St. Joseph-Ogden’s Jacob Kern placed 12^th in a field of 54 golfers on Tuesday (Sept. 21) in the Illini Prairie Conference tournament at Prairie Vista, in Bloomington.

Kern shot an 82, his best 18-hole round of the season. A junior, Kern missed all-conference designation by one stroke.

Other Spartan scores were: Maddux Carter (92), Logan Smith (92), McGwire Atwood (95), Connor Hale (97) and Jack Robertson (107).

Smith’s round was his best 18-hole score of the season. Atwood matched his season’s best.

SJ-O finished seventh in the eight-school meet with a composite of 361. Prairie Central won the conference crown with a score of 319.

The Spartans return to action on Wednesday (Sept. 29) in a 15-school sectional at Turtle Run, in Danville. 

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St. Joseph-Ogden sophomore Logan Smith captured medalist honors on Thursday (Sept. 16) in a three-school boys’ golf meet at Tri-City Country Club, in Villa Grove.

Smith fired a season-low 41 to win by one shot over teammate Maddux Carter and Okaw Valley’s Trey Hall.

Other SJ-O scores were: Jacob Kern (45), McGwire Atwood (51), Jack Robertson (53) and Talan Miller (57).

SJ-O’s team composite was 179. Runner-up Okaw Valley finished with a 187 and third-place Villa Grove totaled 219.

SJ-O (11-1) returns to action on Monday (Sept. 20) in the Illini Prairie Conference tournament at Prairie Vista Golf Course, in Bloomington.

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Medalist Jacob Kern led the St. Joseph-Ogden boys’ golf team past two opponents on Thursday (Sept. 9) in a triangular meet at Indian Springs.

Kern fired a 4-over-par 40 and was three shots ahead of the runner-up teammate Maddux Carter.

SJ-O’s McGwire Atwood tied for third with a 46. Another Spartan, Jack Robertson, finished in a share of fifth place with a 50.

Other SJ-O scores were Logan Smith (51) and Andrew Beyers (64).

The Spartans had a team composite of 179. Runner-up Tri-Valley came in at 199 and Fisher was third with a 217.

On Monday (Sept. 13), Kern was the team’s low scorer in the Champaign County Invitational at Lincolnshire Fields Country Club.

Kern carded an 86. SJ-O placed fourth among five schools that fielded full teams. Mahomet-Seymour won meet honors (339) followed by Champaign Central (342). SJ-O had a 380 and placed seventh in an eight-team field.

The Spartans’ other competitors were Carter (95), Atwood (99), Robertson (100), Smith (105) and Beyers (114).

SJ-O (9-1) returns to action on Thursday (Sept. 16) at Villa Grove.

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The Spartans’ boys’ golf team suffered its first loss of the season on Thursday (Sept. 2), placing second in a three-school meet at Willow Pond, in Rantoul.

Monticello, which had the three lowest scores, was the meet champion with a composite of 164. SJ-O was next at 181. Rantoul/PBL was third at 190.

SJ-O junior Maddux Carter fired a team-best 43 and finished in fourth place individually.

Other Spartan leaders were: Logan Smith (45), Jacob Kern (46), McGwire Atwood (47), Jack Robertson (51) and Talan Miller (57).

Other Spartans who competed were Tyler Buss (56) and Connor Hale (59).

On Friday (Sept. 3), Kern posted the Spartans’ top score in the Viking Invitational at Danville’s Turtle Run Golf Course.

His 18-hole score was 87.

Other SJ-O scores were Carter (89), Atwood (95), Smith (108), Robertson (102) and Andrew Beyers (117).

SJ-O (7-1) returns to action on Thursday (Sept. 9) at Indian Springs Golf Club against Tri-Valley.

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Medalist Jacob Kern led the St. Joseph-Ogden golf team to a dual-meet victory over Bismarck-Henning/Rossville-Alvin, 188-215, on Tuesday (Aug. 31) on the back nine at Willow Pond, in Rantoul.

Kern captured medalist honors by three shots over teammates Maddux Carter and Jack Robertson, each of whom posted 47s.

Other scores for the Spartans were: McGwire Atwood (50), Logan Smith (51) and Andrew Beyers (58).

SJ-O (6-0 in duals and triangulars) returns to action on Thursday (Sept. 2) at Willow Pond against Rantoul.

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Jacob Kern and McGwire Atwood were co-medalists on Thursday (Aug 26) at Willow Pond as St. Joseph-Ogden won a three-team golf meet.

Kern and Atwood each fired 43s.

In the team chase, SJ-O had a team composite of 178. Runner-up Fisher totaled 217 and Hoopeston Area ended at 222.

SJ-O golfers Maddux Carter and Logan Smith each fired 46s. Jack Robertson came in at 48 and Connor Hale shot 60.

SJ-O (5-0) returns to action on Monday (Aug. 30) against Bismarck-Henning/Rossville-Alvin. That meet will also be at Willow Pond.

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The Spartans won a weather-shortened triangular golf meet on Wednesday (Aug. 25) at Danville Country Club.

With junior Jacob Kern tying for medalist honors (30) for the six holes that were played, SJ-O turned back both Schlarman Academy and Salt Fork.

SJ-O’s six-hole composite score was 129. Schlarman was next with 139. Salt Fork had a 141 total.

Spartan Maddux Carter tied for third-place individually with a six-hole score of 32.

Other SJ-O scores were: McGwire Atwood (33), Logan Smith (34), Jack Robertson (40) and Connor Hale (44).

The Spartans (3-0) return to action on Thursday (Aug. 26) at Willow Pond, in Rantoul, against Fisher.

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Jacob Kern posted the top score for the St. Joseph-Ogden boys’ golf team in their season-opening meet on Monday (Aug. 16) at Urbana.

Kern fired an 87 in the 15-school Tiger Kickoff Classic at Urbana Country Club.

Other SJ-O participants were: McGwire Atwood (101), Logan Smith (107), Connor Hale (109), Maddux Carter (110) and Tyler Buss (122).

The Spartans’ composite score of 404 placed them 12^th in the team standings.

SJ-O was a winner on Wednesday (Aug. 18) in its first dual meet of the year, topping Oakwood 193-212 on the back nine at Harrison Park, in Danville.

Kern carded a 44 and earned medalist honors by two shots. The Spartans also had the third- and fourth-place individual finishers in Atwood (48) and Jack Robertson (49).

Other participants for SJ-O were Smith (52), Hale (54) and Carter (56).

SJ-O (1-0) returns to action on Wednesday (Aug. 25) against Schlarman Academy at Danville Country Club.

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SJ-O Football

The gains made by St. Joseph-Ogden’s football team Friday night were not enough.

The Spartans’ offense was stymied by Unity’s defense and the Rockets made SJ-O its third successive shutout victim with a 20-0 win for homecoming at Hicks Field.

“Their defensive players are fast to the football,” SJ-O coach Shawn Skinner said.

SJ-O was only able to generate 44 second-half yards on 20 plays.

The game was scoreless until the final 40 seconds of the first half.

Unity gained possession on the SJ-O 29-yard line with 1 minute, 59 seconds left in the second quarter following an 11-yard punt.

The Rockets had no timeouts remaining, but moved quickly, scoring on a 6-yard pass from Nate Reinhart to Nate Drennan with 38 seconds left in the period.

For the Spartans, there was a lot to like from the first two quarters. SJ-O matched Unity on first downs (6-6), had no penalties and no turnovers.

“I like how we played with effort,” Skinner said. “There wasn’t a lot I didn’t like other than the lack of scoring on our part. Everything had gone about as we wanted until that last possession when we gave them good field position.”

SJ-O took the ball to start the third quarter, but had to punt 57 seconds later.

Crayton Burnett sailed a punt 45 yards, but the Rockets completed a 64-yard scoring march thanks to three third-down conversions.

Again, Drennan hauled in a scoring strike from Reinhart, who converted his second extra point.

“They are very good, but we feel that we left some plays on the field,” Skinner said. “We’ll lick our wounds, but we will watch film and learn from this.

“Our guys were not satisfied. I liked the look in their eyes after the game. Our guys were ready to keep playing.”

Overall, SJ-O had 64 yards rushing on 25 carries.

Coby Miller and Keaton Nolan each gained 23 yards. Burnett finished with 15 yards rushing. He also completed 10 of 20 passes, for 66 yards.

Ty Pence hauled in four receptions for 21 yards. Chance Izard had 16 yards on two catches.

Izard’s 12-yard catch in the second half was the Spartans’ only play from scrimmage the last two quarters to generate more than eight yards.

In all, six Spartans had pass receptions.

Unity (3-1) finished with a 262-130 edge in total yards.

SJ-O’s four first-half possessions started on their own 18-, 15-, 3- and 17-yard lines.

The Spartans’ first possession of the third period began on their own 13-yard line.

“We made them have to drive the length of the field and we think it’s tough to do that against our defense,” Unity coach Scott Hamilton said. “Defensively, we’ve got a hungry group.”

SJ-O (3-1) returns to action on Friday in its homecoming game against Pontiac (1-3).

SJ-O Girls’ cross-country

The Spartans finished seventh on Saturday in the freshmen-sophomore division of the Richard Spring Invitational at Detweiler Park, in Peoria,

Leading the way for SJ-O were Kailyn Ingram (52nd in 20 minute, 29.7 seconds for 3 miles), Addie Allen (64th in 20:43.4), Malorie Sarnecki (70th in 20:48.2), Kendra Riddle (136th in 21:45.5) and Sidney Davis (188th in 23:09.8).

There were 278 runners in the freshmen-sophomore race.

Meet champion Elmhurst York had 30 points. SJ-O totaled 190.

In the varsity race, SJ-O had three competitors and was not scored as a team.

Jillian Plotner was 101st in a 454-runner field with a time of 19:15.0.

Trailing her were Hanna Eastin (212th in 20:23.8) and Ally Monk (252nd in 20:50.9).

In the open race, the Spartans ended in 40th place with a score of 1194. Meet champion York had 60 points.

The top SJ-O runners were: Kaytlyn Baker (252nd in 23:35.2), Taryn Sexton (362nd in 24:55.9), Teagan Miller (477th in 26:45.9), Izzy Sexton (533rd in 28:32.0), Mary Hinrichs (554th in 29:56.2) and Lili Wentzloff (579th in 34:53.2).

SJ-O returns to action on Saturday when it hosts the Spartan Classic.

SJ-O Boys’ cross-country

Brandon Mattsey and Eric Poe placed among the top half on Saturday in the varsity division of the Richard Spring Classic at Detweiler Park, in Peoria.

Mattsey ran the 3-mile course in 16 minutes, 42.7 seconds and took 188th in a field of 446 competitors. Poe was 198th in 16:46.1.

Other Spartan placers were Logan Wolfersberger (340th in 17:56.0), Lukas Hutcherson (358th in 18:05.9), Taddy Pettit (409th in 19:26.9) and Joshua Sexton (439th in 22:3.1).

In the team standings, SJ-O was 54th with a score of 1426. Meet champion St. Charles East had a score of 57.

SJ-O captured 27th in the 53-school freshmen-sophomore team chase with a score of 777. Meet champion Deerfield had a score of 88.

The Spartans’ leaders were Charlie Mabry (84th in 17:09.8), Elijah Mock (86th in 17:10.3), Luke Stegall (167th in 17:59.1), Braden Clampitt (200th in 18:17.6), Ethan Blackburn (247th in 18:55.3) and Zach Dahman (331st in 21:17.1).

SJ-O did not have any participants in the open race.

The Spartans return to action on Saturday when they host their own Spartan Classic.

SJ-O Golf

Medalist Payton Grimsley carded a 36 to lead the Spartans past Okaw Valley in a three-school meet on Thursday at Tri-City Country Cub. The Spartans carded a team composite of 170 and earned a team win by 23 strokes.

Following Grimsley were teammates Joe Acton (40), Riley Myren (44), Maddux Carter (50), Jack Robertson (52), Jacob Kern (54) and McGuire Atwood (55).

SJ-O returns to action on Tuesday at the Illini Prairie Conference meet in El Paso.

SJ-O Soccer

For the third match in a row, SJ-O was held scoreless on Thursday and dropped a 7-0 Illini Prairie Conference decision to St. Thomas More in Champaign.

SJ-O rebounded on Saturday with a 3-3 draw against Chillicothe IVC.

Freshman Emily Eisbernd scored the first goal for the Spartans, giving the team a 1-0 lead at halftime.

She was assisted by Luke Cohen, who hit a second-half goal as did teammate Garrett Siems.

Siems also had one assist.

The Spartans (2-9-2) return to action on Tuesday at Rantoul.

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Payton Grimsley shot an 85 on Monday to lead St. Joseph-Ogden in its season-opening golf meet at Urbana in the Tiger Kick-Off Classic.

SJ-O’s 422 composite placed it 16th in the team standings. Meet champion Champaign Central teamed up for a 323.

Other Spartan competitors were Joe Acton (101), Maddox Carter (118), McGuire Atwood (118), Jacob Kern (120) and Jack Robertson (124).

Four of SJ-O’s competitors are freshmen.

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