Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

SOLON – The opening-round playoff matchup between Solon and Liberty High was supposed to be a battle of contrasting styles between a smashmouth Lightning running game and a high-powered Solon passing attack.

Cold and wet weather conditions and a stiff Liberty High defense changed the game plan for the second-ranked Solon but couldn’t stop the Spartans from moving on.

Senior quarterback Cam Miller rushed for 143 yards and a touchdown as Solon (10-0) ran for a season-high 232 yards in a 14-7 win over Liberty High (7-3) on Friday in a Class 3A opening round contest at cold and damp Spartan Field.

“We are always ready to switch our game plan and tonight, it was wet and we ran it a little more and we were ready,” Solon senior offensive lineman Michael Broghammer said. “We really worked all week on pushing the run and it showed tonight.”

The Solon defense kept the powerful Liberty High run game in check for most of the night and came up with a key fourth down stop in the final four minutes as the top-seeded Spartans advanced to the Class 3A quarterfinals.

Solon will host Pella (8-2) on Friday at 7 p.m. with a spot in the 3A semifinals at the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls on the line.

I’m proud of our guys,” Solon coach Kevin Miller said. “They showed a great deal of resolve and grit and those are the types of things that you have to be able to do to keep advancing in the playoffs.”

Solon entered the game ranked eighth in 3A averaging 205 yards a game through the air while Liberty High was third in 3A in rushing at 273 yards per game.

Neither team came close to those numbers on Friday with temperatures in the 30s and rain falling for much of the game.

In a game dominated largely by defense it was Solon that came up with the key stops.

Solon held Liberty High to a season-low 145 rushing yards on 30 carries and used its own power running game to grind out the final 3:19 to secure the win.

Miller had six of his career-high 27 carries on the final drive, gaining six yards on a fourth-and-four play with 12 seconds left to secure the win.

“I wasn’t expecting to run it 27 or 28 times but that’s what the game called for,” Cam Miller said. “Our guys up front blocked it really well and we were able to move the ball.”

Solon produced all the offense it would need on its first two possessions of the game.

The Spartans forced Liberty High to go three-and-out on each of its first two possessions and followed each punt with touchdown drives while taking a 14-0 lead just 18 seconds into the second quarter.

“Once we got up we were able to run the ball more,” Cam Miller said. “Getting up on them early was huge for us on a night like this.”

Solon opened the scoring with a 12-play, 62-yard touchdown drive that ended with a 1-yard plunge by Miller.

The Spartans made it 14-0 with an 8-play, 73-yard march that ended with a Jace Andregg 5-yard TD run.

Liberty High got back into the game before the half.

The Lightning went 93 yards in six plays in just 1:40, cutting the Solon lead to 14-7 when Drake Woody hit Kelby Telander for a 32-yard touchdown pass with 5.5 seconds left in the first half.

The rest of the game belonged to the defenses.

Solon limited Liberty High to one first down in its first two possessions of the second half, each ending with punts.

“We just do what we do,” Solon senior linebacker Jax Flynn said. “We’ve been doing that all year and we just stick to the game plan that our coaches give us.”

The Lightning still had a chance to pull even in the fourth quarter marching into Solon territory with less than four minutes to play.

Liberty High converted on third-and-two and fourth-and-eight with pass completions and had a first down at the Solon 20 with less than five minutes remaining.

“Hats off to Solon, we hope the best for them they played a great game tonight we just didn’t make the plays we had to,” Liberty High coach Jeff Gordon said. “That’s really on coaching not on the effort from our kids, they played hard and I’m proud of them.”

Facing fourth-and-two from the Solon 12 Liberty High went to 205-pound tailback Max Tafolla but he was swarmed in the backfield for a loss.

Tafolla took a pitch to the right and was hit immediately by Flynn but managed to keep his balance before being corralled by the Solon pursuit.

“The last couple of third and fourth down plays they did that sweep, pitch outside so I just decided to get up field,” Flynn said. “I was able to make a play.”

The stop gave the ball back to Solon up 14-7 with 3:19 left.

“Once we plugged the middle up our linebackers filled and made a great play,” Broghammer said. “That was a huge defensive stop.”

Miller gained four yards on the first play of the ensuing possession and then raced 33 yards to the Liberty High 49 on the next play.

“Cam did amazing tonight,” Flynn said. “He ran the ball really well and our line blocked great.”

Tafolla ran for 84 yard and Kaleb Williams added 48 on the ground for Liberty High which was making its first every playoff appearance.

“It’s not the way that we wanted it to go but it kind of epitomizes what this first group is,” Gordon said. “The odds were stacked against them and they just fought and believed. Their legacy will last a long time.”

                                    SOL                ICL

First downs                19                    9

Rushes-yards             41-232             30-145

Comp-Att-Int             12-15-1            3-8-0

Passing yards             91                    54

Total yards                  323                  199

Punts-avg                   3-34.3              6-33.3

Fumbles-lost               3-1                   0-0

Penalties-yards          5-48                 2-20

Solon                          7  7  0  0  –  14

Liberty High              0  7  0  0  –   7

SOL – Cam Miller 1 run (Cael O’Neill kick)

SOL – Jace Andregg 5 run (O’Neill kick)

ICL – Kelby Telander 32 pass from Drake Woody (Ryan Nugent kick)

Individual Statistics

RUSHING – SOL: Cam Miller 27-143, Jace Andregg 5-26, Seamus Poynton 5-25, Jackson Ryan 3-19, Lucas TePoel 1-19. ICL: Max Tafolla 19-84, Kaleb Williams 6-48, Drake Woody 1-7, Jack Ankenbauer 2-4, Ben Kruger 2-2.

PASSING – SOL: Cam Miller 12-15-1 91. ICL: Drake Woody 3-8-0 54.

RECEIVING – SOL: Jace Andregg 4-23, AJ Coons 3-29, Seamus Poynton 2-16, Cole Arduser 1-9, Joe Stahle 1-8, Lucas TePoel 1-6. ICL: Kelby Telander 1-32, Ben Houselog 1-12, Ben Kruger 1-10.

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