Runner-up finish in I8FA earns Amboy-LaMoille-Ohio’s Payne SVM Football Coach of the Year award

AMBOY – The 2022 Illinois 8-Man Football Association season was a historic one for the Amboy-LaMoille-Ohio Clippers, who persevered through the loss of two starters and a six-game absence from all-state quarterback Tucker Lindenmeyer to go 10-3 with a runner-up finish at state.

For guiding his team through major adversity and reaching the state championship game, Scott Payne has been recognized as the 2022 SVM Football Coach of the Year.

From the moment their 2021 season ended in a 34-12 state semifinal loss to Orangeville, the Clippers were motivated to reach the 2022 state championship game. Throughout the summer, the season-ending loss served as a motivational tool – seemingly with great effect.

“That’s something we talked about all summer long. Any time we felt the kids needed a little extra push, we brought that game up and how close we got. And they responded really well,” Payne said. “The kids always had that in the back of their mind. I think the first day of weightlifting, one of the kids wrote the score of the semifinal game on the mirror with a dry-erase marker, and it stayed up there all summer long. We brought it up as much as we could just to let them know how close we got, and it just didn’t work out in our favor that time.”

A season of great expectations started off on a high note with a 28-12 opening win over reigning eight-man state champion Polo. That positive trajectory continued for two more weeks with 68-12 and 40-36 wins over River Ridge and Milledgeville, but in Week 4, Amboy’s state championship hopes were dealt a major blow.

With two starters leaving the program, and a Lindenmeyer hamstring injury suffered on the first play against Milford/Cissna Park in Week 4 threatening to end his season, the Clippers’ 2022 outlook was suddenly very different.

“These guys handled a lot of adversity this year. After the Milledgeville game, a lot of people don’t know, we lost three players,” Payne said. “Tucker got hurt, obviously, and then we had a couple other kids kind of step away from the team. They were both starters, but these kids didn’t let that bother them.

“It was just next-man-up mentality, and I’m very proud of them for that.”

The Clippers lost their Week 4 game 40-30, but went 4-2 with sophomore quarterback Eddie Jones starting.

With a 44-0 win over Orangeville, a 26-12 win over Hiawatha, a 62-8 win over Bushnell-Prairie City, and a 42-14 win over Aquin from Weeks 5-8, Jones kept the Clippers afloat during a tumultuous time.

For Payne, that relief effort is one of the first things he’ll remember when thinking back on this season.

Another main thing he’ll remember: Lindenmeyer’s return to the practice field.

“I’ll remember how well Eddie came in and played quarterback, as a backup, a sophomore. But one thing I do remember is that first week of the playoffs, on that Monday, seeing the smile on Tucker Lindenmeyer’s face when he was walking out to practice knowing he was going to be able to play,” Payne said. “Because he didn’t know if he was going to be able to come back after the injury. And I just kind of looked at him, and I go, ‘I’ve never seen you so happy to come out to practice before.’ And he just took off running. To see the look on his face when he realized he got to play high school football, at least one more game at that point in time, I was just happy for him for that.”

Amboy entered the playoffs with a 7-2 record. It defeated opening-round opponent Blue Ridge/DeLand-Weldon 48-0 in Lindenmeyer’s return, then edged Milford/Cissna Park 30-28 in the second round, winning in miraculous fashion with a fourth-down stop and forced fumble on the goal line as time expired to keep its season alive.

Payne said the Milford game – and particularly the defensive stand at the end – will stay with him for a long time.

“Honestly, I didn’t see the fumble, because it was on the other side of the field. I didn’t see it, and one of the guys in the headset said, ‘Oh, they fumbled it and we got it.’ And next thing you know it was just both sides were yelling, and it was just a great defensive stand,” Payne recalled. “They were moving the ball down on us, and I called a timeout thinking, ‘OK, we’ve gotta save a little time just in case we can’t stop ‘em.’ And then they got closer, and finally I looked at one of my assistants, I said, ‘Defense is gonna have to win it now. It’s all up to them.’ And they did.

“I think it was [Brennan] Blaine and Lindenmeyer both made a good tackle on the running back, forced the fumble, and Quinn Leffelman recovered it in the end zone. It was a great game. It’s one of those games you hate to see a team lose, it’s that type of game, but it felt pretty good to come out with a win down there, and it was just an exciting game. That’s probably what I’ll remember most, is that defensive stand on the goal line.”

In the state semifinals, the Clippers defeated St. Thomas More 54-22, securing their trip to Monmouth, then ended their season in a 44-36 defeat to West Central in the state championship.

Although it came up just short of its ultimate goal this season, there’s plenty of optimism for Amboy to carry into next season.

Payne will be sad to see his senior quarterback depart, but he’s excited to bring back everyone else from the state championship run, and hopefully be able to take that final step.

“He’s meant a lot. Last year, this year. Tucker, he was a leader,” Payne said. “He didn’t have to say a lot. He just did it by his example. Tucker means a lot to this program. I told him, ‘Once a Clipper always a Clipper, and just because you graduate doesn’t mean you can’t be around the team or anything.’ You hate to see a kid like Tucker graduate and move on, but it’s just part of high school football, and he’s truly going be missed by the Amboy program.

“We’re really excited, not only to have all the juniors back, but in the playoffs, we had about three or four sophomores step up big for us, and we’re looking to see a lot out of them,” Payne continued. “We even had a freshman who played quite a bit of defense against St. Thomas More, at defensive back, so we’re really excited with the group of kids we’ve got. They took two weeks off, and now they’re starting to lift again. I didn’t have to beg them to come in; they just started showing up. Usually, we wait until after the first of the year and start all that again, but they wanted to start now. And I’m not going to argue with them, by any means.

“But we’re really excited with our juniors that are going to be seniors, and our freshman and sophomore class. We’ve got some really good football players.”