Spartans Football Wraps Up Season

By Justin Slager

The Olympia Spartans finished the season at 3-6 winning games against St. Thomas Moore, Illinois Valley Central High School, and Rantoul; the Spartans finished 6th in the Corn Belt Conference.

The Spartans started off the year facing the high expectations that come with making the playoffs a season before. Their march to defend this title started strongly with a 40-12 win on the road against St. Thomas Moore.

The next two weeks saw the Spartans fall to Prairie Central, 47-6 and Mahomet 47-14. The Spartans now 1-2 were looking to turn the season around with a home matchup against state ranked Central Catholic in week 4.

The game was pushed back to Saturday evening as thunderstorms swept throughout Central Illinois. The Spartans played the best game of their season against Central Catholic but in the end saw two big plays go the Saints way as they fell 21-6.

“I truly believe we would have beaten them if the game had been played Friday night, I have never seen this team that fired up,” said head Coach Mike Rathbun.

The next week saw the Spartans fall against Eureka 24-21 in crushing fashion. The Spartans had lead 21-6 at the half before watching Eureka score and go ahead with 2:30 seconds to play. The Spartans marched down the field and had two attempts to score but were stopped short falling to 1-4 on the season.

When week eight rolled around, the Spartans had lost straight games and were facing a road contest against Illinois Valley Central High School (IVC). The Spartans fell behind 21-0 in the first quarter before outscoring IVC 25-3 over the next three quarters to pull off the come from behind victory 25-24.

Finishing the season on a high note was the only goal for the Spartans as they played Rantoul for their last game. The Spartans ran to victory 58-32, the most points Olympia has scored over the last two seasons.

“Overall we would have liked to win a few more games and have a shot at the playoffs but in all I wouldn’t have traded this season for anything,” said Senior Collin Leoffler.