Facing one of the top offenses in the Illinois 8-Man Football Association, the Polo defense put together a dominant performance in a 38-0 win at South Fork on Saturday.

The Marcos (11-1) were constantly in the Ponies’ backfield and had three interceptions en route to their first shutout of the season.

Polo advances to face 11-1 Amboy at 7 p.m. Friday at Monmouth College in the I8FA state championship. The Clippers beat Milledgeville 18-8 in Saturday’s other semifinal.

Polo set the tone right out of the gate, going 50 yards on its opening drive, which was capped by a Mercer Mumford touchdown. Mumford finished with 197 yards and two scores before dealing with some cramping.

Defensively, Polo held South Fork (11-1) to less than 80 yards rushing. George Bailey came into the game with over 2,200 yards and 41 TDs. Brody Lush was also the league’s leading receiver and was held to 49 yards.

“We knew George Bailey was the leading rusher this year, so we knew we had to focus on him,” Mumford said. “I think we just zoned in on that all week for our defense, and we got it done today.”

Polo held South Fork to just three first downs in the first half and led 22-0 at the break. Damon Rowe and Eli Perez each caught scores from JT Stephenson in the second quarter. Perez’s score came off play action on fourth-and-1 with 10 seconds until halftime.

Stephenson said the defensive performance was huge.

“We came out and we punched them in the throat in the beginning,” he said. “I think that motivation just got us going. We work on it a lot, so it shows.”

Perez’s TD catch in the second quarter and Mumford’s 33-yard TD run in the third both capped 99-yard scoring drives for the Marcos in the win.

Mumord and Stephenson both had interceptions in the win and Polo got a turnover on downs at the 1-yard line.

Mumford and Stephenson both had to sit out at times after some cramping and getting shaken up, but Polo continued to get it done without two of its playmakers. Temperatures were in the 70s during the game.

“Our second strings came out there and did what they needed to do,” Mumford said. “So that’s good that we can put our faith in them to get it done when we go out of the game.”

Jordan Reed followed Stephenson’s interception with the longest play of the game, finding paydirt from about 90 yards out on the ground.

Polo’s defense was relentless in the win, finishing with at least nine tackles for a loss. Ethan Dewey also had a big sack in the fourth quarter.

“Shutting out a team 38-0, that is a really good team offensively,” Rowe said. “I think it’s amazing that we shut them out the way we did. We had new defensive schemes, practiced really hard on defense and just did it to the best of our ability.”

Polo coach Ted Alston said the Marcos’ defense played tremendously.

“To hold that team to no points, I mean, we didn’t think we’d play that well,” he said. “But the kids executed the game plan perfectly. Very proud, especially of how we played up front.”

Alston said reading the Ponies’ offensive line movement was key to getting in the backfield.

“Our kids did a great job of chasing pulls, taking on traps and they just did everything we asked of them today,” he said.

Polo still had to overcome some adversity to get the shutout, dealing with three fumbles, the cramping and a high snap.

“We recovered from that,” Alston said. “I think the biggest series was at the end of the first half, when we were able to take the ball out of there and then end up scoring with 10 seconds left. That was a lot of momentum for us going into halftime.”

After a sixth straight appearance in the state semifinals, Polo will now play for its first state title since winning it all in 2019 and 2021.

“I think this is a spot we deserve to be in,” Rowe said. “We worked so hard for this. We’ve worked all season, every practice.”