FAIRFIELD — The Spartans extended their winning streak and remained undefeated in Class 3A District 5 as they rolled the Fairfield Trojans 42-6 Friday, October 13.
Solon took a 14-0 lead in the first quarter on a pair of Conlan Poynton touchdowns and Grant Knipper point after kicks with a fourth down stop against the Trojans in-between scores. Tyler Bell scored on a two-yard dash in the second quarter, scoring on a fourth and goal to make it 21-0 with Knipper’s kick.
Jack McCarty made it 27-0 with 7:30 left in the half on a 53-yard punt return. With yet another Knipper kick, Solon led 28-0. With less than two minutes remaining in the half Austin Knight intercepted a Trojan pass and scampered 54 yards to score after a fumble was recovered by Fairfield.
With the 35-0 Spartan lead the second half was played under the continuous clock, and Eli Kampman, a sophomore, came in at quarterback. Milo Ashbacker increased the lead to 42-0 after scoring in the third quarter. With 1:14 left in the period the Trojans scored but failed to convert a two-point play making it 42-6.
“I was really pleased with how our kids responded going into this game,” said Coach Lucas Stanton.” Sometimes teams will not be as focused or will slip up against inferior opponents, but our kids again showed good mental toughness going into this game and not playing to the level of that team.” Stanton said the focus was really on themselves and making sure they were continuing to improve. “Fairfield has some good players and are well coached, but they just don’t have the numbers right now and they are pretty banged up.” Fairfield’s senior quarterback, Sam Weaton, was sidelined temporarily before returning to punt with a freshman quarterback in his place, as an example.
“Coach Nate Weaton does a really good job down there. Conlan ran hard again behind some good blocking, and it was good to get a few other guys touches as we go into the playoffs to build depth. I was also impressed with Eddie Johnson again Friday as I really think he is our hardest and most physical runner. It was good to get a score on special teams with Jack’s punt return which was set up by some good down field blocking. Keenan Kruse sealed the deal at the end with just an outstanding block. Keenan has been one of the most consistent special teams players we have this year. It was great to see Austin get another pick and get one for 6. He had a couple questionable calls not go his way early in the game so just really proud of how we responded later to make a play like he did. He continues to improve every week.”
Bell completed three of seven passes for 30 yards with Kampman connecting twice on four attempts for 35. Karsyn Regennitter took one pass 26 yards, Nash Kotar went 18 yards, Knight and Charlie Karam went nine yards each with one reception apiece, and Ben Kampman had one reception for three yards.
Poynton racked up 102 yards of rushing on ten carries, Eddie Johnson made five carries for 62 yards, Ashbacker went 59 yards on six, Brayden Moore had four for 34, Bell kept the ball four times and went 26 yards. Nicholas Johnson made two carries for three yards, James Thomsen had one carry for three, and Brayden Miller made two carries for two yards.
Brett White continued to lead defensively with 6-1/2 tackles (four solo), Miller had 3-1/2 (two solo), while Oliver Owens made three solo tackles.
Upcoming games
The regular season ends at home Friday, October 20 as South Tama’s Trojans visit for Senior Night and Cancer Awareness Night. The Trojans were overhauled 74-0 by Benton Community and enter the contest 0-8 overall and 0-4 in District 5. With the “worst” team in the district coming in and some truly big wins already this season, Coach Stanton was asked how he and his staff keep the Spartans grounded.
“Honestly, for us we just talk about how it doesn’t matter who we play or when we play them, we always need to give our best and always strive to be a little bit better than we were before. Us as coaches and our senior leaders must constantly remind our team that we have not arrived yet and that we have a lot of goals left to accomplish, and many will try to stop us from attaining those. It’s very much human nature to relax but, if we want to accomplish more, we don’t have time to relax. I believe this group knows complacency kills and that we need to stay humble and keep climbing.”
Playoffs start
next Friday at home
Class 3A playoffs start Friday, October 27 with quarterfinals on Friday, Nov. 3. 3A semifinal games will be Saturday, Nov. 11 in the UNI-Dome with the 3A State Championship Game Friday, Nov. 17.
“Definitely a lot of anticipation with the playoffs,” said Stanton, “but we just need to stay focused this last week on getting better. We have done everything we can to put ourselves in a pretty good position. We can’t control who wins/loses Friday and we can’t control what the state decides to do with some of the seeding. We just know that we have taken care of things necessary to give us home field and favorable seeding.”
Class 3A-5 Scores &
Standings, Week Eight
Solon W 42-6 vs. Fairfield
7-1 4-0
Williamsburg W 63-8 vs. Grinnell 7-1 3-1
Benton Community W 74-0 vs. South Tama 5-3 2-2
Grinnell 5-3 2-2
Fairfield 3-5 1-3
South Tama 0-8 0-4