Amboy outslugs Milledgeville in battle of top eight-man teams

Amboy's Tucker Lindenmeyer turns the corner for a gain as Milledgeville's Micha Toms-Smith (6) and Cayden Akers (50) pursue on Friday. Sept. 9.

AMBOY – Perhaps the most intriguing fact about the back-and-forth slugfest that Amboy-LaMoille-Ohio and Milledgeville took part in Friday at The Harbor is that these two top eight-man football teams could very well meet once more before the season’s done.

The Clippers survived a 40-36 battle with the Missiles to remain unbeaten on the young season.

Come November, both the Clippers and Missiles could see each other in the playoffs, with the expectation of a repeat of Friday’s tug-of-war showdown.

Clippers junior tight end Brennan Blaine, who caught two touchdown passes from senior quarterback Tucker Lindenmeyer, had never been in a game such as this: one where two-point conversions mattered and a 10-point Missiles lead with 2:30 to play wasn’t safe.

“That was the most back-and-forth game I’ve ever seen in my entire life,” Blaine said. “Both great teams that lived up to the hype. I thought our defense came up big and we came out on top.”

Amboy's Brennan Blaine dives for the ball as Milledgeville's Kacen Johnson tries to break up the pass on Friday. Sept. 9.

Milledgeville’s late 10-point fourth-quarter lead came after a 42-yard touchdown keeper by junior quarterback Connor Nye. Just two minutes later, Blaine hauled in his second TD reception from 57 yards out to make it a 36-32 game. On the two-point attempt after Blaine’s touchdown, a penalty on the Missiles during an incomplete pass meant the Clippers had one more try at it, and junior Landon Welchel hauled in the conversion to inch the Clippers closer at 36-34.

The Missiles’ next drive saw them get into Clipper territory, but they were stopped with 3:07 remaining when Lindenmeyer deflected a potential fourth-down catch that would have set up a fresh set of downs. The Clippers capitalized on the turnover on downs and got to the Missiles’ 32 before Lindenmeyer marched in for a score on a keeper with 2:23 left to make it 40-36.

“We just needed to secure some yards,” Lindenmeyer said. “Nobody was open, I didn’t want to toss the ball up in the air and have it be a 50-50 chance, so it’s either tuck it and run, or do what I can to keep the ball safe, especially in a situation like that.”

Four incomplete passes were thrown on the Missiles’ final try on offense before turning it over for the Clippers, who ran the clock out.

“We just didn’t make as many plays as we needed to,” Missiles coach Jason Wroble said. “They made more plays that us, and I thought it was an even game. They made some great plays where we didn’t tackle when we needed to, so we’re going to figure out how to approach this loss and grow from it week to week.”

Milledgeville's Connor Nye passes the ball against Amboy on Friday. Sept. 9.

The Clippers scored first on a 13-yard touchdown pass from Lindenmeyer to Vincent Zembrzuski with 5:41 to go in the first quarter for a 6-0 advantage. The score came on Lindenmeyer’s second pass attempt – the first one fell incomplete, but the Clippers moved into the red zone on a pass interference penalty on the Missiles.

Milledgeville responded in the second quarter after Kacen Johnson hauled a punt and returned 97 yards for a score, marching down the Missiles sideline after breaking a couple of tackles 10 yards into his run. Johnson also caught the two-point conversion to put his team ahead 8-6 with 2:41 left in the first half.

“Our special teams have always been great, and we set up some nice holes,” Johnson said. “It’s really all of the linemen, they get the job done.”

The Missiles’ lead didn’t last long, as Lindenmeyer connected with Blaine for a TD with 52.7 seconds remaining in the first half; Welchel’s two-point reception put the Clippers up 14-8, and that was the score at halftime.

The third quarter saw a flurry of touchdowns that gave the game a nip-and-tuck feel. Nye tied the game at 14 with 10:01 to go in the quarter, with Konnor Johnson’s two-point reception putting the Missiles up 16-14. Clipper junior Kye Koch punched through a hole in the middle of Missiles’ line for a 65-yard TD run just 12 seconds after Nye’s score to regain the lead at 20-16. Then just 11 seconds after Koch’s TD, Kacen Johnson hauled in a Nye pass for a 60-yard TD and a second-chance at a conversion attempt – after a penalty on the Clippers – was successful after Nye ran it in for a 24-20 lead.

Those three touchdowns took place over 6 minutes of real time, and although the rapid scoring subsided a little throughout the rest of the game, it made for a game of survival for both teams.

“We didn’t play our best in the first half,” Lindenmeyer said. “We talked about bouncing back from adversity all season long, and how [better things] are going to happen and are going to come. This was the game it came, and we bounced back, came back strong, and pulled it off.”

Milledgville's Konnor Johnson runs with the ball as Eric Ebersole (63) blocks against Amboy on Friday. Sept. 9.

Kacen Johnson also scored on a 16-yard completion in the third quarter, and Koch scored on a three-yard run toward the end of the period.

Lindenmeyer threw for 225 yards on 10-for-17 passing, with Blaine as his most common target for 116 of those yards. Lindenmeyer and Koch combined for most of the Clippers’ rushes, with 27 carries for 153 yards. Amboy converted only two of its six two-point conversion tries, while the Missiles converted four of their six.

“Milledgeville has great pass coverage,” Blaine said. “Tucker gave me some nice throws. It was tough to beat that pass coverage, but I’m glad we could.”

Nye rushed for 95 yards on 10 carries, and was 5-for-18 passing for 134 yards, 111 of them to Kacen Johnson.

“The kids did a great job,” Clippers coach Scott Payne said. “We had some adversity being down 10 in the third quarter, and I told the kids they needed to step up and start making plays, or you can put your heads down and they’ll run away with it. These kids did a great job, they stepped up and made plays, and I’m so proud of all of them.”