The program: SJ-O football preparations for homecoming | Sport

ST. JOSEPH — Brayden Waller heard the chatter.

The disappointment. The complaints.

And decided to do something about it.

The St. Joseph-Ogden sophomore practiced with the Spartans’ football team after school this week. He is a backup linebacker for this fall. The unbeaten Spartans (6-0, 5-0 Illini Prairie Conference) prepare to play against Pontiac (0-6, 0-6) on Friday at 7 pm on Dick Duval Field.

But he also set his sights on another event that takes place on Friday before the Spartans start: the SJ-O Homecoming Parade.

‘Since I’ve been at school and talking to my peers, they say coming home here isn’t the same as at other schools. It has kind of disappeared in recent years, and I’m just trying to bring back the old traditions,” said Waller, who is on the SJ-O student council and helps organize the many homecoming activities. “I know how important it is to look back on this when you have kids and say, ‘We used to do this in high school.’ For kids who were seniors last year, there was no parade, and the city was pretty upset about that. I want to make all the people who were once on a team here and who once went to school here proud of their homecoming.”

St. Joseph will have a parade this year. The event begins Friday at 4 p.m. and includes 43 different entities, starting at St. Joseph Middle School and continuing down Main Street before the route ends at the middle school.

Several SJ-O sports teams, the SJ-O marching band, the SJ-O cheerleaders, the SJ-O dance team and other school clubs, along with a plethora of businesses in town, from Country Financial, Philo Bank and Loman- Ray An insurance will, among other things, follow the route of the parade or during the parade in a golf cart, drive a car or sit on a trailer. The St. Joseph Middle School baseball team that won a Class 2A state title last Saturday will participate, while each class at SJ-O will have a float.

“Having a homecoming parade is important in a community like St. Joe because it brings families together,” said Sydney Reitmeier, a senior at SJ-O who is involved in the school’s student council, the National Honor Society and the Assistant Mentoring Program. “Instead of only celebrating their home, it also gives the families and companies in the community the opportunity to celebrate this.”

The parade is the culmination of a week’s worth of activities surrounding the SJ-O homecoming. Tuesday night was the Powderpuff football game, with the seniors winning the annual flag football game. The Spartalympics took place on Wednesday evening, with each class playing eight different games at school and seeing who would come out on top.

A pep rally is planned in the school gym on Thursday afternoon, ahead of Friday’s parade, Friday night’s football game and Saturday night’s dance in the high school common areas.

“My favorite part of homecoming week is seeing everyone perform during our pep assembly,” Reitmeier said. “We have a lot of groups that perform, and they always put a smile on everyone’s face.”

SJ-O junior Kayla Osterbur, who plays volleyball and girls basketball for the Spartans, is part of the student council, National Honor Society, Fellowship of Christian Athletes and Students Against Drugs and Alcohol. The Spartalympics is her most enjoyable part of the week.

“The competitive nature is present in most people who attend the Games and it always becomes a mess of yelling at each other to do our best to win,” Osterbur said. “The chaos of it all is what makes it so much fun.”

SJ-O football coach Shawn Skinner knows it’s a juggling act this week for his players, who clinched a playoff berth after their 38-19 win at Bloomington Central Catholic last Friday night.

“Obviously I want our kids to be focused because the most important thing is the game on Friday and playing well on Friday,” Skinner said. “Also, the reality is that this is a special time as a child. You get four in high school and when you’re a player it’s different. There must be a balance in which the children can enjoy the moment and everything that goes with it, while it is also in balance and ensures that you do business that matter. These guys have given us no reason not to trust them for several years now. That’s the key. Every season is different. I don’t expect these guys to not do their job.”

An opportunity for SJ-O to reach 7-0 for the first time since the 2015 season is not lost on Skinner’s players. And neither do their fellow classmates.

“The boys have kept a fairly small head about their state record,” says Osterbur, who is part of a group of students who help keep track of statistics for every SJ-O football match. “I never really hear them brag about how the season has gone so far. They always seem so excited to play and for that next win. I think their energy makes a big difference in how the rest of us feel about the season. I know it’s been a long time since the Spartans have had a team like this, and it makes me excited for them. The home game is always fun, whether we have a winning record or not, but I think it is more a determination this year to continue the season undefeated. ”

The SJ-O homecoming court will be introduced before Friday night’s game against Pontiac, with SJ-O Hall of Fame inductees Henry Berry, Chelsea Blaase, David Immke and Larry Williams recognized at halftime.

At that point, Waller will have a good idea of ​​how his first time organizing the SJ-O Homecoming parade went. And whether the Spartan football team to which he contributes will increase their chance that they will organize an IHSA-Playoff match in the first round in the first weekend of November.

Either way, he knows how he feels about winning before he hits the dance floor Saturday night.

“A win on the football field and seeing everyone enjoying the week,” Waller said, “especially the seniors because this is their last.”