Spartans football team off to a 4-0 start!

Jared Altenbaumer runs through team tunnel — **ST. JOSEPH** - St. Joseph-Ogden senior Jared Altenbaumer runs through the team tunnel during the pregame introductions before the start of their home game against Unity on September 6. The undefeated Spartans, now two wins away from a guaranteed postseason bid, are back home this Friday for their first home game in two weeks, facing the Lions of Carterville. SJO moved to 4-0 last Friday after defeating Illinois Valley Central on the road, 42-28.

SJO tennis falls short in season opener at Maroa-Forsyth

MAROA - St. Joseph-Ogden's Ainsley Rhoten won eight games in her match at #4 singles against Maroa-Forsyth's Addison Stacey. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to post an opening day win for the Spartans at the Fairview Park Tennis Complex in Maroa on Thursday.

SJO SPORTS Rhoten, who lost 6-4, 6-4, led SJO in the 9-0 loss to the host Trojans.

"The team played absolutely great, but we fell short," said head coach Kevin Martlage. "There's a lot to build upon from tonight, and I was extremely happy with our efforts and what I saw."

SJO's Sonia Patel won five games in her match against the Trojans' Emma Knecht, while Madison Farber secured four games in her match against Maroa-Forsyth's Riley Hackleman, three in the first set and one in the second.

FINAL RESULTS

Singles:
No. 1 - Ella Sandgren (MF) def. Samantha Kelso (SJO) 6-0 , 6-0
No. 2 - Isabella Griffiths (MF) def. Madison Clampitt (SJO) 6-2 , 6-1
No. 3 - Emma Knecht (MF) def. Sonia Patel (SJO) 6-3 , 1-2
No. 4 - Addison Stacey (MF) def. Ainsley Rhoten (SJO) 6-4 , 6-4
No. 5 - Saarah Qureshi (MF) def. Ella Dieteker (SJO) 6-1 , 6-0
No. 6 - Riley Hackleman (MF) def. Madison Farber (SJO) 6-3 , 6-1

Doubles:
No. 1 - Katherine Nilles/Alexis Nilles (MF) def. Olivia Getty/Sara Kearney (SJO) 6-0 , 6-1
No. 2 - Shokrea Qidan/Isabella Griffiths (MF) def. MaKennah Hamilton/Lily Rice (SJO) 6-2 , 6-1
No. 3 - Pearlpreet Ghotra/Gurleen Kaur (MF) def. Audrie Helfrich/Audrey Benoit (SJO) 6-1 , 6-3

Looking Back | St. Joseph-Ogden basketball team rolls over Nashville 24 points

With the hectic 2022-23 season behind us, we want to use the summer to catch up publishing some of the great moments we captured this season but didn't have the time or resources to publish. Here is The Sentinel's next installment of our summer feature called Looking Back. Visit our website weekly for more photo features.

Ty Pence has his shot blocked in the Nashville game

Photo: PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks

Nashville senior Aidan Heiman tries to block a shot under the basket by Ty Pence. The Spartans defeated the visiting Hornets, 59-35. See more photos from this game here. Heiman finished the game with 4 points and 6 rebounds.

Photo: PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks

SJO's Coy Taylor tries to get around Nashville's Carter Schoenherr during a first-half free throw.

Photo: PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks

Nashville's Rylan Hammer brings the ball down the court to a waiting St. Joseph-Ogden senior Maddux Carter playing defense in first half.

Photo: PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks

McGwire Atwood pulls down a rebound in the second half. Atwood helped the Spartans break a two-game skid with their first win of 2023.

Photo: PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks

Spartan senior Ty Pence looks for an open path into the lane during in the fourth quarter.

Photo: PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks

St. Joseph-Ogden cheerleaders lead student fans in a cheer during a timeout.

Photo: PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks

SJO sophomore Tanner Siems barrels his way into the paint against Nashville sophomore Isaac Blazier in the team's 59-35 win. See more photos from this game here.

Throwback Thursday | Spartans beat Momence by 12

SJO wins at home

St. Joseph-Ogden's Aaron Woller dribbles the ball around a Momence player during the Spartans' home game on February 8, 2013. Woller drained two free throws in the fourth quarter to help SJO defeat the visiting Redskins, 53-41. Woller and the St. Joseph-Ogden program went on to finish the season fourth in the state in Class 2A.

Photo: PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks

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Spartans win first annual Toyota of Danville Turkey Tournament

St. Joseph-Ogden High School girls basketball players celebrate with their tournament championship title Thursday night in the high school Main Gym. The Spartans ran the table defeating Urbana High School, Tri-County and Champaign Centennial at the three-day holiday tournament, sponsored by Toyota of Danville, to win the very first girls' holiday basketball tournament held at SJO. More photos and game recaps coming soon.

PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks

Photo of the Day - November 5, 2021

SJO basketball program finishes 3rd at state!

Stepping past Hillsboro's Sheridan Lyerla, St. Joseph-Ogden's Ella Armstrong attacks the paint during their Class 2A third-place game on Saturday, February 23, 2019. The Spartans, who won 68-53, led by as much as 26 points on their way to the program's best finish in school history. Armstrong, now a senior, and the Spartans will look for a post-Covid return to Redbird Arena this coming February for another IHSA Final Four appearance. (Photo: PhotoNews/Clark Brooks)

Photo of the Day - November 2, 2021

Orion Ciota carries the ball on a 12-yard touchdown run for St. Joseph-Ogden during their 2013 home football game against PORTA. Behind Ciota's 166 rushing yards and two TDs, the Spartans rolled over the Bluejays in their first-round Class 3A playoff game 43-25 on November 2, 2013. SJO went to win their next two contests to face Stillman Valley in the Class 3A championship game. (Photo: PhotoNews Media Archive)

Spartans bounce back

Photo: PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks

Hannah Fox lunges toward the ball to keep it in playing during St. Joseph-Ogden's home game against Monticello. SJO rebounds from a 2-0 loss against Tri-Valley 24 hours earlier defeating the visiting Sages from Monticello 25-7, 26-24. The Spartans play again on Thursday in a road match at Salt Fork.

Spartans advance to IHSA golf sectional

Danville - SJO junior Jacob Kern shot 16 over Par and nine strokes behind regional champion Will Ross from Monticello to advance to Monday's sectional tournament at Balmoral Woods. Fellow junior McGwire Atwood, who finished in 12th place on the Par 72 course at Turtle Run, will also represent St. Joseph-Ogden at the Beecher sectional meet as the pair will try to qualify for the following weekend's IHSA Golf State Final.

Kern finished in a three-way tie with Judah Christian's Grant Hendershot and Monticello's Tanner Buehnerkemper, each with 85 strokes. Atwood's day ended with an 89.

The Spartans, who finished with 377 points on Wednesday, missed advancing to sectionals as a team by just one stroke behind St. Thomas More with 376.

Also representing St. Joseph-Ogden in Danville was Logan Smith, who shot a 96 and finished in 21st place, Jack Robertson in 37th with 107 strokes, and Connor Hale 52nd with a 117.

Photo Gallery: Spartans hand STM first conference loss

Left: Will Childers heads the ball toward waiting Spartan teammates. Right: Spencer Wilson inserts himself between two St. Thomas More players to get control of the ball during first half play. Wilson later scored the only goal the game to give the Spartan program this first victory over the Sabers in more than five seasons.

Photos from PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks

Left: Owen Baltzell boots the ball down the field during last half of the first half against the Sabers. Right: Brennan Haake, a senior who will be honored at SJO's home match on Saturday, plays defense in the first half.

Left: SJO defensive specialist Jared Emmert follows an STM player across the field. Emmert, a senior and four-year veteran on the team, will be honored at Saturday's Senior Day. Right: Spartan Garrett Siems passes the ball during first half action against the Sabers.

Left: Spartans' Collin Thomey heads the ball away from a pair of Sabers' players. Right: Will Childers cuts off St. Thomas More player's path down the field toward SJO's goal.

Left: Goalkeeper Hunter Ketchum keeps a watchful eye on the action to his left. Ketchum made six saves to give the Spartans the shutout. Right: A STM player pushes the ball to the middle of box hoping to take a shot on the SJO goal in the second half.

Oh, YEAH!

Junior Carter Mabry lets out an celebratory yell as he walks back to the bench after the game. Mabry and the Spartan program will honor two seniors on Saturday before the opening kick against Georgetown-Ridge Farm.

Looking for photos of a specific player from either team? Email us at photos@oursentinel.com with the athlete's name and jersey number for details.

Spartans unable to tarnish unbeaten Rockets

Photo: PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks

St. Joseph-Ogden's Shayne Immke leaps above the net to try and block a kill attempt by Unity's Macie Knudsen. Immke and the Spartans fell on their home court after two sets, 25-13, 25-21.

"We struggled on defense. They did a nice job mixing up their offense getting us on our heels all night long," said SJO head coach Abby McDonald. "We were never in system from the beginning. Our defense wasn't there tonight."

"Defense wins ball games and it was a real struggle for us."

SJO falls to 10-4 on the season while the Rockets record continues on unblemished at 14-0.

SJO football drops to 0-3, team needs to start 'stacking' wins

Coby Miller is wrapped up from behind by a Prairie Central defender. Miller caught three passes for 18 yards and ran for a modest 26 more on seven touches. See more photos from the game here. (Photo: PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks)

One touchdown and a conversion.

Seven points was all the St. Joseph-Ogden football team needed to pick up their first win of the season. After the grass had settled and the bleachers at Dick Duval Field emptied, the teary-eyed Spartans were 0-3 after a heartbreaking 34-28 to visiting Prairie Central.

"Defensively, we couldn't get a stop when we needed to and it was that way from the very beginning," said SJO head coach Shawn Skinner. He pointed to how well the Hawks' moved the ball down the field. "I want to give them credit for running a well-oiled offense but we just couldn't get off the field defense-wise to give our offense a shot."

Prairie Central's Drew Fehr, who would collect 152 yards against the Spartans, put the first six on the scoreboard. The 6-foot-2, 180-pound running back scored from 3 yards out with four minutes remaining in the first quarter. The junior would score again in the next quarter on an 18-yard run to give his team a 20-6 lead.

With no time remaining in the half, a pass from Evan Ingram to Keaton Nolan and a successful 2-point conversion cut SJO's deficit to a manageable six heading into the locker room.

"If we would have had a stop in the first half it would have been a completely different ball game," said Nolan. The senior finished the night with just 26 yards rushing and caught 7 passes for another 87. "We would have been out of here 1-2."

St. Joseph-Ogden coming off back-to-back losses to Monticello, 43-8, and a 33-8 loss to Unity, mustered just 60 net yards with the running game. Meanwhile, the team's air attack, led by Ingram, wasn't too shabby. SJO pass attack netted three touchdowns.

Skinner said that his team's emphasis on passing was "a by-product of what Prairie Central was giving us."

"The game plan wasn't to throw it that much but Evan kind of got hot," he said. "He (Ingram) did a very, very nice job. The offensive line gave him time to throw the ball and we do have skilled guys that can find holes in the zone."

Ingram completed 15 of 23 passes for 203 yards. While there were a couple of close calls, the senior signal-caller did not give up any interceptions.

Prairie Central, on the other hand, completed just one of two passes for 17 yards. The team's first pass resulted in an interception. Hawks' head coach Andrew Quain was committed to running the ball down the Spartans' throat using his dual running back threat of Fehr and Camden Palmore, who was responsible for 145 of this team's 362 net rushing yards.

"We have to do a better job as a team preparing through the week," Skinner said. "Some of it is getting guys back healthy, getting our full roster back. We are going to have to commit during the week to having better practices.

"We are starting to see some things build that we can use offensively. We've got to figure out a way to put it all together one night."

This Friday, SJO will face a team also looking for their first win of the season. Illinois Valley Central lost their season opener at home against Paxton-Buckley-Loda 28-8 and took a 29-6 beating from Monticello.

At 0-3, what will it take for SJO to start winning games?

"We've gotta dig deep," says Nolan. He hopes this weekend the program will turn the corner and find success with a win over IVC. "We have to understand we have to be all-in."

The Grey Ghosts added their third loss last Friday falling at home to Unity, 55-21.

Skinner said practice today and tomorrow will have to be "on point detail-wise".

"It is hard to win football games and the hardest one to get is the first one," he explained. He is confident his athletes can make that happen this week but aware it won't be easy. "These kids have it in them. We've played really tough teams and so has everybody else. We are going to have to earn whatever we get."

With a third of the season in the books and a playoff spot on the line, a victory this weekend will be more than a nudge in the right direction.

"Once we start getting wins, we've gotta start stacking them," Nolan said fully cognitive of what is on the line this Friday and the next five. "We're running low and we got to start stacking them quick."

Prep Sports Notebook: SJO, Unity posts volleyball wins

SJO's Shayne Immke tallied five kills on Monday against Hoopeston Area. (Photo: PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks)

Spartans deal aces

Hannah Fox and Kennedi Burnett slammed three aces apiece in St. Joseph-Ogden's home volleyball match against Hoopeston Area. The Spartans defeated the visiting Cornjerkers 25-11 in two sets.

Fox was also credited with eight digs and two assists. Burnett contributed another seven digs and led the team in scoring with nine kills. Senior Becca Steinbach had 19 assists and five digs while junior Shayne Immke tacked on another five kills.

Rockets knock off Clinton in straight sets

Emma Bleecher collected 12 kills in Unity's 25-19, 25-12 win over Clinton.

Macie Knudsen added another five kills to the book and had eight digs. Taylor Henry led the team defensively with 12 digs.

Uni falls 2-0 to STM

Uni-High gave up two first-half goals to fall 2-0 to visiting St. Thomas More. Goalkeeper Arjun Kala made three saves for the Illineks.

Unity soccer suffers road loss

Georgetown-Ridge Farm scored four unanswered goals to beat the Rockets, 4-0. Before hosting back-to-back home matches starting Thursday, Unity travels to Bloomington to take on Central Catholic today at 4:30.

Photo Gallery: Spartan football falls at home to Prairie Central

SJO's Isaiah Moore helps a teammate bring down Prairie Central's Camden Palmore during fourth quarter action. (Photo: PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks)

Isaiah Moore finds open pasture on 42-yard kick return for the Spartans. The senior picked up 107 yards for the night returning kickoffs and punts for the Spartans. His shortest run was 14 yards, his longest was this 42-yard run. (Photo: PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks)

SJO's Owen Birt hangs on to Prairie Central's Drew Fehr during a play in the second quarter. The Hawks outscored St. Joseph-Ogden 20-14 at the midpoint of the game. (Photo: PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks)

Spartans' Ethan Vanliew puts his shoulder into Hawks' Drew Fehr to help teammate Bryson Helfrich make a tackle during second quarter action of the game. Just a TD away from winning their first game of the season, SJO fell at home to Prairie Central, 34-28. (Photo: PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks)

Lineman Conrad Miller gets physical while playing on the offensive line against the Hawks. (Photo: PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks)

Seniors Griffin Roesch and Keaton Nolan (right) celebrate an SJO touchdown. Nolan found the end zone on a 25-yard Evan Ingram pass in the second quarter to narrow the Hawks' lead to eight points, 20-12. Later, the senior hauled in a second pass on a 10-yard play as time expired at the end of the third quarter. (Photo: PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks)

A member of the SJO Maroon Platoon cheers after her football team puts another six points on the scoreboard in the second half. (Photo: PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks

Senior Coby Miller reacts to the Spartans' third loss of the season as he walks of the field. Miller finished the night with just 26 rushing yards and 18 more from three passes. (Photo: PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks)

Playing the roll of a valiant prince, Elijah Weinman performs with the SJO Marching Band during halftime show. (Photo: PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks)

Flag girl Alyssa Shoviak performs during the SJO Marching Band's halftime performance. (Photo: PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks)

Members of the SJO Marching Band reed section play during halftime. The band performed two numbers from this year's competition routines. (Photo: PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks)

St. Joseph-Ogden junior Aidan McCorkle drags down Prairie Central quarterback Owen Rafferty for a loss. (Photo: PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks)

Assistant coach and St. Joseph-Ogden football alum Nick Bialeschki passes along saged advice to junior defensive lineman Peyton Sarver. (Photo: PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks)

Tyler Burch runs the ball back 28 yards on a punt return for the Spartans. The explosive junior speedster posted 106 yards on special team returns on Friday. (Photo: PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks)

Joe Frasca boots the ball deep in the second half after a SJO touchdown. The Spartans scored four times during this week's game, doubling the sophomore's time on the field over the previous two weeks combined. (Photo: PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks)

Keaton Nolan sprays his face with water during a timeout in the second quarter. The senior finished with 102 all-purpose yards in this season's home game against the Hawks. (Photo: PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks)

St. Joseph-Ogden cheerleader Kyle Meccoli helps lead fans with a cheer during the fourth quarter. This season's cheer squad features 21 students under the direction of first year head coach MiReena Burris. (Photo: PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks)

St. Joseph-Ogden defenders Alex Funk and Jett Morris wrap up Prairie Central running back Drew Fehr. Fehr, who scored twice during the week three conference game, tallied 152 yards on 25 carries against the Spartans. (Photo: PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks)

An SJO cheerleader watches her team's football games between cheers. (Photo: PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks)

Quarterback Evan Ingram looks for an open receiver as he drops back to pass during the second half. The senior completed 15 of the 23 passes for 203 yards. Three of the completions (Photo: PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks)