(Okemos) – The first road trip of the season for the Bears was also the longest as St. Joe faced Okemos for the first time.
Just like in the opening game, St. Joe scored the first time they touched the ball. After a long return on the opening kickoff by Griffin Shinrock, the Bears offense started the drive on the Okemos 45 yard line. Eight plays later Troy Pratley scored on a 1 yard run, combined with the extra point from Reese Uzelac, the Bears took a 7-0 lead.

Okemos punted on their initial possession of the game, and the Bears had excellent starting field position again. St. Joe would take nine plays for another touchdown run from Troy Pratley, this from 3 yards, and the Bears had a 14-0 lead, which is how the first quarter ended.

St. Joe would start their next drive in the offensive red zone after Preston Nichols blocked the punt from Okemos kicker Drew Arvantis. Max Altholz picked up the ball and took it down to the Chiefs 19 yard line. Six plays later, wide receiver Griffin Shinrock took the hand off and ran untouched into the endzone for the touchdown. The PAT was partially blocked but the Bears had a 20-0 lead.

Later in the quarter, St. Joe would find the endzone again, and again Shinrock was the target. Pratley threw a perfectly placed pass in to the arms of Shinrock in stride for a 58 yard touchdown pass. After Uzelac’s PAT, St. Joe took a 27-0 lead going into halftime.
Neither team would find the scoreboard in the third quarter, but St. Joe did early in the 4th quarter. Trey McGinnis scored on a 19-yard touchdown run through the Okemos defense and increased the lead to 34-0.

St. Joe would now start subbing out the starters in favor of younger players and Okemos took advantage. As quarterback Liam Carr scored on a 1 yard run with 6:49 left and Carr threw a 47 yard touchdown pass to Will Burkhardt with :21 seconds left for the final margin on 34-13.

St. Joseph improves to 2-0 on the season while Okemos falls to 0-2. St. Joe will return home to face Portage Central at Dickinson Stadium. Okemos will be on the road for the only time this season at 2-0 DeWitt.

Other SMAC Games
Lakeshore 32, Kalamazoo Central 20
Battle Creek Lakeview 8, Portage Central 0
Battle Creek Central 40, Gull Lake 24
Portage Northern 36, Mattawan 6