Polo avenges loss to Milledgeville, advances to semis in 8-man playoff action

MILLEDGEVILLE – Two months ago, Polo was blown out by 36 points at the hands of rival Milledgeville.

Polo coach Ted Alston said the Marcos didn’t play to their potential in that meeting.

However, on Saturday, Nov. 4, a dominant performance by Brock Soltow and improved line play on both sides of the ball, No. 6 Polo avenged the earlier loss, beating the No. 3 Missiles 28-6 in an Illinois 8-Man Football Association quarterfinal.

“It means a lot,” Alston said. “We played so poorly in that regular-season game (a 58-22 loss). We were so disappointed. I know the kids were terribly disappointed in that game. We’ve improved a lot since then.

“I can’t be any prouder of the kids right now with the way they responded and the way they just ignored everyone telling them they couldn’t beat these guys. The came out here and played a great game.”

The Marcos (9-2) advance to the semifinals, where they’ll look to avenge their other loss against No. 2 Amboy-LaMoille-Ohio (11-0) at 1 p.m. Saturday in Polo. The Clippers beat Polo 52-6 in Week 9.

Amboy advanced to the semifinals with a 62-7 rout of No. 7 Flanagan-Cornell/Woodland.

“It’s going to be a battle again, just like Milledgeville,” Soltow said. “We get them at home this time, so it’s going to feel amazing with a big crowd and everything.”

On Saturday, Soltow did it all for the Marcos. He ran for a touchdown, caught a touchdown pass, threw a touchdown pass and intercepted a pass in the end zone.

“It feels good to do this against our biggest rivals,” said Soltow, who ran for 239 yards on 27 carries. “I wouldn’t be able to do it without Carter (Merdian) and our offensive line.”

Soltow put the Marcos ahead early when he broke free for a 62-yard touchdown run on their first possession.

Milledgeville responded quickly, as QB Connor Nye scored on a 3-yard run on the Missiles’ first drive, a score that was set up by a 55-yard pass from Nye to Micah Toms-Smith.

From there, the Polo defense kept Milledgeville off the scoreboard.

“Our front on both sides of the ball won us this game,” Alston said. “The biggest play defensively is we were much, much more disciplined, but also offensively being able to control the ball and run clock was huge for us keeping their offense off the field.”

Polo’s second drive started with 7:01 left in the first quarter and ended 13 plays later on an 8-yard run by Soltow with 11:13 left in the second quarter. The play before Soltow’s TD, the Missiles were called for a defensive holding on fourth down to extend the drive.

The Marcos then took control.

Milledgeville drove down to the Polo 3-yard line, but the Marcos tackled Konner Johnson for a 1-yard loss on fourth-and-goal from the 4. Polo then marched 95 yards in five minutes, capping the drive with a 15-yard TD pass from Merdian to Soltow on fourth down with 20.9 seconds left.

“That touchdown, (assistant coach Matt) Scholl came up to me and goes, ‘Do you want to throw it or catch it?’ I go, ‘Let me catch it, Coach,’” Soltow said. “I had trust in Carter. We’ve always done that in practice. It felt great.”

The late touchdown gave Polo a 20-8 halftime lead.

“That was absolutely huge,” Alston said. “We were in a situation here last year where we were up at halftime, and they came out and just took it to us. For us to get that stop, that wouldn’t have happened Week 3. They would have scored. We got that stop and were able to run the clock out and score.

“That was a huge chain of events for us.”

In the second half, Soltow intercepted a pass in the end zone to end Milledgeville’s first possession, then led a 9:57 drive, lofting a 23-yard TD pass to Landen Brooks with 7:46 left to go up 28-8.

Brooks intercepted a screen pass on first-and-goal with 5:10 left, and the Marcos ran the clock under a minute left before turning the ball over on downs.

“It feels great,” Soltow said. “The first time we played them in Week 3, we looked rough. It was definitely our worst game. Our offensive line did amazing (today). That’s what won us the game.”

For the Missiles, who finish 9-2, Connor Nye ran for 97 yards and a TD on 18 carries and completed 6-of-13 passes for 151 yards.