AMBOY – Coming into the 2024 high school football season, the question is being asked in Amboy, surrounding areas, and through the entire state.

Can Amboy-LaMoille-Ohio win the Illinois 8-Man Football Association championship for the second-straight season?

The Clippers may not give you the straight answer, yes, but they’re preparing and focused on another championship run.

“We’re looking forward to this season. We have a lot of expectations, and we want to fulfill them. Our defense is defense where we’re going to go after the ball and make tackles,” said senior Quinn Leffelman, who is a defensive end and running back. “On offense, we’ll be a little more strategical. Our offensive line is going to have to step up this year since everyone who was on the line last year graduated.

“I lifted every day during the summer to get stronger and faster. We all wanted to improve.”

Leffelman is one of 13 seniors returning to the gridiron for Amboy.

Offensively, Leffelman will be joined at different times of a game by seniors Joel Billhorn, Ed Fry, and Brayden Klein in the backfield.

The four running backs will also be used in the passing game as well as tight ends senior Caleb Yanos and sophomore Evan Flanagan, who goes to LaMoille High School.

Senior Eddie Jones is the starting quarterback for the third season as he started the majority of his sophomore year due to an injury.

“It seems like we’re a lot faster than last year. We get on the ball, and we get down the field faster than we did last year,” Jones said. “I think that’s going to be a big key to our success.

“Caleb Yanos was good at everything he did last year. He’s going to be one of my main guys. I’ll also find Brayden Klein, Josh McKendry, Ed Fry, or Joel Billhorn. I’m going to look for those guys every chance I can. We’ll run a few different plays, but we know our offense and run it efficiently the way it was.”

Blocking for the passing and running game will be guards senior Dillon Merriman and sophomore Trevor Stenzel and senior center Caleb Shugars.

Coach Scott Payne doesn’t think this offense is going to take step backward from a year ago.

“They’re preparing very well for what’s ahead of them. I told them in June, ‘We’re going to have a target. Everyone is going to want to beat us. We have to work twice as hard this summer as we did last summer.’ And they did,” Payne said. “We had one kid on our varsity team without perfect attendance during our summer workouts. That shows how much these guys want to continue what the team last year started for us.”

“My message from Day 1 has been this team is a different team than last year. I told them, ‘Go out and make your own mark on the program. Last year was great, it was fun, but it’s done and over with. This is now your team. It’s your time to shine.’

“One thing I told them was that they needed to realize, ‘Last year you got to scrimmage against the best team in the state every day. You guys had better reps than anyone else had last year.’

“The kids playing the positions of the kids who graduated have done a really good job.”

Defensively, Leffelman and Yanos are at defensive end, Merriman and Flanagan are tackles, Klein and Fry are linebackers, and senior Brody Christoffersen and junior Cody Winn are defensive backs.

Klein is ready to take advantage of every snap.

“It’s exciting to look forward to this season. Being a backup role player helping the seniors last year, this is a different opportunity for me to help lead the team,” Klein said. “It makes me feel good knowing the coaches trust me enough to be in a lead spot on both sides of the ball. Being from LaMoille, coming to Amboy where it’s a bigger town and bigger school, it means a lot that I’m given the opportunities I am this year.

“I’m not really nervous. I’m looking forward to the season. Hopefully, we finish strong again. We have different competition playing different teams. Ridgewood is going to be the big one. We know we have a target on our back, and we look forward to it. We’ve heard rumors other teams have been talking about us. 

“We’re looking forward to playing them.”

Payne has seen his defense in action at practice and is not envious of the Clippers opponents.

“A lot of these kids who are starting this year got a lot of playing time for us last year. It was a great experience for them and it kind of made the transition easier for them also as they moved into starting roles,” Payne said. “We have 13 seniors this year. I don’t know how many teams in the state have that many seniors. It’s a positive. Having the best reps for 13 weeks last year against the best team in the state will be a huge benefit.

“If they go out there and execute what we do, we’ll be fine.”

The formation of 8-man football looks a little different this season as it is now in four conferences – north, south, east, and west.

Amboy is in the 8-Player Football West Conference with West Central (Biggsville) Bushnell-Prairie City, Ridgewood (Cambridge), Flanagan-Cornell-Woodland, Galva, Peoria Heights, and West Prairie (Sciota).

“We have Ridgewood right off the bat and they’re going to want some payback for the state game,” Payne said. “I’ve been drilling in the kid’s heads, ‘You don’t let anyone come into the harbor and push us around.’ We have Ridgewood twice this year and there is a rivalry building.

“We have to play West Central. They’re a really good football team with a great coach, Jason Kirby. We have Flanagan, which we played in the playoffs last year and they’re going to be good. Bushnell-Prairie City had a good quarterback last year and he’s back.

“It’s exciting to play different teams, but we did have a good thing going with Polo and Milledgeville. We had a nice three-way rivalry going. I understand they had to change some things. We’ll build some different rivalries.”