Polo gets back to big-play production in second half to secure second straight state title

MONMOUTH – As Polo senior Cooper Blake exited the locker room Friday night at Monmouth College, he no longer had his uniform and pads.

But one thing he did have was a secure grip on the Illinois 8-Man Football Association state championship trophy.

“This thing is going to be staying with me until they take it – and they’re going to have to pry it from my fingers,” he said with broad smile. “This is just so amazing, just pure joy right now.”

Two hours earlier, it looked like the Marcos wouldn’t have a second state trophy to take home with them.

After struggling to get anything going in the first half of the state title game against a stingy Orangeville defense, it was finally a big play that got them out of their funk.

And it was as deep a funk as Polo (13-0) had been in all season. While they only trailed 7-0 on the scoreboard, the Marcos had amassed just 34 total yards of offense and a lone first down through the first 24 minutes of the game.

Polo’s defense was just as stout. Other than a 30-yard touchdown run by all-state running back Gunar Lobdell, the Broncos had managed just 49 yards and two other first downs.

“I had no idea it was going to be like that,” Polo senior Wayde Reimer said. “I knew our defense was pretty good, and their defense was dang good. It was the two best schools in 8-man going head to head, so I figured it was going to be close – but not that low-scoring of a game.”

As poorly as the first half had gone, the 7-0 deficit had the Marcos still feeling OK. One of the Polo players could be heard yelling, “This is not what we do!” as the Marcos broke their halftime huddle.

What the Marcos have done all season is break big plays to seize momentum and pull away from their opponents.

So that’s what they did in the second half.

“I think the mentality of everybody just getting hyped up going back out for the second half changed things for us,” senior Blake Diehl said. “I think getting scored on and then not being able to run the ball at all kind of hurt us in the first half, and that got to us.

“But in the second half, we were able to get out of that and realize that we weren’t down by that much, and if we got a score up, we’d be good to go.”

After a Polo three-and-out to open the second half, Orangeville drove inside the Marcos’ 5-yard line and kicked a 22-yard field goal. But a Polo penalty gave the Broncos a first down at the 2-yard line, and Orangeville was looking to strike the decisive blow.

But Polo’s defense made a stand, and an Orangeville personal foul after the third-down play forced a field goal try from 34 yards, and it came up short.

Three plays later, junior Avery Grenoble took a direct snap in a Wildcat formation and sprinted 67 yards to the Orangeville 7-yard line, then scored from 4 yards out two plays after that to get within 7-6.

“I felt as soon as we scored the touchdown, we got some momentum going, and our defense was playing so well that I think it helped us feel even better about things,” Diehl said.

The Wildcat look, or H-back formation, seemed to be the spark the Marcos had been looking for.

“We just looked at how they were lining up and made some adjustments where we could run the ball,” Reimer said. “Our H formation worked really, really well, with having me and Daniel [Engel] as the lead blockers for Avery. That’s how we got that big run, and that’s where our mentality changed, and it just kept snowballing from there.”

Grenoble came up big on the next Orangeville series as well, knifing through and tackling Lobdell for no gain on fourth-and-1 at the Polo 29.

The Broncos intercepted a third-down pass on the next series, but a fumble on the very next play gave Polo the ball back.

That next Marcos drive will be talked about forever in Polo football lore.

Taking over at their own 27-yard line, the Marcos faced a second-and-19 after a holding penalty. Senior quarterback Tyler Merdian hit classmate Wyatt Queckboerner on a 6-yard pass, then threw again on third-and-13, finding Grenoble for a 33-yard gain to the Orangeville 43.

Facing another third-and-13 three plays later, Merdian again looked downfield, connecting with Brock Soltow for 31 yards to the Broncos’ 15-yard line.

“Tyler had some really nice throws, and our receivers were able to catch the ball at key times,” Polo coach Ted Alston said. “But our defense won this game for us; they just played an outstanding game.”

Merdian, who finished 5-for-9 passing for 82 yards and connected on his final four passes, wasn’t quite done yet. After another defensive stop, forcing an incomplete pass on fourth-and-8, Polo was looking for one first down to salt away the game.

Another holding penalty made it second-and-20, but Soltow and Grenoble had back-to-back 5-yard runs to get to fourth-and-10 at the Orangeville 41. It was decision time, and the Polo coaching staff discussed what to do during Orangeville’s final timeout.

“We were kind of debating what we should do there punt or go for it,” Alston said. “Coach [Cliff] Bardell said, ‘Our punts haven’t been good, and we could snap it over his head.’ I said, ‘We can’t run it; we’re averaging about 2 yards per carry and we have to get 10 yards.’ It was actually Coach [Matt] Scholl who said, ‘Let’s just throw it.’

“So we ran a route that we run a lot when we just need 10 yards – and we got 10.1, so thank God for that.”

As soon as Merdian’s pass settled into Soltow’s arms for a sliding catch just beyond the first-down marker, the Polo sideline erupted in celebration. One victory-formation kneel-down later, it was over.

And about 20 minutes after that, Blake got his hands on the state championship trophy. He still had it a second time he emerged from the locker room to board the bus for what was sure to be a raucous ride back to Polo.

The coaches were likely to be just as excited as the players.

“It means everything to us. As coaches, we do all this for the kids,” Alston said. “To see them progress throughout the year – we were good at the beginning of the year, but we got really good as the year went on.

“We did face some adversity: tonight, Round 2 against Milford, we were losing against Milledgeville in Week 1 and were able to come back. When you do that a few times, the kids keep that belief, and they never wavered in their feeling that we could still win this game. Their attitudes were huge for us tonight.”