Pat Harty

Your Prep Sports

SOLON – Solon’s 33-0 victory over Regina on Friday proved that size doesn’t always matter in football.

Actually, 5-foot-6 Hunter Kula proved it with plenty of help from his much larger teammates.

Kula shredded Regina’s defense for 209 rushing yards and two touchdowns as Solon, ranked fourth in Class 3A, ended a two-game losing streak against its Class 1A rival.

“I just saw the open holes and just went straight up there,” said Kula, who replaced the injured Kendrick Harris in the starting lineup. “I trust the line to block with my life.”

Kula thinks his height, or lack of it, helps him as a running back because he often disappears into a pile of bodies before breaking loose.

He did that late in the second quarter on Friday on a simple dive play up the middle. Kula squirted through a little opening and then raced 79 yards for a touchdown with 30 seconds left in the second quarter.

That expanded Solon’s lead to 27-0 at halftime and Regina never threatened in the second half while falling to 0-2 on the season. Solon scored all 27 points in the second quarter.

 

Kula was asked after Friday’s game if being short helps him gain yards.

“I feel like it does,” Kula said. “I just hide behind my line and I just pop out and they don’t even know I’m coming.”

Solon coach Kevin Miller also thinks Kula benefits from being shorter than most running backs. The Spartans use a zone blocking scheme that often creates running lanes for Kula to scoot through.

Miller compared it to when 5-8 Fred Russell was a star running back for Iowa in 2002 and 2003, rushing for over 1,000 yards in both seasons.

“There is no doubt about it,” Miller said. “When you’re running zone schemes, look at Fred Russell at Iowa. When they’re running inside and outside zone, he’s hard to find in there. He does a nice job of being patient, too. And that’s key to running the zone.

“But he’ll be the first to tell you that its starts with the offensive line.”

Solon’s offensive line is built around all-state center and Iowa commit Tyler Linderbaum. He also anchors the defensive line and was close to unstoppable on that side of the line of scrimmage.

“He’s really our leader,” Kula said of Linderbaum. “He gets us motivated. He gets us in a zone. When we’re down, he picks us right back up again.”

Linderbaum and his defensive cohorts held Regina to 111 yards, including just 15 passing yards on six completions.

“Tyler is difference maker,” Miller said. “That’s why he’s been offered by Iowa and he’s committed to Iowa. Obviously, he’s pretty dominant on both sides of the football, and fortunately, he’s on our side.

“He’s a warrior. He plays with not only great technique and fundamentals, but he’s nasty and he’s tough. He sets the tone for us.”

Linderbaum hardly was a solo act, though, as Solon had several players step up on defense, including junior linebacker Coal Flansburg.

Regina coach Marv Cook was giving praise to Linderbaum after the game when he shifted his attention to Flansburg

“As much as it pains you, sometimes, to watch, it’s fun to watch guys play at that level with that pad level and that effort,” Cook said of Linderbaum. “Effort man; here’s a guy that doesn’t take plays off. He blocks punts. He’s a great leverage player, and obviously a great teammate.

“But the linebacker (Flansburg) is the guy that just killed us. We couldn’t get to him.”

After a scoreless first quarter, Kula finally got Solon on the board with an 18-yard touchdown run with 11:23 left in the second quarter.

Flansburg then caught a two-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Cam Miller with five minutes left before halftime. Adam Bock converted the point-after kick to give the Spartans a 14-0 advantage.

The lead swelled to 20-0 when Bock intercepted a pass thrown by Regina quarterback Michael Conlon and returned it 32 yards for another touchdown.

Kula then ripped off his long touchdown run right before halftime to put Solon ahead by four touchdowns.

Regina continued to sputter on offense in the second half. Its longest play from scrimmage was an 18-yard run by senior Isaac Vollstedt in the second quarter.

“It’s been a long time since we’ve been able to assert ourselves and win the battle that’s waged up front against Regina,” Kevin Miller said. “Who was going to control the line of scrimmage?  And I thought for the most part, we did that tonight.”

Cook knew his team faced a daunting task on Friday, but he was surprised the game wasn’t more competitive.

“I didn’t expect it to be like that,” Cook said. “I mean they were phenomenal.”

Cook tried to keep Friday’s drubbing in perspective. Regina is 0-2, but both losses were against two of the top teams in Class 3A.

Cedar Rapids Xavier defeated Regina 23-6 in the season opener last Friday.

“We’re playing hard,” Cook said. “They’re playing the best they can. We just ran into two buzz saws.  Xavier and Solon are two pretty darn good football teams.”

Senior receiver Ben Krutzfeldt led Solon’s passing attack with four catches for 107 yards and one touchdown.

Cam Miller, who is Kevin Miller’s son, also provided a spark with 181 total yards, including 126 through the air. It was just the sophomore's second start as the varsity quarterback.

As for Linderbaum, he’s just happy to defeat Regina after losing each of the previous two games, including a 34-0 beat-down last season at Regina. Pitching a shutout makes the victory more special.

“I knew we had a pretty solid (defense), but tonight it was just awesome,” Linderbaum said. “We had guys just flying to the ball. Everyone played a big role.”

                           Regina         Solon

First downs            5               16

Rushes-yards         25-96        42-282

Passing yards        15             126

Penalties-yards      7-60          6-70

Fumbles-lost          0-0            1-1

Regina  0   0   0  0  –  0

Solon    0   27 0  6  – 33

SOL – Hunter Kula 18 run (Adam Bock kick)

SOL – Coal Flansburg 2 pass from Cam Miller (Bock kick)

SOL – Adam Bock 32 interception return (Kick failed)

SOL – Kula 79 run (Bock kick)

SOL – Ben Krutzfeldt 13 pass from Miller (kick failed)

Individual Statistics

RUSHING – ICR: Isaac Vollstedt 14-51, Michael Conlon 8-29, Patrick Clark 1-10, Ryan Schott 1-6, Jake Phillips 1-0. SOL: Hunter Kula 24-209, Cam Miller 9-55, Adam Bock 4-11, Mason Stahle 4-7.

PASSING – ICR: Conlon 6-15-1 15. SOL: Cam Miller 8-14-1 126

RECEIVING – ICR: Alec Wick 2-3, Jayden Kies 1-5, Patrick Clark 1-4, Jake Phillips 1-3. SOL – Ben Krutzfeldt 4-107, Adam Bock 3-17, Coal Flansburg 1-2.