The Spartans extended their winning streak to five games on Saturday with a 79-44 conquest at Westville.

SJ-O led 25-19 after one quarter, but scored the first 10 points of the second period in a 4-minute, 14-second span and took a commanding lead.

Ty Pence led the Spartans in scoring (19 points) and rebounding (eight).

Two teammates had their highest-scoring games of the season. Payton Grimsley tossed in 16 points and Jordan Kelly netted 14 points.

Payton Cain also scored 14 points.

Pence collected five steals and Grimsley grabbed four rebounds. Kelly chipped in with four steals and three assists. Chance Izard led with a team-high six assists.

On Friday, the Spartans posted a come-from-behind 56-49 verdict over visiting Prairie Central in an Illini Prairie Conference game.

Cain tallied a team-high 14 points and also contributed seven rebounds, four assists and three steals to the SJ-O cause.

Izard scored 13 points and Pence added 10 points. Izard collected four assists and Pence grabbed four rebounds.

The Spartans’ top rebounder, with eight, was Drew Coursey. Kelly finished with three assists.

SJ-O (15-6) returns to action on Tuesday at home against Monticello. The Spartans are 5-0 in IPC action.

The post Spartans on five-game win streak first appeared on SJO Daily.

Taylor Barnes scored a season-high 18 points on Monday and teammate Payton Vallee grabbed 13 rebounds to lead St. Joseph-Ogden past visiting Monticello 47-39 in a girls’ Illini Prairie Conference basketball game.

SJ-O held a slim 21-20 halftime lead, but built its advantage to 34-27 after three quarters. Five Spartans scored in the third quarter, but no player hit more than three points in the stanza.

Katie Cramer finished with eight points and Ella Armstrong contributed six.

SJ-O helped its cause by sinking 11 of 15 free throws.

The game was the 13th in 23 games played by the team this season that have been settled by nine points, or less. SJ-O is 10-3 in those contests.

The Spartans (17-6) return to action tonight at Pontiac. The team is 4-2 in conference games.

The post Barnes and Vallee help grab Illini Prairie Conference win for St. Joseph-Ogden first appeared on SJO Daily.

The Spartans went 4-4 in the Illini Prairie Conference dual-meet series, which ended on Saturday at Pontiac, and placed fifth in the nine-team event.

Individually, two SJ-O athletes compiled 7-1 records during the two-day competition.

A.J. Wagner (113 pounds) won all but one of his bouts, including four by pin. His fastest fall was 37 seconds.

Isaiah Moore (126 pounds) was also 7-1 at the league meet. He posted three pins, including one in 23 seconds.

Overall, 12 SJ-O athletes competed at the IPC meet and all 12 won at least one match. Eight squad members had pins.

Brodie Sullivan (182 pounds) was 5-2 with two pins. His quickest pin was 56 seconds. Trevon Carr (170 pounds) was 5-3 with three pins. His fastest fall was in 1:03. Max Shonkwiler (195 pounds) was 5-3 with three pins, including one in 55 seconds.

Owen Birt (220 pounds) was 4-3 and Isaiah Immke (138 pounds) was 4-4. Immke had two pins, including a fast fall of 1:53.

Chase Chapman (132 pounds) was 3-3 with a pin in 4:37. Conrad Miller (145 pounds) was 3-5 with two pins, including one in 35 seconds.

Other Spartan competitors were Austin Kofoot (120 pounds), who was 2-4; A.J. Wells (285 pounds), who was 1-2; and Austin Cotter (285 pounds), who was 1-4.

The Spartans’ conference team wins were 46-4 over St.  Thomas More, 54-18 over Olympia, 47-21 over Rantoul and 42-39 over Chillicothe IVC.

The team’s losses were to eventual champion Unity 65-5, eventual runner-up Prairie Central 62-18, eventual third-place finisher Pontiac 48-32 and eventual fourth-place finisher Monticello, 50-24.

The lone SJ-O winner against Unity was Immke, who collected a 19-3 technical fall triumph. Wagner, Moore and Chapman were the winners against Prairie Central.

SJ-O returns to action on Thursday at El Paso in a meet that also includes Clinton.

The post St. Joseph-Ogden Wrestling places fifth at Illini Prairie Conference dual-meet first appeared on SJO Daily.

The Comets stayed unbeaten in Vermilion Valley Conference games by posting a 60-28 triumph at Westville on Friday.

A balanced attack led Oakwood in the opening quarter. Five different players hit field goals and the Comets led 11-10 after eight minutes.

Elijah Harden tallied six second-quarter points as Oakwood extended its lead to 26-15 at halftime.

Brevin Wells led Oakwood with 12 points. Harden and Jayden Cox hit 11 points apiece. Jackson Powell scored seven points.

The Comets had more than doubled the score after three periods, taking a 45-21 lead into the final eight minutes.

Oakwood is 6-5 overall and 2-0 in the VVC. The Comets return to action on Thursday, Dec. 26 in the Monticello Tournament, facing the host Sages at 11:30 a.m. and Tuscola at 6 p.m.

The post Oakwood boys’ basketball remains unbeaten in Vermilion County Conference play first appeared on SJO Daily.

Saturday, January 11, 2020 

Varsity (SJO HS Main Gym)
Varsity:  8 Minute Quarters – 10 Minute Halftimes & 12-15 Minute Warm-Ups

11:00 AM: SE (Locker Room) Crete-Monee vs. Mahomet-Seymour NW (Locker Room)
12:30 PM: SW (Locker Room) Kankakee vs. Danville NE (Locker Room)
2:00 PM:  SE (Locker Room) Rich Central vs. Champaign Central NW (Locker Room)
3:30 PM: SW (Locker Room) Cissna Park vs. Monticello NE (Locker Room)
5:00 PM: SE (Locker Room) Pleasant Plains vs. Notre Dame La Salette NW (Locker Room)
6:30 PM: SW (Locker Room) Maine South vs. Normal Community NE (Locker Room)
8:00 PM: SE (Locker Room) Farmington vs. St. Joseph-Ogden NW (Locker Room)

Junior Varsity (SJO PRACTICE GYM)
JV (8 Minute Quarters – 8 Minute Halftimes & 10-12 Minute Warm-Ups) Games MAY Start Up to 15 Minutes Early
9:00 AM: (Locker Room-TBA) Crete-Monee vs. Mahomet-Seymour (Locker Room-TBA)
10:30 AM: (Locker Room-TBA) Kankakee vs. Danville (Locker Room-TBA)
12:00 PM: (Locker Room-TBA) Rich Central vs. Champaign Central (Locker Room-TBA)
1:30 PM: (Locker Room-TBA) Cissna Park vs. Monticello (Locker Room-TBA)
3:00 PM: (Locker Room-TBA) Pleasant Plains vs. Notre Dame La Salette (Locker Room-TBA)
4:30 PM: (Locker Room-TBA) Maine South vs. Normal Community (Locker Room-TBA)
6:00 PM: (Locker Room-TBA) Farmington vs. St. Joseph-Ogden (Locker Room-TBA)

*****Home team is listed on the right for all games

The post 2020 Christie Clinic Shootout at St. Joseph-Ogden first appeared on SJO Daily.

There was a time in the late 1980s that St. Joseph-Ogden had a leg up on the competition and it had nothing to do with the quality of the boys’ basketball program.

The advantage was the timing for the school’s annual holiday tournament. It came after the multitude of events that marked Thanksgiving week and it preceded the plethora of tournaments that take place immediately after Christmas.

The Leader Classic was a community staple in mid-December, starting and finishing before the Christmas holidays.

The entry list was a literal list of Who’s Who in Central Illinois basketball.

Chrisman, which has more than 1,600 wins in its history, was a participant. So were storied programs such as Monticello, Tuscola and Cissna Park, each of which have at least 1,400 wins. State-ranked teams from Paxton-Buckley-Loda, Unity and Armstrong-Potomac had their turns in the event that made its debut in 1989.

And don’t forget the SJ-O Spartans, who have more tournament titles (17) than all opposing schools combined in the first 30 years of the extravaganza.

“It exploded,” said Randy Wolken, who was the school’s boys’ basketball coach when the tournament began.

“The best teams in the area wanted to be in.

“The first year, we had five teams and right away after that, we had eight. We had our pick of the litter. No one else was doing it.

“You wanted to attract the best schools because you wanted great competition.”

Several schools that wanted to compete couldn’t break existing contracts when the Leader Classic began and had to wait a year to join.

Wolken and long-time SJ-O athletic director Dale Doehring were instrumental in getting the tournament established.

It wasn’t difficult to sell school administrators on the idea.

“They pretty well went for it,” Wolken said, “and I liked it from the aspect that I got four more home games.”

At the outset, there was a secondary advantage for Wolken and his teams.

“We could sit back and relax at Christmas-time,” he said.

The time of holiday leisure was short-lived.

“After a few years, we couldn’t get another tourney (in January), so we got in at Monticello (the week after Christmas),” Wolken said.

SJ-O superintendent Brian Brooks – who coached basketball at the school for 15 years – is not surprised at the tournament’s longevity.

“It was a tradition that our community wrapped their arms around,” Brooks said. “A big part (of the success) is that people at the school, and The Leader (newspaper) committed to it.

“The Leader played a big part with its support.”

As the years passed, more than the basketball schedules were changing. A growing number of schools were arranging their academic calendars to complete first-semester final exams before the Christmas break.

A week-long basketball tournament that coincided with final exams was not a good combination.
Since 2016, the SJ-O event was reduced from eight to six teams with each school playing all of the others in a round-robin format.

In 2018, The Leader newspaper closed its doors and the title sponsor changed to Toyota of Danville.
This year, another change was introduced. The tournament dates were moved up two weeks. First-round games will take place on Dec. 3.

The final day, Saturday, Dec. 7, will be an opportunity for each school to be showcased twice.
Defending tournament champion Cissna Park returns, but there are three newcomers in the field: Georgetown-Ridge Farm, Notre Dame La Salette and Watseka.

Brooks is optimistic that more expansion will take place.

“The last few years, it was more difficult to get teams because there was so much going on,” he said. “It’s not that they were not interested in coming, but the timing of it.

“We’ve gotten good feedback and may be back to eight in the near future.”

This year’s list of tournament entries features schools all within a 75-mile radius of St. Joseph.

In recent years, the tournament included schools traveling from Chicago Longwood and Stanford Olympia. Longwood bowed out after last year’s event.

While some coaches enjoyed seeing schools and styles of play they might not otherwise see in the regular season, there was a flip side to the long-distance commuter teams.

“The one negative from that far away is that you don’t get many fans, and the bottom line is that you need people in the stands to support paying the officials and the scorekeepers,” Wolken said.

“If it can’t break even, it can’t go too many years.”

Three-plus decades into the tournament’s existence, the staying power has been confirmed.

Though SJ-O twice had streaks of at least five tournament championships in a row, Wolken insisted it wasn’t because of scheduling.

“We didn’t just get teams we could beat,” Wolken said. “We had the best we could get in the area.

“You don’t want one good team and five or six poor ones. You want competitive teams and competitive games.

It can be tough to get everything to fall into place.”

Spartan administrators are hopeful that by reinventing itself with a new name and a new time slot, the tournament will remain viable for years to come.

The Toyota of Danville Classic will be held at St. Joseph-Ogden High School from Dec. 3 to Dec. 7. Home teams are listed first.

Tues., Dec. 3 @ 5p.m. Cissna Park vs. Notre Dame La Salette
Tues., Dec. 3 @ 6:30 p.m. SJO vs. Georgetown Ridge-Farm
Tues., Dec. 3 @ 8 p.m. Danville Schlarman vs. Watseka

Wed., Dec. 4 @ 5 p.m. Cissna Park vs. Watseka
Wed., Dec. 4 @ 6:30 p.m. Danville Schlarman vs. Georgetown Ridge-Farm
Wed., Dec. 4 @ 8 p.m. SJO vs. Notre Dame La Salette

Fri. Dec. 6 @ 5 p.m. Notre Dame La Salette vs. Danville Schlarman
Fri. Dec. 6 @ 6:30 p.m.Georgetown Ridge-Farm vs. Watseka
Fri. Dec. 6 @ 8 p.m. SJO vs. Cissna Park

Sat. Dec. 7 @ 10 a.m. Cissna Park vs. Georgetown Ridge-Farm
Sat. Dec. 7 @ 11:30 a.m. SJO vs. Danville Schlarman
Sat. Dec. 7 @ 1 p.m. Notre Dame La Salette vs. Watseka

Sat. Dec. 7 @ 4 p.m. Danville Schlarman vs. Cissna Park
Sat. Dec 7 @ 5:30 p.m. Georgetown Ridge-Farm vs. Notre Dame La Salettesjo
Sat. Dec. 7 @ 7 p.m. Watseka vs. SJO

The post Toyota of Danville Classic: A Tradition that Adapts to the Times first appeared on SJO Daily.

The Blue Devils captured third place in the Lady Falcon/Lady Bunny Tournament on Friday at Gibson City, upending Monticello 56-48.

Aliya Holloman netted her fourth straight 20-point game to start the season, firing in a game-high 25 points. Kyleigh Block totaled 12 points.

In Thursday’s semifinal game at Fisher, VG/Heritage lost to eventual champion St. Joseph-Ogden 46-43. Holloman scored 20 points and Block tallied 17.

VG/Heritage (3-1) returns to action on Tuesday at Tuscola.

The post VGH Girls’ Basketball finishes third at Lady Falcon/Lady Bunny Tournament first appeared on SJO Daily.

Picking a handful of blueberries may seem like a pastime of summer’s past, but Goosecreek Blueberries located just outside of Monticello opened this morning with parents, toddlers and teenagers combing rows and rows of blueberry plants.

In its third year selling you-pick blueberries, Goosecreek Blueberries opens for three to five days (depending on how many customers come to pick) each June. After the ripe berries have been picked, the business closes for 7 to 10 days to let the green berries ripen, then they open again until they run out.

Owner Ken Landreth purchased the property on 1930 North County Road near DeLand in 2014 after a stint with growing grapes did not produce the interest he was looking for.

“We had a few blueberries at the other place, I didn’t pay much attention to them,” Landreth said. “But then I started reading about blueberries the desire for people to come out and pick them. There are people who travel an hour or two hours away to do this.”

A small, family owned and run operation, Goosecreek Blueberries has a laid back atmosphere where families can grab a green bucket and head out to the fields to pick berries. When finished, customers weigh their own berries and pay per pound with cash or check.

Landreth purchases the berry bushes from Michigan. He has had some trouble getting the right PH balance and minerals integrated into the soil, but has been able to grow both Duke and Draper variety blueberries on the property.

He also tries not to spray the berries with anything.

“Once you get them going they are pretty hardy, but it’s hard to get them started,” he said.

Landreth hopes that as he retires, he will be able to run the blueberry farm full time. He would like to, perhaps, put a pond near the property or plant the world’s largest blueberry variety.

Until then, parents will continue to enjoy bringing their children to the blueberry farm.

Mahomet resident, Erica Kennedy was there with her daughter for the first time this morning. “It’s perfect because it’s just the toddler’s height to pick blueberries,” she said.

Landreth suggests visiting the Goosecreek Blueberry Facebook page prior to heading out to pick blueberries.

The post Day Trips: Goosecreek Blueberries opens for the summer first appeared on SJO Daily.