Allen 2nd, SJO boys share 3rd at Cow Chip Classic

Sports Book: September 7

PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks Ashlyn Lannert runs to a overall 84th place finish helping the Spartans to a Class 1A fifth place finish at the 2018 IHSA state cross country meet last November. Saturday, the sophomore placed sixth in the Number 4 Flight crossing the finish line at 22:15.28.

Allen 2nd in her flight

Addie Allen seized a second place finish in the Open Wave race at last Saturday's Cow Chip Classic. She ran a 21:13.55 crossing the line just 10 seconds behind Unity's Lillian Styan.

Other top 3 SJO finishers at the 38th installment of the girls' side of competition included Kailyn Ingram and Hope Rajlich. Ingram ran a 21:34.64 in the Number 7 Flight race to finish third. Rajlich, who took third place in the Number 6 Flight, finished with a slightly better time at 21:32.93.

The girls team walked away from the meet in 5th place in the team competition with 28 points.

SJO boys finish third at Cow Chip Classic

The St. Joseph-Ogden boys cross country team tied with Paxton-Buckley-Loda with 33 points to finish third at this year's Cow Chip Classic in Chrisman. Last year, the St. Joseph-Ogden boys cross country team finished in sixth place at the Cow Chip Classic.

Both Charlie Mabry and Lukas Hutcherson turned in top 3 performances in their respective flights. Mabry finished the three-mile course at 18:13.80, a little under his career best time of 17:21.0. Hutcherson, a junior, clocked in at 18:47.50.

Monticello, with 13 points, edged out Urbana U-High by one point to win this year's team title.

Next up, the Spartans will run against Oakwood later today in duo competition and travel to First to the Finish Invite on September 14.

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Attention high school and junior high coaches: Please send game scores and stats to us. Send results and weekly stats to sports@oursentinel.com.

Volleyball wins at T-town, soccer b'deviled

Sports Book: September 5

Volleyball team crushes T-town in straight sets

Abby McDonald's 2019 team battled to a 25-18, 25-13 victory on the road handing the Teutopolis (3-1) their first loss of the season.

Four SJO hitters collected six kills a piece in the two-setter.

Emily Bigger, Jenna Albrecht, Katelyn Berry and Kennedi Burnett were responsible for 24 of the Spartans' 32 kills. Bigger was credited with 25 assists.

T-town's Carly Michels had 7 kills and 3 digs against the Spartans. Kelsey Deters had 34 sets & 11 assists for the Lady Shoes in the non-conference loss.

St. Joseph-Ogden's junior varsity squad fell 2-1 by way of a, 27-25, 19-25, 17-25 decision. The Spartan freshman were unsuccessful in the quest for a victory dropping a pair of heartbreakers, 25-23 25-21.

Spartan soccer team suffers tough loss

After securing their first win of the season last over Schlarman Academy, the SJO soccer team drop their non-conference meeting against Bismarck-Henning, 10-1.

Mason Behrens scored the teams only goal as the team sinks to 1-4-1 on the season. Senior Zac Seeley took four shots on the Blue Devils but was unable to put the ball between the bars. Rookie goal keeper Hunter Ketchum saw 18 shots during his tenure in the box and made five saves.

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Attention high school and junior high coaches: Please send game scores and stats to us. Send results and weekly stats to sports@oursentinel.com.

Change Log: This story was updated 9/10/19 with St. Joseph-Ogden stat leaders.

Volleyball bounces Cissna Park, 2-0

(Photo: PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks)

Lacey Kaiser serves the ball during set 2 of SJO's home match against Cissna Park. Kaiser hit a team-high five aces against the Timberwolves.

In the time it would have taken to make quick trip to the restroom, have a five minute chat with an acquaintance in the cafeteria about homecoming while buying a bag of popcorn and soda, and then make your way to your seat, you would have probably missed a third of the St. Joseph-Ogden's home volleyball game against Cissna Park last Tuesday.

It took just under 35 minutes for the St. Joseph-Ogden volleyball team to power past the visiting Timberwolves, 2-0.

The Spartans rushed out to a 3-0 lead in the first set. Then, after a side out, rattled off eight consecutive points to go up 11-1 behind the serving of Katelyn Berry.

Berry, a senior, finished the non-conference contest with four aces, four kills and four digs.

Pushing to keep the game tempo quick and not waste time between points, SJO kept the offensive pedal to metal on their way to a 25-7 first set win.

"We have to get better every time we step out here," said head coach Abby McDonald. "We talked about how we are going to make that happen, no matter what their offense looked like, and stay focused to the end."

The second was nearly a mirror of the first, except with a few casting changes. Up 6-4, SJO collected nine unanswered points with Lacey Kaiser on the back line serving. She finished the night with five aces and four kills.

With their backs up against the wall at 15-5, the Timberwolves gave up another five points watching their deficit increase by 15 to 20-5. From that point on the two teams rotated scoring to an eventual 25-9 conclusion.

"I thought the kids handled that very well," she added, referring to the level of competition and the unusual schedule order on Tuesday. The varsity team played the first match instead of the traditional nightcap.

"I thought this opportunity to play first was actually a good thing for us because during the postseason you sometimes step and play the first match," said McDonald. "I told them to use this to our advantage and I thought they did a nice job of doing that."

Thanks to Emily Bigger, who had 21 assist, Kennedi Burnett led the Spartan offense at the net with seven kills. Payton Vallee chipped in another five.

Grimsley leads golf team at Viking Invite, SJO football 2-0

Sports Book: September 6

Miller's defensive TD buoys SJO over Rantoul

Jaden Miller picked up a high bouncing ball and ran it into the end zone for a needed 6 points after a Rantoul punt was deflected off one of their own linemen. The senior defensive lineman's quick action help St. Joseph-Ogden defeat the host Eagles 22-8 on Friday.

"Freaking awesome," grinned Miller after the game. "First touchdown ever in high school. It sealed the game away."

Less than two weeks earlier, he said one of the things he would liked to accomplish this season was to post a defensive score for the Spartans. Earlier in the game, his younger sibling Coby scored a touchdown on a 15-yard run on the first play of the second quarter. Jarrett Stevenson plunged into the end zone on the two-point conversion to tie the score at 8-all.

Jarrett Stevenson led SJO with 99 yards rushing on 19 carries. Coby Miller chipped in 39 more to the help the St. Joseph-Ogden chalk up just 216 yards in the Week 2 Illini Prairie Conference contest.

The Spartans will host Bloomington Central Catholic on Friday at the SJO Sports Complex. The Saints (0-2), who start the season with back-to-back losses, fell in a one-point decision to Pontiac in their season opener and dropped their second league match to Prairie Central, 28-21.

Grimsley leads Spartans at the Viking Invitational

Payton Grimsley led the Spartans with 92 at last Friday's Viking Invitational held at the Turtle Run Golf Course in Danville.

Riley Myren shot a 96 and was chased by Joe Acton's 101 and Jacob Kern's 106. Jack Robertson finished they meet with a 121 and Maddux Carter left the course after recording 124 strokes.

The St. Joseph-Ogden squad competed against eighteen teams for top honors. Normal Community, which carded a 305 to take the this year's team title, finished six strokes ahead of runner-up Edwardsville.

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Attention high school and junior high coaches: Please send game scores and stats to us. Send results and weekly stats to sports@oursentinel.com.

Memory Monday: Boys and girls cross country team compete at Cow Chip Classic

St. Joseph-Ogden's Drew Knipfer runs ahead of the lead pack of runners as they make their way long the course at the 2011 Cow Chip Classic. Knipfer was the only Spartan male runner to place number one in his flight. He finished the Number 4 race with a time of 17:15. Click here to see 180 photos of SJO runners competing at one of the area's longest prep cross country events in downstate Illinois. Photo: PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks

Left: Remy Smetzer runs the last 100 yards of the Open race back on roasting hot September 3 morning. Due to extreme, unseasonably hot temperatures the three-mile race was cut in half. Right: Competing in temperatures near 90 degrees, two-sport athlete Corey Thompsen keeps a steady stride as he navigates the three-mile course. Photo: PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks

Maintaining his position in a pack of runners, Spartan Alex Arteaga represented SJO in the Number 5 Race. He completed the course with a time of 18:39, good for a fifth place award. Photo: PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks

Left: Cross country specialist Loren Brooks navigates the three-mile course. The Spartan girls won the meet title with a score of 13 points besting Mahomet-Seymour in second and the Monticello Sages, who placed third. Right: With a look of determination and focus on the runners ahead of her, Tessa Vowels runs her second lap around the Cow Chip Classic course. Vowels finished second in the Number 5 Flight with a time of 21:58. See more photos of Vowels and the Spartan cross country team competing at the Cow Chip Classic here: 2011 Cow Chip Classic. Photo: PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks

Spartan rule the roost, spoil Eagle homecoming

St. Joseph-Ogden's Jaden Miller is congratulated by teammates Brayden Weaver and Blake Primmer after he picked up a deflected punt and ran it in for a TD on Friday in his team's Illini Prairie Conference game against Rantoul Township High School. The Spartans rallied in the second half of their Illini Prairie Conference contest to defeat the Eagles 22-8 after their sixth consecutive annual gridiron meeting on last Friday. SJO improves to 2-0 on the season and will host Bloomington Central Catholic at home next week. Find more photos from this game in the SJO vs Rantoul Football Gallery. (Photo: PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks)

Circuit court amnesty week starts Monday

Starting Monday, individuals with outstanding criminal or traffic fines and fees can catch a break and have a chance to settle a delinquent accounts with the County Circuit Clerk. For five days next week all collection and late fees will be waived for those who pay the amount due on their entire case.

To avoid collection fees and interest, those seeking amnesty must pay the total of the original court-ordered fines and fees for their case by Friday, September 13. Partial payments will not be accepted by the Clerk's office.

Payments will be accepted by mail with a money order or cashier’s check as long as the envelope is postmarked by Friday. The Clerk’s Office is also offering extended office hours at the Urbana courthouse. For more information contact the Champaign County Circuit Court at 217-384-3725 to speak with a representative.

Two dimensional Eagles will test SJO tenacity

The Spartans take their ground pounding touchdown scoring machine to Rantoul tomorrow for their week 2 of IHSA football.

The Eagles have yet to beat a St. Joseph-Ogden football team. If the pigskin rolls their way, and they are hoping to do so, it will make their homecoming weekend hootenanny just a bit merrier.

In their Illini Prairie Conference opener last Friday, the Eagles fell 42-20 on the road at Prairie Central. The Hawks pulled away in the third quarter, scoring three times to hand Rantoul their first loss of the season.

The Spartan defense held St. Thomas More under 125 yards in their Illini Prairie Conference opener. SJO will likely face a much more physical group as they look for win number 2 this season. (Photo: PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks)

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The Spartans, who put up 278 all-purposes yards on St. Thomas More on their way to a 36-8 win, will have their strength and conditioning tested, both in the trenches and in the secondary with the Eagles.

Rantoul Township amassed 213 yards, a healthy number, against by some accounts a postseason ready Prairie Central squad.

Up front on defense, Jaden Miller led the Spartans with nine tackles, one for a loss, against the Sabers. Brayden Weaver and Sam Wesley had nine tackles apiece to assist in holding the St. Thomas More total offense to less than 120 yards.

No doubt the trio will have their work cut out for themselves. Their leadership on the field and on the sidelines with the less experienced players could be a pivotal factor in the outcome.

The Eagles' primary receivers who include Colin Wilkerson, Bryant Shaw and Terhune, combined for six catches for 137 yards against the Hawks. Wilkerson, the number one passing threat, had four catches for 68 yards. Terhune caught two passes, one for a touchdown, and finished the opener with 25 yard. The receiving corps was good for 140 yards.

Utilizing their passing game sparingly last week, in comparison St. Joseph-Ogden passed for just 29 yards.

"Our assessment is we have to be better," said SJO head coach Shawn Skinner after their home game against STM. "The offensive line has to block better. Receivers have to run better routes."

He added: "Crayton (Burnett) is a good quarterback and we have to utilize him."

Burnett knows there are some details he needs to work on to put the ball in the hands of his receivers.

"Me personally I need to make better decision with the passing game," he said. "Once that happens everything will be fine. I'm going to work hard and work had on my reads."

Weaver isn't letting Burnett or the offensive line shoulder all of the blame for their passing game against the Sabers. In his mind it is a team effort to bring the passing game up to its potential, especially when you have a quarterback of Burnett's caliber calling for the snap.

"Obviously, we can clean up some things on the passing game but that's on the backs, too. That's on everybody," he said in his postgame interview. "That's not on the line. You can't really blame them for anything. They did a great job responding to everything that came their way."

In their previous five meetings, the Spartans have outscored the Eagles, 176-52. As members of both the Okaw Valley Conference and now the Illini Prairie, Rantoul has never posted more than 20 points against a St. Joseph-Ogden football squad.

SJO has averaged 35.2 points per game against RTHS.

Game time is slated for 7 p.m. at Rantoul Township High School.

Spartan work ethic pays dividends

Running back Jarrett Stevenson carries the ball during first half action. The senior ran for 173 yards and scored four touchdowns against St. Thomas More. See more photo from the game here ... (Photo: PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks)

Before the team played its first down, Chance Izard predicted this was going to be an exciting season of St. Joseph-Ogden football. If last Friday's 36-8 win over visiting St. Thomas More in their Illini Prairie Conference opener is an indicator of things to come, it looks like there will be no shortage of thrilling moments this season.

"We have a new group of guys and new chemistry," he said days ahead of the team public scrimmage. "We are all willing to put in the work."

After St. Thomas More's Eivory Shellman scored on a short 5-yard run for the first six points of the contest and a successful two-point conversion on a pass play, the score shock quickly wore off for the Spartans.

"I thought the defense responded so well after not preparing for that style of offense. Coach Watson has never really ran that offense before anywhere," explained fourth year head coach Shawn Skinner talking about early defensive miscues. "(We) hadn't prepare for that style of offense. Yet you saw, once coach (Bob) Glazier was able to rally them on the sidelines while offense had the ball, (he) corrected some of the missed assignments and it really wasn't an issue the rest of the night."

Skinner found some comfort in how well many of his players, especially a good portion of them with little varsity experience, buckled down without so much as a blink. Their response led to an 8-all tie before the first quarter ended.

"They just ran it. Down. The. Field," Skinner said, with a hint of pride as he recounted how team quickly fell into doing the jobs they had been trained to do. "They just went back to work. That's the response we wanted."

St. Thomas More's main issue was the response from Jarrett Stevenson.

The senior, who found his way on the field toward the end of the 2018 season, averaged an impressive 8.6 yards per carry against them. After his four-yard plunge and two-point conversion in the first quarter to tie up the score, Stevenson would entered the end zone three more times by the game's end. He wouldn't take all the credit himself.

"My line was incredible. My fullbacks were incredible," he said praising their efforts. "It was insane. It was the best blocking I've ever seen."

Thanks to the strong pushes in the trenches by the offensive line, Stevenson finished the night with 173 rushing yards. Four touchdowns and almost 200 yards isn't a bad way to start a last year of your prep career on the gridiron. It was a huge payout of dividends from his hard work to prepare for the season this past summer.

"He is the strongest kid on team. He works extremely hard," Skinner said while commenting on Stevenson establishing himself as the go-to guy this season. "He has an incredible desire to be successful. We need him to be that guy."

And there was the rest of the Spartan running corp that the Sabers could not contain easily as well on Friday. SJO averaged 7.5 yards per carry as a team and not with just the help of veteran seniors. Sophomores Coby Miller and Keaton Nolan saw varsity action combining 65 yards between the two of them on eight attempts.

And despite his number being called only three times during the 48 minute contest, Brayden Weaver finished the night with smaller numbers. His modest 38 yards and touchdown were equally impressive.

He said without Stevenson he wouldn't have been able to score on his 34-yard run on the north side of the field into the west end zone. After shedding tacklers on his way to the goal line on the play, Weaver dove the last two yards into the end zone with a St. Thomas More defender hanging on.

"Jarrett Stevenson will be in the headlines for his touchdowns and however many yards he had," Weaver said while talking about his scoring run. "He made the best block on the night on that play. If that didn't happen I wouldn't have got in, even with all the broken tackles."

Weaver also recovered one of two STM's fumbles while playing on the defensive side of the ball.

Stevenson, Berry are Sentinel's 1st Spartans of the Week

Week 1 Spartan of the Week: Jarrett Stevenson

Stevenson averaged 8.6 yards per carry in the Spartan football team's home opener against St. Thomas More. The senior running back was good for 173 yards and scored four touchdowns in SJO's 36-8 win over the Sabers.

Honorable Mentions: Mason Behrens (Soccer), Drew Coursey (Football), Brandon Mattsey (Cross Country), Eric Poe (Cross Country), Zac Seeley (Soccer), Brayden Weaver (Football),

Week 1 Lady Spartan of the Week: Katelyn Berry

Before the month of September, Berry led the St. Joseph-Ogden volleyball team with six aces and is second in the hitting stats with 26 kills. On the road against Mahomet-Seymour, she was credited with one block, three assists and hit six winners in the team's 25-12, 25-16 non-conference victory on Aug 31.

Honorable Mentions: Emily Bigger (Volleyball), Kennedi Burnett (Volleyball), Emily Elsbernd (Soccer), Jillian Plotner (Cross Country) and Hannah Rajlich (Cross Country).



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Attention high school coaches: Help us recognize our area prep athletes each week. Please send game scores and stats to us for freshman and junior varsity as well as varsity games. Send game, race and match results and weekly stats to sports@oursentinel.com.

Boys XC wins meet title, volleyball starts win streak

Luke Stegall runs to a sixth place finish in the Male 14 to 18 division at the 2019 SJO 5K. Stegall, a sophomore, finished in seventh place at the Doc Acklin Invite on Saturday to help the SJO boys cross country team win this year's team title. (Photo: PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks)

Sports Book: August 31

Plotner leads SJO at Doc Acklin Invite

Senior Jillian Plotner finished in third place overall at the 4th Annual Doc Acklin Invite in Paris on Saturday. Scoring points toward the team title Plotner, along with teammates Hannah Rajlich, Ava Knap, Ashlyn Lannert and Ally Monk tallied 34 points. SJO finished second behind Marshall, who finished the race with 28 points and ahead of Teutopolis with 98.

Plotner clocked in at 18:35.2 and Monk, the final scoring member, finished 11th overall at 21:11.7.

Other Spartan harriers running in the program's first race of the season were Hope Rajlich, Kailyn Ingram, Kendra Riddle, Hanna Eastin, Addie Allen, Malorie Sarnecki, Sidney Davis, Taryn Sexton, Teagan Miller and Izzy Sexton.

Spartans first at XC Invite

Brandon Mattsey and Eric Poe finished one-two to help the SJO boys cross country team to a first place finish at the Doc Acklin Invite on Saturday, August 31. Elijah Mock, Luke Stegall and Charlie Mabry were rounded out the top five scoring finishers to help the St. Joseph-Ogden place ahead of Marshall (second place), Cumberland (third) and Effinginham, who finished fourth.

Also representing SJO on Saturday in the race was Braden Clampitt, Lukas Hutcherson, Ethan Blackburn, Logan Wolfersberger, Taddy Pettit and Zach Dahman.

Varsity volleyball beats Bulldogs

Kennedi Burnett pounded nine kills and a pair of digs to help the Spartans to a Labor Day weekend win on the road at Mahomet-Seymour on Saturday. Emily Bigger was credited with 21 assist in the 2-1 non-conference victory. SJO rolled over the Bulldogs in straights 25-16, 25-12 largely due Lacey Kaiser, who played a solid defensive game responsible for five of the 20 recorded Spartan digs. After their opening loss to St. Teresa, St. Joseph-Ogden is enjoying a three-game win streak after improving to 3-1 in early season play.





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Attention high school and junior high coaches: Please send game scores and stats to us. Send results and weekly stats to sports@oursentinel.com.