Ryan Murken
Your Prep Sports

SOLON – Solon coach Kevin Miller described the cold, windy and sometimes even snowy conditions on Friday night as nasty and yet perfect for his hard-nosed football team.

The long-time coach was right on both accounts.

Top-ranked Solon scored got two touchdowns each from AJ Coons and Coal Flansburg and rolled to a 34-2 win over Decorah (7-3) in a Class 3A playoff opener at frigid and wind-swept Spartan Stadium.

Solon improved to 10-0 with the win and advanced to the 3A quarterfinals where it will host West Delaware (8-2) on Friday at 7 p.m.

“I was just pleased with how our kids competed in the conditions obviously it’s not the greatest of conditions but these are our kind of conditions,” Miller said. “We talk about being nasty and tough and that’s kind of how the conditions were and we certainly played that way tonight.”

On a night with temperatures near freezing, 25 miles per hour winds and bouts of snow and sleet Solon rode a smothering defense and steady ground game into the state quarterfinals.

Solon rushed for 264 yards and picked off three passes, including one Coons returned 42 yards for a touchdown on the final play of the first half.

The Spartan defense didn’t allow a point and limited Decorah to 173 yards of total offense.

“We love this type of weather,” Flansburg said. “It really just fits in with our play style and who we are as a team.”

Solon got off to a perfect start in its playoff opener forcing Decorah to go 3-and-out on the games’ opening possession.

Following a Decorah punt, Solon marched 72 yards in 11 plays and took a 7-0 lead when Cam Miller hit Coons with a 12-yard touchdown pass on fourth-and-three.

“We’ve been practicing that play all week trying to take advantage of them being aggressive against the run and we executed the play well,” Coons said. “It was well blocked, Cam threw a perfect ball and I just had to make an easy catch.”

Solon made it 14-0 when Flansburg powered into the end zone from two yards out with 4:51 left in the first half.

The Flansburg touchdown capped a 12-play, 67-yard Solon drive that took nearly six minutes and was kept alive when Adam Bock converted a fourth-and-1 on a fake punt at the Spartan 44-yard line.

Coons came up with a huge play in the final seconds of the first half when he picked off a Brannan Hogan pass and raced 42 yards down the sideline for a touchdown that put Solon up 21-0 at the half.

“That certainly took the wind out of their sail, that was a big play obviously,” Miller said. “I don’t know if that was the turning point in the game but none the less that was a key play. We had a sense that they were going to run a stop and go and we read it.”

Coons, who has primarily played offense this season, was in as a defensive back in the Spartans prevent coverage.

On a first-and-19 play following a Decorah penalty he jumped in front of a stop and go route for the interception.

He cut back toward the middle of the field inside the 10-yard line and drug a tackler into the end zone as time expired.

“I just saw an opening down the sideline and Storm (Scott) made a great block,” Coons said. “I cut it back and tried to find the end zone. I was just trying to get in at the end.”

Flansburg scored his second touchdown of the game on a 4-yard run on the opening drive of the second half

Kendrick Harris rushed for 55 yards, Hunter Kula had 52 and Mason Stahle had 58 and a touchdown all in the fourth quarter as Solon ground out 264 yards rushing.

The Spartans finished with a 319 to 173 edge in total yards and held Decorah to 130 rushing yards.

“Defensively I was very pleased,” Miller said. “We gave up a few more yards than we have in the past but that is a good football team that competes well, they are well coached and they play hard so I was really proud of our kids’ effort tonight.”
 

                                 SOL                DEC

First Downs               19                    9

Rushes-Yards             50-264             26-130

Comp-Att-Int               6-12-0              6-22-3

Passing Yards             55                  43       

Punts-Avg.                  4-40                6-39.2

Fumbles-Lost              1-0                 0-0

Penalties-Yards            8-80              5-55

Solon               7    14   6    7  –  34 

Decorah           0     0    2    0  –   2

SOL – AJ Coons 12 pass from Cam Miller (Aidan Dall kick)  

SOL – Coal Flansburg 2 run (Dall kick)

SOL – Coons 42 Interception return (Dall kick)

SOL – Flansburg 4 run (Kick failed)

DEC – Safety

SOL – Mason Stahle 34 run (Dall kick)

Individual Statistics

RUSHING – SOL: Kendrick Harris 20-55, Hunter Kula 10-52, Cam Miller 6-46, Mason Stahle 5-58, Adam Bock 5-32, Spencer Wegmann 1-8, Coal Flansburg 3-13. DEC: Jake Muhlbauer 12-78, Kailer McCabe 6-20, Clay Johansen 2-9, Drake Shelton 3-9, Dawson Holkesvik 1-20, Brendan Lovstuen 1-1, Brannan Hogan 1-(-7).

PASSING – SOL: Cam Miller 6-12-0 55. DEC: Brannan Hogan 6-21-2 43, Drake Shelton 0-1-0 0.

RECEIVING – SOL: Payton Bandy 3-29, AJ Coons 2-20, Ben Krutzfeldt 1-6. DEC: Jerod Redenius 2-34, Kailer McCabe 1-10, Michael Bruening 1-3, Jake Muhlbauer 2-(-4).