FORT MADISON — The Spartans closed out the nine-week regular season of varsity football with a 51-2 victory over winless Fort Madison in the Bloodhounds’ dog pound Friday, October 24.
Solon’s air assault prevailed with 226 yards for five touchdowns while 80 yards of ground attack netted two more scores.
Solon led 24-0 at the end of the first quarter and held a 45-0 advantage, under the continuous clock, at halftime. The Bloodhounds nipped at the Spartans in the third quarter by picking up a safety before the final Spartan score in the fourth quarter.
“It was a good cap to an undefeated regular season getting off to a good start in the game,” said Coach Lucas Stanton. “Two weeks in a row we had someone on our Kickoff team make a really good play to start us off on the night and then we just carried it over to our defense. We had a nice drive on offense after that and settled for a field goal. We executed that field goal really well. I thought we really executed on defense and special teams early. We started off pretty well on offense too then kind of flattened out – so we need to clean up a couple things there and we will. The safety came late in the game and we snapped it over our punter’s head in the end zone. I wasn’t happy about that as it was more of just a focus thing and not being ready. We can’t have that but better to learn from that now.”
Postseason starts tomorrow
The Spartans locked up the 3A District 4 Championship the week prior and at 9-0 are the No. 2 team in Class 3A behind No. 1 Clear Lake (9-0). Solon hosts No. 13 Benton Community (5-4) in a rematch from week five when the Spartans escaped from Van Horne with a 28-21 win, the closest game of the season thus far.
“We are very familiar with Benton as this will be the 4th time in a year we have played them. Obviously, last year we played them twice as well. They (Benton) will have no problem getting up for this game. They are a quality football team and in my opinion a top 10 team no question. Their four losses have been to us, Mt. Vernon, Clear Lake and West Delaware. They play hardnosed physical football – They play great defense and don’t make many mistakes on that side of the ball. Offensively they like to run some option and will really try to outnumber you at the point of attack in various ways. Their quarterback is one of the best players in all of 3A and is a very tough competitor. Their special teams are very solid as well. This is a great challenge but we are looking forward to it – We kind of played flat against them last time in the first half so our boys are looking to play a cleaner game and execute our game plan.”