SJ-O Boys’ cross-country

With Brandon Mattsey and Eric Poe finishing second and third, respectively, the SJ-O Spartans opened the boys’ cross-country season on Saturday by winning the Doc Acklin Memorial Invitational, at Paris.

SJ-O had a team score of 25. Runner-up Marshall had a score of 49.

Mattsey ran the 3-mile course in 17 minutes, 1.4 seconds. Poe finished in 17:07.6.

The Spartans had five runners among the top 10 in a field of 81 competitors.

Elijah Mock was seventh (17:44.0), followed by Luke Stegall in eighth (17:46.8) and Charlie Mabry in 10th (18:04.1).

Rounding out the team’s top seven were Braden Clampitt in 21st (18:55.1) and Lukas Hutcherson in 22nd (19:00.3).

SJ-0 returns to action on Saturday in Chrisman’s Cowchip Classic.

SJ-O Girls’ cross-country

The Spartans placed second to Marshall in Saturday’s 11-school Doc Acklin Memorial Invitational, in Paris.

Marshall had a composite score of 28. SJ-O totaled 34 points.

All of the Spartans’ top seven runners finished among the top 18 in a field of 56.

Jillian Plotner ran the 3-mile course in 18 minutes, 35.2 seconds and finished third individually.

She was two spots ahead of teammate Hannah Rajlich, whose time was 20:37.9.

Ava Knap was seventh (20:44.8) and Ashlyn Lannert was 10th (21:06.3).

Other team leaders were Ally Monk (11th in 21:11.7), Hope Rajlich (12th in 21:13.5) and Kailyn Ingram (18th in 21:47.6).

The Spartans’ next meet is Saturday at Chrisman in the Cowchip Classic.

SJ-O Soccer

Zac Seeley scored three goals – one on a penalty kick – and SJ-O won its first match of the season on Monday, 5-1 against visiting Schlarman Academy.

The teams were tied, 1-1, at intermission.

Wes Seeley and Brayden Grimsey each had one goal for the Spartans (1-3-1).

Goalkeeper Hunter Ketchum had two saves.

SJ-O returns to action tonight at Bismarck-Henning/Rossville-Alvin.

SJ-O Volleyball

The Spartans (4-1) won their fourth consecutive two-set match on Tuesday, dealing visiting Cissna Park a 25-7, 25-9 loss.

Kennedi Burnett had team-high totals in kills (seven), digs (five) and blocks (two).

Emily Bigger put up 21 assists and Lacey Kaiser landed five service aces in addition to four kills.

Katelyn Berry chipped in with four aces, four kills and four digs. Payton Vallee added five kills.

SJ-O returns to action tonight at Teutopolis.

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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.

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