St. Joseph-Ogden Clinches Illini Prairie Title With 54-42 Win Over BCC

Lane McKinney accounted for six touchdowns as the 7-0 Spartans beat Bloomington Central Catholic to wrap up their second Illini Prairie championship in three seasons.

St. Joseph-Ogden locked up the Illini Prairie Conference football championship on Friday night, beating visiting Bloomington Central Catholic 54-42 at Dick Duval Field. The win kept the Spartans unbeaten at 7-0 overall and 7-0 in league play and gave the program its second conference title in three seasons.

Quarterback Lane McKinney was at the center of it. The 6-foot, 155-pound left-hander carried 34 times for 237 yards and three touchdowns, completed 12 of 17 passes for 191 yards and three more scores, and added a third-quarter interception while lined up at cornerback. He had a direct hand in six of the Spartans' eight touchdowns. Bloomington Central Catholic coach Kevin Braucht, who had reviewed video of McKinney's late-September performance against Monticello, said the quarterback's frame gives no indication of how difficult he is to bring down.

St. Joseph-Ogden finished with 592 of the game's 1,062 combined yards. Logan Wedig caught seven passes for 95 yards and two touchdowns while stepping in for his older brother Kaden, the team's top wide receiver, who watched from the sideline on crutches after a Grade 3 right ankle sprain in the Week 6 win at Monticello. Logan Umbarger added 107 yards and two touchdowns on 20 carries, and Ryder Van Meenen caught three passes for 63 yards, including a 43-yard score. Spartans coach Shawn Skinner said his playmakers accept sharing the ball because the only thing that matters is winning.

The Saints (5-2, 4-2) led once, 21-20 early in the second quarter, after a 29-yard touchdown pass from Matthew Brady to KeShaun Manney with 10:09 left before halftime. St. Joseph-Ogden answered with 26 unanswered points to go up 40-21 at the break, and a 7-yard McKinney-to-Logan Wedig touchdown extended the lead to 47-21 with 11:43 remaining in the fourth quarter. Brady's final scoring throw, a 17-yarder to Crayton Schnierle with 37.5 seconds left, set the final margin.

Brady, a Michigan State commit projected to play linebacker in the Big Ten, threw for 258 yards and five touchdowns and rushed for 114 yards and a score on 11 carries, but the Spartans intercepted him four times. Maddox Musselman had two second-half picks and credited a strong week of practice for a defense that capitalized on its opportunities. Braucht said the Saints had to take some chances to stay in the game and remains committed to his quarterback.

The championship was settled with one league game still on the schedule, Oct. 16 at Pontiac. Bloomington Central Catholic, Monticello, Prairie Central and Unity, the teams that entered the night chasing the Spartans, all fell to 4-2 in conference play with two league games left. St. Joseph-Ogden also completed an undefeated regular season in 2024, and Skinner said a conference title is always the first goal because it secures a playoff berth, with seeding the next priority.

There is still room to improve. The Spartans were flagged 11 times for 110 yards, and Skinner said his players must sort out the line between playing hard and playing too hard before November. McKinney added that the first half alone has been good enough so far but that the team must come out ready in the third quarter.

On Global Sportscast's live schedule, GV San José hosts Blooming on Sunday, October 4 at 3:00 PM EDT at Estadio Jesús Bermúdez.