8-Man champion Amboy co-op looking to continue success

After the last two seasons ended with appearances in the Illinois 8-Man Football Association state championship game, the defending champs are “reloading,” according to head coach Scott Payne.

Last year’s Amboy-LaMoille-Ohio Clippers were on a mission and steamrolled pretty much everybody who got in their way. After losing just one senior to graduation following 2022′s runner-up finish to West Central, anything less than a state title wasn’t going to be enough for last year’s Clippers.

And while they ended last season with the coveted title, now their goal is to go back-to-back championships.

“A lot of kids who are seniors this year are excited to make their marks,” Payne said. “With the type of team we were last year, all the seniors we had, these guys didn’t get on the field as much as they could have with other teams – a lot of them would’ve started for other teams – and they want to show what type of team we really are, even after losing some of the great players that graduated.”

Led by seniors like Brennan Blaine, Landon Whelchel, Austin Heath, Ian Sundberg, Trey Payne, Landon Montavon and Troy Anderson, Amboy rolled through the regular season last year with a 437-137 scoring edge. Only one game was decided by one score – 48-42 over Cambridge in Week 5, which came right after a Week 4 forfeit win – and only one other game was decided by two scores (a 32-20 win over Milledgeville in Week 6).

The next-closest margin of victory was 46 points, achieved three times, before a playoff run that included wins of 54-6 over Hiawatha, 62-7 over Flanagan-Cornell/Woodland and 40-6 over Polo before routing Cambridge 74-22 in the title game. The Clippers led that one 30-0 midway through the first quarter and stretched the lead to 60-0 midway through the second.

All year long, Amboy put up impressive numbers while being considered the team to beat in the I-8FA. This year’s team hopes to have the target squarely on its back again.

“In our mind, we want to be that team everybody wants to knock off,” Payne said. “A few teams will look at our roster and see who’s graduated and might think that we’ll be down, so we might sneak up on some people this year.

“We just want to go out and play our game, and our kids understand the type of football we want to play. We want to be the most physical team on the field, and we take pride in that. We’re not flashy, but the kids buy in, and they like that style.

“We had a little swagger last year, and I see it carrying over into this year.”

Amboy has a few key pieces returning from the title run.

Quarterback Eddie Jones is entering his second season as the full-time starter, and he also started five games as a sophomore in 2022. Fullback/linebacker Quinn Leffelman will be starting for the fourth straight season, and Payne mentioned Caleb Yanos and Evan “Tank” Flanagan as stepping into the tight end/defensive end position manned by the two-time all-stater Blaine.

Payne said he likes his team’s speed to complement the physical power run game.

“We’re probably faster than we were last year; we have three tailbacks who are really good and really fast, who played behind our really good tailback [Whelchel] last year,” Payne said. “Our senior linemen also got a lot of playing time in the second halves last year as juniors, and we’ve seen great things out of them.

“And then, of course, with Eddie and Quinn, it’s great to have guys like that who know the offense, know what we want on defense and really fill that leadership role.”

Last year, a return to the state title game and a championship trophy were on the Clippers’ minds all season long, and they accomplished their goal. Now, they know what it takes to get the job done, and are eager to stay atop the I-8FA mountain.

“Obviously, every team in the state talks about winning a state championship at this time of year, and we’re no different,” Payne said. “Our kids understand what it takes to do that, and our motto is the same one this year from last year: Our goal is to 1-0 every week, and the most important team is who we’re playing next.

“We concentrate and fully focus on our next opponent, then once that game is over, we’ll worry about the next one. If we do that, things will take care of themselves.”