Amboy on top: Clippers win back-to-back I8FA state championships

MONMOUTH – In the end, the Amboy-LaMoille-Ohio Clippers would not be denied back-to-back state titles.

Led by a senior class playing in its third-straight Illinois 8-Man Football Association championship, Amboy defeated Milledgeville 42-14 at Monmouth College’s April Zorn Memorial Field on Friday night.

The Clippers are the second team to win two straight straight titles in I8FA, which started in 2018. Polo won in 2019 and 2021, with no postseason in 2020.

All four of Amboy’s leading tailbacks — Josh McKendry, Ed Fry, Brayden Klein and Quinn Leffelman — had rushing touchdowns in the win.

“It’s perfect,” McKendry said. “I couldn’t think of any other way to end.”

It was a fitting finish for the team led by four senior tailbacks.

Leffelman was the first Amboy runner to strike, rushing for a 40-yard score up the gut at the 5:34 mark. McKendry’s two-point run made it 8-0. Fry added a 32-yard score, and Klein’s 8-yard TD made it 20-0 in the final minute before the break.

Milledgeville (11-2) made plays that helped get some momentum, but Amboy (12-1) always seemed to have an answer. The champs’ ground game also could not be contained, as the Clippers ran for 329 yards.

“We wanted to control the line of scrimmage, and we felt we could,” Amboy coach Scott Payne said. “All four backs played really well.”

The Missiles started the second half with a long drive capped by a Spencer Nye 12-yard TD. A Micah Toms-Smith PAT rush made it 20-8. Klein’s second rushing TD made it 26-8 for Amboy, but Karter Livengood’s 54-yard run helped Milledgeville keep within striking distance.

Amboy again had an answer.

It came in the form of sophomore Caiden Heath, who pounced on an onside-kick attempt and darted upfield 48 yards for a touchdown that helped put Amboy up 34-14. The defense did the rest.

“I’ve only seen that one other time, and it was against us against Hiawatha four years ago,” Payne said of the onside-kick return score. “That was an incredible play by Caiden Heath. When he picked it up and took off running, at first, I’m like, ‘No!’ and then, ‘Yes!’

“He saw the opening and took off, and I think that really got the momentum back in our favor at that point in time.”

That was the case at multiple points in the game, but Amboy always weathered the storm.

The Missiles got a fourth-down stop at the 1-yard line in the first half and had a shot at the end zone leading into the break. Eddie Jones intercepted the pass to finish the first-half shutout.

“We were very confident coming in,” Jones said, ”and we just had one goal, and that was going back-to-back.”

The Clippers prevailed in front of two sets of crowded stands in chilly weather, noise-makers in hand.

“Ever since I was little, I always wanted to play for the Clippers and win a state championship,” Jones said. “Taking this at the end of senior year, it means the world.”

Milledgeville’s stars also came through, but they were contained.

Toms-Smith led the Missiles with 115 yards rushing, and Livengood was also near the century mark on the ground. Forced to pass in tough situations at times, he finished 5-of-12 passing for 32 yards.

“It was a hard-fought game. Amboy is a really good football team,” Milledgeville coach Jason Wroble said. “I thought we fought the whole way through. It was still a phenomenal season. We’re a small team, and we came down here and represented our community well.”

Milledgeville tried to switch up the defense, but Amboy continued to win at the line of scrimmage.

“I think we burned through four defenses, maybe five defenses trying to stop the run, and we just couldn’t find an answer,” Wroble said. “Again, that speaks to the quality of their line and their running backs and the blocking. We just couldn’t find an answer for the run game.”

Livengood said he was proud of his team after it reached the first title game in school history. Just a junior, Livengood helped fuel the Missiles’ run to the title game after going under center later in the season.

“We’ve got a really small group of guys, but we’ve got a brotherhood at Milledgeville,” he said. “Only two teams get to be in this position at the end of the year. We came out on the short side, but it was a great season for everyone.”

The Missiles have raised the bar for future teams.

“We made history this year, but that’s going to be the standard next year,” Livengood said. “Everyone’s got to come out and work, and we’ve got a lot of seniors to replace.

“It’s going to be a sour taste for a few weeks, maybe months, but it’s just going to give us more firepower to come back next year and work even harder.”

Leffelman led the Amboy backfield with 103 yards rushing and also caught a pass for 17 yards, adding a sack on defense. He said the team’s belief in itself has always been strong. The Clippers also had a bit of a chip on their shoulder entering the postseason as the No. 4 seed.

“I believed in my teammates tonight,” he said. “I think we all wanted it more, and it showed.”

Amboy did not waver this year when adversity came. Its 17-game winning streak was snapped by Ridgewood earlier in the season. The defense gave up big plays at times, stepping up in the second half against Martinsville. It was matched up with an undefeated No. 1 seed in Pawnee.

But the Clippers eventually triumphed.

“Senior leadership,” Leffelman said of what makes this group special, along with discipline. “We’ve been in this situation, and I think experience played a role in that.

“It was just how we responded, and I think we responded well.”

Klein said the team’s run the last few years has been fueled by hard work. It’s been a special group that made its own mark.

“We have a wonderful coaching staff. They just coach us to be good players and good teammates and pick each other up when someone’s down,” he said, “and just be a team. Bend, don’t break.”