AMBOY – Players on the Amboy-LaMoille-Ohio football team had one thing on their minds when it came to the Week 2 game on Friday, Sept. 1 against River Ridge on the road...dominate.

The Clippers accomplished their mission as the 8-man football team beat the Wildcats 80-8.

“It was just a good game all around. The kids played really hard,” Amboy coach Scott Payne said. “Once again, you have to hand it to our offensive and defensive lines. When you have a line that can control the line of scrimmage, great things can happen and that’s what happened Friday.”

The ALO running backs could not be contained as senior Landon Whelchel rushed for three touchdowns, Braden Klein had two, and Quinn Leffelman, Brody Christofferson, and Josh McKendry had one apiece.

Junior quarterback Eddie Jones threw for two touchdowns as Brennan Blaine was the scoring receiver for one and senior Troy Anderson found the end zone once on a screen play.

“Each running back we have brings a different element of the game for us. Whelchel is more of a power back who will get you five, six, seven yards each carry,” Payne said. “Klein and McKendry are the speed guys who can take it to the house at any time. Leffelman is just a bulldozer who just runs people over and he’s hard to tackle.

“Against River Ridge there was one drive where I don’t know how many tackles Leffelman broke, but it seemed like everytime he got the ball he broke two or three tackles. He was just a beast to take to the ground.”

With the Week 1 victory against Decatur Unity Christian, 46-0, and the Week 2 win over River Ridge, 80-8, the Clippers have outscored their opponents 126-8 and average 63.4 points per game.

“Our offense isn’t anything flashy. We just line up and run the ball. The credit goes to our line. None of what we’re doing would be possible unless we had a really good offensive line,” Payne said. “And we do. We have five guys upfront that block really well and stay on their blocks. They take pride in blocking well and letting those other guys score all of the touchdowns.”

A football team doesn’t win without defense either.

Only allowing eight points in two games, the guys making plays without the ball are holding their end of the bargain.

“Our defense has been playing really well. Our starters played the first half and then to start the second half we played our second and third team guys,” Payne said. “The second and third team guys are just as good of football players as anybody. They got guys that are just a little bit better ahead of them.

“They come in and take pride in trying to keep that zero for the other team on the scoreboard.”

The Clippers Week 3 opponent is Martinsville at 2 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 9 on the road in Martinsville.

The Bluestreaks have won their first two games of the season as they beat Milford 22-14 on the road and Metro-East Lutheran 55-0 at home.

“They have a pretty good running back. I’ve watched their film and they like to get their running back the ball a lot. They have some pretty good size up front. We just have to do what we do and play our game. We’ll see what happens.

“The trip to River Ridge and Martinsville are our two longest road trips of the season. This week the trip to Martinsville is four hours and we’re leaving at 1 p.m. on Friday and spending the night to be ready for our Saturday game. I think this is a good experience for the kids. Not a lot of high school football teams get to have an overnight road trip.

“It’s a little bit out of our routine, but it’s my job to make sure they’re ready to go. And we will be.”