SOLON — The Spartan’s Homecoming was made even more festive with a 44-0 win over the Washington (Iowa) Demons Friday, Sept. 30.
The Demons rolled into Solon at 2-3 overall and 0-1 in Class 3A District 5 while Solon was 3-2 and 1-0 in the district, and ranked ninth in 3A. No time was wasted as Solon took the opening kickoff and needed only two plays to travel 56 yards to score. Quarterback Blake Timmons connected with Sean Stahle for a 35-yard pass and run for a touchdown. Grant Knipper drilled a successful point after kick and Solon led 7-0 with only 40 seconds of the first quarter used. Washington’s first drive ended very quickly as Brett White forced a fumble, which was scooped up by Rhyse Wear, who ran the ball three yards to score. Knipper booted his second PAT for a 14-0 lead.
Quinton Heineman intercepted a Demon pass and set up another quick drive, which ended with White scampering 17 yards for a touchdown. Again Knipper’s kick was on-spot and Solon led 21-0 with little more than half of the first quarter remaining. With just over five minutes left in the period, Timmons found Stahle for a nine-yard effort resulting in a touchdown. Knipper made it 4-4 and a 28-0 lead. The quarter ended with Washington in possession and the second quarter opened with the Demons punting the ball on fourth down. The Spartans only needed one play on the ensuing drive as Timmons connected with Ryan Rasmussen for a 37-yard touchdown. Knipper’s kick just missed its mark but Solon held a 34-0 advantage 59 seconds into the period.
Washington’s defense found a way to halt yet another Solon drive with just over five minutes to halftime, forcing the Spartans to settle for a 21-yard field goal by Knipper. The 37-0 lead triggered the continuous clock for the rest of the half. A late in the period threat by the Demons was mitigated successfully by the Solon defense, and the ball was turned over on downs. In the final seconds of the half Timmons found Cole Buffington, who made a 79-yard pass play to score as time ran out. However, a penalty on the Spartans negated the spectacular scoring effort, and the down was replayed with no time on the clock before the teams left the field for halftime.
The continuous clock remained in effect for the second half, which the saw Demon defense force Solon into a second field goal attempt, this time a 41-yard effort by Knipper, which fell just short. Jack McCarty scampered 33 yards to score in the fourth quarter to make it 43-0 and Knipper nailed his fifth PAT of the night to make it 44-0.
The win was Solon’s third straight after a pair of losses to rival Mount Vernon and WaMaC West foe Williamsburg were followed by wins over Assumption Catholic and West Burlington.
“It feels really good. I’m just so proud of our kids, first and foremost,” said Coach Lucas Stanton. “ That two-week (losing) stretch was really tough on them, on us; and they were challenged. All the credit goes to them, honestly, for winning three games in a row. It’s all the kids, their resilience and toughness they’ve shown, and we challenged them. They could’ve folded but that’s not in our DNA, that’s not who we are. They took pride in some things and saw that we needed to get better at the little things, and attention to detail.” After a loss, he said, you can either learn from it or complain about it and cast blame. Stanton expressed his pride in the Spartans choosing to learn, and to excel.
Brett White led the ground attack with five carries for 90 yards and one score, Sean Stahle returned after being out a couple of weeks to make two carries for 34 yards and had three receptions for 66 and a pair of scores. “Sean is a dynamic player so to have him back just adds that dynamic in our offense.” Jack McCarty made one carry for 33 yards and one touchdown, Zach Capper had five for 21 yards, Blake Timmons kept the ball seven times for 20 yards, Brayden Moore and Barret Schade had one carry apiece for six and four yards respectively.
Timmons completed six of ten passes for 116 yards and three scores, Brayden Ruskey went one for three for 17 yards.
In addition to Stahle Ryan Rasmussen and Keenan Kruse took one pass each for 37 and 17 yards respectively with two receptions for Oaken Foster for 13 yards.
White led defensively with five tackles total (one sack), Schade had four, David Karam made three, Ben Kampman, Kaleb Behrends, Mac McCarty, Landon Shive, and Brayden Hoffman had two apiece with one each from Gavin Sieverding, Dawson Fordice, and Jace Janssen. White, Kampman, and Behrends had one quarterback sack each as well.
Upcoming games
The Spartans travel to Fairfield Friday, October 7 in a battle of the top-two teams in District 5. Coach Stanton is taking nothing for granted in the coming gridiron battle.
“They’re a program that has struggled in the past, but I really respect their coach and what he does. He does things the right way and they’re an improving program. It’s at their place and that’s never an easy thing when you’re on the road so we’re going to get their best shot, it’s going to be another challenge for us, and we gotta rise up.”
The final regular season home game is Friday, October 14 against Grinnell and the regular season ends on the road in Keokuk. With the season winding down, Stanton and company know time is getting short.
“It’s limited opportunities for our seniors. Our seniors gotta make sure they’re soaking it in and realizing that those opportunities start to shrink as you get late in the season. They don’t have a lot of football left. We’re only guaranteed one more home game, so that’s it. If we want to continue to have and maximize those opportunities (such as hosting a playoff game), we’ve got to continue to take care of business.”
Class 3A District 5 Standings
Season District
Fairfield 4-2 2-0
Solon 4-2 2-0
Grinnell 3-3 2-0
Keokuk 2-4 0-2
Washington 2-4 0-2
West Burlington 1-5 0-2
Sean Stahle returned to action and scored two touchdowns in a 44-0 win.