 26 kills and had just six hitting errors.

Team leaders were Kennedi Burnett (nine kills), Katelyn Berry (six kills) and Stephanie Trame (four kills). Emily Bigger posted 21 assists and five digs. Lacey Kaiser also totaled five digs.

The Spartans handled Bismarck-Henning on Thursday, 25-15, 25-13. Bigger had 22 assists and nine digs. Berry had nine kills. Kaiser had seven digs and six kills. Burnett accumulated nine digs and Rylee Stahl ended with seven digs.

In Wednesday’s 25-8, 25-2 conquest of Georgetown-Ridge Farm, Bigger put up 18 assists, Burnett collected five kills and five digs. Berry chipped in with four kills and three service aces.

SJ-O returns to action on Tuesday at home against Cissna Park.

The post Spartan football tops STM, Volleyball bounces back, soccer drops two first appeared on SJO Daily.