Amboy-LaMoille capitalizes on Milledgeville mistakes in top 8-man tilt

MILLEDGEVILLE – In big games where mistakes need to be at a premium or rare, mistakes were made and many were capitalized on as Amboy-LaMoille-Ohio held off Milledgeville in a game of unbeaten 8-man squads.

The Clippers pounced on enough Missiles’ miscues to make a difference in a 32-20 win Friday at Floyd Daub Field.

The Clippers (6-0) take sole possession of first place in the 8-man North Division 2 with the Missiles and Polo sitting tied a rung below with three weeks to play in the regular season.

From a low punted ball blocked and rolling backward into the end zone for a second-quarter safety, to an illegal procedure penalty at the Clippers’ 1-yard line in the final minutes of the game before being snuffed, the Missiles (5-1) saw the Clippers take advantage one too many times.

“This is huge after last week where we had a close game with Ridgewood where it shouldn’t have been that close,” Amboy senior running back Landon Whelchel said. “It was a good wake-up call, so we came out this week stronger than ever in a big, big game with a big win – a big wake-up call for the whole state, and let them know who’s here.”

After a scoreless first quarter, the Missiles were forced to punt deep in their own territory. The kick wound up being low and bounced off a helmet, sending the ball tumbling backward past the boundaries for a 2-0 Clippers’ lead with 9:34 to play in the first half.

About two minutes later, Milledgeville turned the ball over on downs and Whelchel took the next play 61 yards for the game’s first touchdown and an 8-0 lead. Whelchel scored two more times in the game, and led the Clippers with 214 rushing yards on 16 carries.

The Clippers led 16-6 at halftime after Whelchel and Milledgeville’s Konnor Johnson traded scores to wind down the second quarter.

The Missiles came into Friday with the third-most potent offense in any level of Illinois high school football, having outscored their opponents with a three-to-one ratio.

Amboy held Milledgeville to half of its scoring average per game, but not before the Missiles mounted a comeback in the third quarter.

Missiles quarterback Connor Nye connected with Karter Livengood for a 44-yard strike with 10:34 to play in the third to narrow the Clipper lead to 16-12, and Nye added a 5-yard run nearly 6 minutes later to go up 20-16 after a successful two-point run by Micah Toms-Smith.

When Whelchel found the holes about a minute later and sprinted 56 yards to give his team back the lead at 24-20 with 3:36 to play in the third.

Just a half-minute before the third quarter ended, the Clippers scored through the air as Eddie Jones connected with Troy Anderson from 10 out to go up by the final margin of 12. It was Anderson’s second big catch of the game; the other came on the opposite end of the field when he snared an interception in the Clippers’ end zone with about four minutes left in the first quarter.

Anderson’s touchdown drive was buoyed by a 52-yard fake handoff play around the left end that Brennan Blaine took across the field.

“Momentum’s a big factor, and it’s all about keeping it as long as possible and making big plays,” Anderson said.

A pair of Missiles runs in the fourth quarter ended with takeaways: a fumble near midfield with 9:30 to play was stripped by Blaine and landed on by Whelchel; and a Cody Winn interception inside the Clippers’ 10 with 5:07 to play also dashed a comeback hope for the Missiles.

“I told our guys before the game that with two good football teams playing each other, a lot of times penalties and turnovers are huge, along with special teams, and those were three areas that we lost on,” Missiles coach Jason Wroble said. “They won the turnover battle, we had a couple of big penalties and a blocked punt, and just couldn’t get anything going on special teams. We battled pretty well for most of the game, but it can be disappointing when you self-inflict. I’m not taking anything away from Amboy because they played a heck of a football game, but we had lot of self-inflicted wounds that didn’t help us at all.”

With just less than two minutes to go, and down by 12, the Missiles had a shot to make it a one-score game: They got as close as the Clippers’ 1 but were pushed back five yards on an illegal procedure penalty. The next play resulted in a bobbled catch attempt in the end zone and the final turnover on downs.

“It was a very great football game with two great football teams going back and forth,” Clippers coach Scott Payne said. “One play here or there could have went to anybody, but I think the biggest key was the two turnovers we got.”

Nye led the Missiles with 70 rushing yards on 19 plays and 186 passing yards on six completions.

“Our offensive line played real well, and our defensive line did a great job of getting a pass rush on Nye,” Payne said. “That was something that was important for us, to keep Nye in the pocket, get a good pass rush and not let him run around and do his thing. Our kids did a good job at that, and I’m very proud of the way everybody played.”

Amboy-plays at Ashton-Franklin Center in Week 7. The Clippers are one of three unbeaten teams left among the Illinois 8-man ranks. There will be two by the end of Saturday after fellow unbeatens St. Thomas More and South Beloit play each other.

Milledgeville looks to rebound next Saturday against the Pawnee-Lincolnwood co-op.

“You can learn a lot from a loss like that,” Wroble said. “There are things we need to improve on, just continue week by week and get better each week. That’s been our focus this whole season. Something I’ve been telling these guys is that one game doesn’t define our team. After we beat Polo I told them that it wasn’t season-defining, and the same thing here – it doesn’t define our season and we have a lot of goals in front of us.

“We lost to a really good football team, but I think we’re right there with them, so that should give them some confidence as well.”