Big plays set tone as Amboy tops reigning eight-man champ Polo in opener

POLO – The Amboy-LaMoille-Ohio football team picked up in 2022 right where it left off in 2021.

After winning six of their final eight games in a run to the eight-man semifinals last fall, the Clippers opened this season with a 28-12 win over two-time reigning Illinois 8-Man Football Association state champion Polo on Friday night.

[ Photos from Amboy-LaMoille-Ohio vs. Polo ]

Amboy scored three of its touchdowns on plays of 30 yards or more, including on consecutive offensive plays in the first four minutes of the game.

“I think we really caught them off-guard. We came out and ran it up the middle, punched it up the gut, and then we came back out and ran bootlegs and some tight end dumps, and I think that kept them guessing a little,” Amboy senior quarterback Tucker Lindenmeyer said. “It left [receiver Brennan] Blaine wide open, and that opened things up for us.”

Amboy used big plays to set the tone early. On the fourth play from scrimmage, Lindenmeyer took the snap and sprinted 33 yards to the end zone for a 6-0 lead just a minute and a half into the game.

After stopping Polo on downs, the Clippers took over at the Polo 30-yard line, and Lindenmeyer connected with a wide-open Blaine on the first play for a 12-0 lead with 8:16 left in the first quarter.

“It was a good start … a great game by the boys,” Amboy coach Scott Payne said. “I’m proud of them, and they did a wonderful job tonight.”

The Marcos drove to the Amboy 27-yard line on their second possession, but a fourth-down pass was incomplete. However, Polo picked off a Lindenmeyer pass near midfield on the very next play, and drove 48 yards in 10 plays. Avery Grenoble capped the drive with an 11-yard touchdown run where he bounced off a couple of tacklers in the middle of the line of scrimmage and found himself all alone on his way to the end zone.

Amboy answered, driving 69 yards in 10 plays for its third touchdown, this one a 10-yard pass from Lindenmeyer to Blaine in the end zone for a 20-6 lead. The drive featured back-to-back runs of 11 and 13 yards by fullback Quinn Leffelman, and an 11-yard scamper by Lindenmeyer on third-and-4 deep in Polo territory.

“It was just a bad first half, a lot of mistakes, us missing blocks,” Grenoble said. “It’s all we could do to fight back. But we did not quit one time at all, it was dogfight until the end no matter what the score was.”

Polo again managed to chew up the clock and the yards, driving 57 yards to the Amboy 23. Brock Soltow recovered a Grenoble fumble to keep the drive alive, but Cayden Webster’s third-down pass was tipped into the air when Lindenmeyer and Soltow both leaped for it, and Lindenmeyer made a spectacular diving interception at the 5-yard line.

The Clippers gained a couple of first downs to run out the final 1:14 of the first half and keep their two-score lead.

“Not getting that score before halftime hurt. We kind of plugged the gaps there a little bit, and we were able to get our footing on offense and put together a nice drive,” Polo coach Ted Alston said. “It was just a batted ball that gets intercepted. If we score there, it’s a one-score game, and we get the ball to start the second half.”

Amboy then took the wind out of Polo’s sails early in the third quarter. The Marcos picked up one first down on the opening possession, but were forced to punt. Amboy took over at its own 45-yard line, and the first play saw Kye Koch sprint down the left sideline for a 55-yard TD, putting the Clippers up 28-6 with 7:35 left in the third quarter.

“The whole plan was to come out and stop them from scoring, then get the ball back and try to punch one in and really secure the game, and that’s what we did,” Lindenmeyer said.

“That was a halftime adjustment. We changed the way we were blocking our power play, and the kids did a great job executing, and Kye had a great run,” Payne added. “That totally changed momentum for the second half.”

After another punt, Polo forced its second Amboy turnover, this time knocking the ball loose after Blaine caught a pass and rumbled 34 yards down the field; the ball was knocked into the end zone, where the Marcos recovered it.

The teams traded turnovers on downs, then Polo had the drive of the game. Taking over with 11:16 remaining, the Marcos moved 89 yards in 15 plays, with Grenoble running in from 13 yards out to cut the deficit to 28-12.

“It shows how tough the line is, and just how tough we are in general. Obviously we were down three scores and it would’ve been nice to score quicker, but we’re not a team that’s just going to give up, put our heads down and roll over,” Grenoble said. “We stepped up on defense in the third quarter after that big play, and I think our offense understood that and thought, ‘We’ve got to step up,’ and that’s what we did. I think that’s where that long drive came from.”

But it essentially ended Polo’s chances of a comeback. It took 8:22 off the clock, leaving just 2:49 left when Grenoble crossed the goal line. Amboy then recovered the onside kick, gained one first down with Lindenmeyer’s two-yard run on fourth-and-1, and went into victory formation.

“I was telling the boys, ‘This is perfectly fine, let them keep pushing for three yards every play, they’re running the clock down and this is really good for us,’” Lindenmeyer said about Polo’s time-consuming possession.

Still, the drive was a good note for a young Polo team to end its season opener on.

“Our coaches told us after the game that they’re going to coach us hard and keep pushing us. We have a lot of talent, it just wasn’t our best game. I think the next few games, you’re going to start seeing us grow and improve,” Grenoble said. “We’re going to work harder than we’ve worked in practices, we’re going to get better, and you’re going to see it out here on the field.”

Lindenmeyer finished with 74 yards and two scores on 3-for-6 passing, and he also ran eight times for 76 yards and a TD. Koch finished with 75 yards on 10 carries, but left the game early in the fourth quarter after colliding with a teammate on a Polo pass play. Leffelman added 10 rushes for 61 yards, and Blaine had all three catches for 74 yards and the two TDs.

Grenoble finished with 82 yards and two touchdowns on 21 carries, and Soltow had 10 rushes for 60 yards. Webster ran for 41 yards on 13 carries, and threw for 74 yards on 8-for-14 passing. Grenoble had five catches for 49 yards, and Soltow had three receptions for 25 yards, including a pair of leaping catches, one in each half.

“Blaine’s such a good player, Tucker’s such a good player, their tailback is such a good player. They’ve got weapons, and the scary thing is how young they are. But they’re young and experienced; we’re young, but we’re also real inexperienced, and our inexperience showed tonight,” Alston said. “We had a lot of mistakes. I think we can fix it, I think we can get better. I thought we played hard, played our hearts out for what we had. We were a little overmatched up front especially, so we’ll work next week and try to get better. That’s all we can really do.”