Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

SOLON – Spencer Wegmann spent most of his football career trying to find a position to fit his skill set.

Wegmann has tried it all.

From quarterback, running back, wide receiver and H back to defensive back and outside linebacker the Solon senior seems to have spent time at every imaginable spot on the field.

It seems only fitting that when Wegmann finally found a permanent home this season it came at the same spot as his twin brother.

After all, as the Wegmann brothers explain it they’ve been doing things together for as long as they can remember.  

“We’ve always been really close and whatever we do we do it together,” Zach Wegmann explained.  “Every sport we’ve ever done we’ve done together.

Spencer Wegmann shifted from outside linebacker to defensive end this season and found his niche on the Spartan defensive line starting opposite his twin brother Zach.

Together the duo has helped Class 3A top-ranked Solon to a 5-0 start and are an integral part of a Spartan defense that has been among the best in the state this season.

“It’s a lot of fun, moving down to defensive end this year it’s a lot easier with him playing it too,” Spencer Wegmann said. “Being together on that side of the ball at the same position, I know what he’s thinking, we are thinking the same thing on every play. We know who is going to do what on every single play.”

Before they were bookends chasing opposing quarterbacks the Wegmann boys grew up battling each other in anything that involved a ball and some things that didn’t.

Most of time the brothers butted heads as children it came in the back yard over a sports contest.

“Whatever we were doing we were always competing,” Zach Wegmann said. “Everything we would do it would always end up in a fight, we are competitive with each other.”

As they grew up the competition intensified.

Whiffle games were wars and anything one brother could do the other attempted to do better.

“We always used to play whiffle ball against each other in the back yard, that was the big thing, seeing who could score more or hit more home runs,” Spencer Wegmann said. “Whiffle ball to video games to who can throw a better spiral it’s really anything.”

The competitive drive for the Wegmann brothers was born out of competition between each other.

As they got older that competitiveness shifted from one another to opponents.

“They are just tough hard-nosed kids and they have that edge to them,” Solon coach Kevin Miller said. “In this game, you have to have a little bit of that edge and they do but they are light-hearted kids too. They like to have fun but when it’s time to get after it they certainly understand what it takes.” 

Spencer figured he’d found a home at outside linebacker after ranking fourth on the team with 38 tackles last season.

When Miller asked the 6-foot-1, 190-pounder to move to defensive end opposite his brother during fall camp Spencer Wegmann didn’t bat an eye.

“He’s playing all over the place and that tells me something about his willingness to help our football team,” Miller said. “To me that’s the definition of a true team player. He played outside linebacker last year and now he’s playing defensive end and you win with guys like that.”

Playing with a hand down on the defensive line hasn’t slowed the production for Spencer Wegmann who ranks seventh on the team with 11 tackles including three for loss and two sacks.

In his first season on the defensive line, Spencer Wegmann has gotten plenty of help from his brother who ranked second on the team with five sacks last year.

“He has definitely helped me a lot with that transition,” Spencer Wegmann said of his brother. “It’s been great to have somebody there to help me with that and if we want to work on something we can work on it together.”

The bigger of the two at 6-foot-1, 215 pounds Zach Wegmann doubles as an offensive tackle for the Spartans but his best work is done on the defensive side of the ball.

Zach Wegmann has four tackles this season and has played a key role in helping Solon by limiting opponents to 43 rushing yards per game.

“Obviously he’s a great defensive end,” Miller said of Zach Wegmann. “He wreaks havoc on the edge and as a tackle he’s done a good job as well, he’s just a real physical player that likes to mix it up and again he has that edge about him.”

The brothers have become the backbone of a dominant Solon defense.

Solon has posted three shutouts in five games and has forced nearly as many forced turnovers (13) as it has allowed points (14).

“We are both defensive guys and when the lights come on it’s the best thing in the world,” Zach Wegmann said. “Especially because we get to work together that just makes it so much more fun and the love of the game increases so much when you are playing with someone you like.”

Thanks in part to the work the Wegmann brothers have done up front the Spartans are holding opponents to 133 yards per game and haven’t yielded 100 yards rushing in a game yet.

“Defensively I think we have done what we wanted to do this year,” Spencer Wegmann said. “We don’t know the end result yet and I think that’s the final measure of how good we are but up to this point we have been happy with what we have been doing.”

The competition between the brothers still boils.

On Friday nights they team up to get wins but when the game film comes on in the following days the debate begins to rage all over again.

“We look up on film after Friday night and point each other out and count sacks or tackles and put ourselves against each other all the time,” Zach Wegmann said. “In the end it helps make each other better and helps the team.”