The St. Joseph-Ogden Spartans will head out on the road to face off against the Roxana Shells at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday. Each of these teams will be fighting to keep a win streak alive as St. Joseph-Ogden comes in on four and Roxana on 12.
St. Joseph-Ogden's and Carlinville's matchup on Saturday was close at halftime, but St. Joseph-Ogden turned on the heat in the second half with 28 points. Everything went St. Joseph-Ogden's way against Carlinville as St. Joseph-Ogden made off with a 38-15 win. St. Joseph-Ogden pushed the score to 31-7 by the end of the third, a deficit Carlinville cut but never quite recovered from.
St. Joseph-Ogden's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Logan Smith led the charge by throwing for 226 yards and two touchdowns while completing 75% of his passes, and also punching in a touchdown on the ground. Tim Blackburn-kelley was in the mix as well, providing St. Joseph-Ogden with two touchdowns.
Meanwhile, Roxana put the finishing touches on their tenth blowout victory of the season on Saturday. They blew past Paris, posting a 50-22 win at home. The contest was pretty much decided by the half, when the score had already reached 50-6.
Evan Wells was his usual excellent self, rushing for 195 yards and three touchdowns on only 14 carries. Wells really tore up the turf during one magnificent 80-yard run.
St. Joseph-Ogden's win bumped their record up to 8-2. As for Roxana, their win was their eighth straight at home (dating back to last season), bumping their overall record up to 10-0.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Saturday's contest: St. Joseph-Ogden has been excellent on the ground this season, having averaged 157.6 rushing yards per game. However, it's not like Roxana struggles in that department as they've been even better at 346.8 per game. It's looking like Saturday's game might have some serious battles in the trenches.
