:quality(70):focal(955x765:965x775)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/shawmedia/JYMAK5RA7NGHDKGTXBSQZV3BHE.jpg)
AMBOY – With plenty of returning starters from a state runner-up team on the 8-man circuit, the targets have been affixed on Amboy-LaMoille-Ohio as a favorite to return to Monmouth to play for a championship.
The Decatur Unity-Mt. Pulaski co-op was the first team to try their hand on a balmy Friday at sinking the Clippers at The Harbor, but constant evasion throughout a mercy-rule game propelled them to a 46-0 season-opening win.
The Clippers’ powered their way to a running clock situation before the second half began, triggering it after amassing a 32-0 lead 52 seconds into the second quarter. Unity coach Michael Harris requested the early continuous clock, which typically starts when a team is leading by 40 points in the second half.
That 40-point lead happened with just over 7 minutes to play in the quarter, after Clippers senior Landon Welchel marched in for a 42-yard rushing score to put the game out of reach and give the reserves a chance to take the field.
“It went good,” Welchel said. “Our first group took care of business, and the second team came in and also took care of business.”
The Clippers didn’t let Unity go anywhere on its first drive, and scored before its offense took the field. Ohio senior lineman Vincent Zembrzuski blocked Unity’s fourth-down punt just 90 seconds into the game, and Amboy junior lineman Caleb Shugars scooped it up at the 19-yard line and ran along the Clipper sideline for a quick 6-0 lead.
Amboy’s first touchdown of the season was Shugars’ very first in high school football.
“Zembrzuski blocked it and I saw [teammate Caleb] Yanos going for it,” Shugars said. “I just wanted to get it picked up. I was about to fall and he picked me up – that’s what teammates do, they keep you up – and I just ran it in. It felt great. It felt absolutely amazing.”
About four minutes later, Amboy senior Brennan Blaine scored the first of three first-half touchdowns. Blaine’s first came with 5:58 to go in the first quarter on a 26-yard pass completion from junior quarterback Eddie Jones, the next on a 10-yard run just 10 seconds later, and the other on an 11-yard run in the second quarter.
Josh McKendry capped the scoring with a 65-yard run on the first play from scrimmage of the second half.
Friday’s performance wasn’t a bad start, Clippers coach Scott Payne said, but his team found some items they could work on to make their strong start even better.
“We played pretty well, but we made a lot of mental mistakes that you’d expect that in first games,” Payne said. “We just have some things that we have to clean up.”
Unity sophomore quarterback Jackson Pettyjohn was picked off twice in the first half, with Clippers sophomore Cody Winn and junior Ed Fry coming up with picks; Unity backup quarterback senior KC Kauffman threw another to Clippers junior Brayden Klein during the second-quarter running clock. The trio of Clipper defenders with interceptions make up half of LaMoille’s contribution to the co-op.
The Clippers were 5-for-6 on two-point conversions; Unity junior Everett Roughton made the lone stop after McKendry’s score. Only one Unity play in the first half attained double-digit yardage.
The Clippers will travel to River Ridge in Hanover next Friday in the first game of the No. 2 North Conference schedule; the Wildcats lost to Milledgeville also on Friday. The Missiles, along with Polo, figure to make the battle for the conference lead an interesting one, and along with the Clippers, also are likely to duke it out to represent the northern half at the 8-man state finals.
Despite the lopsided outcome, the Clippers know they can be better than how they played Friday, Welchel said.
“They [Unity] are a good team and all, but we should have been better than what we were,” Welchel said. “Next week we want to try and play better starting off and come out more energetic.”