WEST LIBERTY — The Spartans officially opened the 2022 varsity football season with a trip to West Liberty and a 42-0 non-district win over the Comets.
Solon took a 14-0 lead at the end of the first quarter after Nash Kotar returned a punt 63 yards to score and Grant Knipper booted the first of six extra point kicks, and Blake Timmons scampered nine yards to score. At halftime, the Spartans held a 28-0 advantage. Timmons scored on a three-yard run while Brett White scooted downfield 17 yards for a touchdown. Sean Stahle scored with a 12-yard run in the third to make it 35-0 and triggering the continuous clock for the remainder of the game. Rhyse Wear recovered a fumble and hauled the ball 30 yards for the final touchdown in the fourth quarter.
While it was a decisive win Coach Lucas Stanton found some room for improvement.
“We are 1-0, but we were not happy with some of the sloppiness we had. (I’m) Happy for our kids and team to get the win so I don’t want to take anything away from them, but they know it wasn’t the best representation of what we need to do.” Coach Stanton pointed to a plethora of penalties. “Ultimately we have to learn from it and get better. Championship-caliber football teams, which is what this team’s goal is, have to be more disciplined.” The coach added they would be working to clean up the penalties this week. “We will see how much improvement we make this week, and how hungry we really are.”
The Spartans host their historic rival, Mount Vernon, Friday, Sept. 2 with the freshmen kicking off at 5:00 p.m. and the varsity following at 7:30 p.m. Solon won 41-27 last year at Mount Vernon and according to Varsity Bound is undefeated since at least 2008 including a 42-8 pounding in 2008, a 37-0 shutout in 2010, and a 26-21 win in 2016, the closest contest in the time period. Coach Stanton knows the Mustangs will come charging out of the gate.
“They have a good squad with some veterans on their line. We always look forward to this rivalry and know no matter what, we will get their very best effort. We are looking forward to the opportunity.”
Stats include:
Rushing – Brett White 8-114-1, Blake Timmons 8-34-2, Barret Schade 4-25-0, Mac McCarty 3-20-0, Brayden Miller 1-16-0, Milo Ashbacker 1-11-0, Sean Stahle 9-9-1, Ryan Rasmussen 1-6-0, Brayden Moore 1-(-)2-0, Mason Young 2-2-0, Drake Collins 11-0-0, Cooper Gates 2-(-)2-0, Joshua Zeman 2-(-)3-0, Diego Sanchez 1-(-)3-0
Passing – Timmons 9-15-104-0, Brayden Ruskey 2-3-19-0, Collins 19-37-116-0, Gates 0-1-0
Receiving – Rasmussen 2-46-0, Nash Kotar 4-26-0, Oaken Foster 1-19-0, Cole Farnsforth 1-17-0, White 1-15-0, Landon Shive 1-2-0, Sean Stahle 1-(-)2-0, Morgan Lehman 4-43-0, Caden Laughlin 4-27-0, Ty Jones 4-22-0, Sanchez 2-10-0, Zeman 2-9-0, Blaze Maas 3-5-0
Tackles – White 5-3-0-0-1.5-1, David Karam 2-1-0-0-1.5-0, Keenan Kruse 1-0-0-0-0-0, Zeb Kleinsmith 1-0-1-0-1-0, Quinton Heineman 3-1-0-0-1-0, Adam Smith 1-0-0-0-0-0, Ben Kampman 0-0-1-0-1-0, Moore 1-3-0-0-0-0, Aidan Doyle 1-3-0-0-0-0, Rhyse Wear 1-0-0-0-1-0, Joe Ebert 0-1-0-0-0-0, Kotar 2-0-0-0-0-0, Charlie Hammil 1-0-0-01-0, McCarty 2-1-0-0-0-0, Barret Schade 2-1-0-0-0-0, Austin Bell 3-3-0-0-0-0, Dawson Fordice 1-1-0-0-0.5-0, Gavin Sieverding 1-0-0-0-0-0, Stahle 0-0-0-0-0-1, Zeman 4-0-0-0-2-0, Andre Puentes 1-0-0-0-0-0, Jones 2-0-0-0-0-0, Connor Melick 2-0-0-0-0-0, Lehman 6-0-0-0-1-0, Joe Akers 1-0-0-0-0-0, Sanchez 6-0-0-0-0-0, Crager David 2-0-0-0-0-0, Pedro Machado 1-0-0-0-0-0, Collins 5-2-1-0-0-0, Jayce McHugh 3-0-0-0-1-1